The faculty of Huron School of Nursing believes that:
Nursing is a profession and a discipline which focuses on assisting the person, as a member of a family and community, in achieving fulfillment of physiological and psychosocial needs. Nursing is both an art and a science. The practice of nursing utilizes and integrates knowledge from the arts and humanities, as well as from the physical and behavioral sciences, medicine, and technology into nursing practice. Nurses synthesize and apply knowledge to achieve core practice competencies in communication, professional behaviors, nursing process, integration of knowledge, management of care, health promotion and teaching, critical thinking and human caring and relationships.
The nurse uses the nursing process in collaboration with the client and health team members. This problem solving process enables the nurse and client to share in the development, implementation and evaluation of a plan of care designed to assist the client to achieve the level of health possible within the client’s developmental and/or functional state and environment. The nurse assists clients to achieve their health potential through activities of health promotion, maintenance and restoration. Integral to the nursing process is the establishment of the nurse-client relationship and the demonstration of caring by the nurse. The nurse uses an understanding of the person’s culture and perception of the world to individualize care.
Each person is a holistic, complex being with interdependent physiological and psychosocial needs. A person’s functioning within the environment of family and community is dependent upon the degree of attainment of these needs. Each person has rights to dignity, respect, the fulfillment of human needs, and self-determination of his/her own health care choices.
Health is a dynamic state of being defined by the individual. Health status is influenced by access to care, genetics, environment and personal behaviors. The environment, which encompasses the world around and within the person, is constantly changing and can positively or negatively affect individual and community health.
Nursing education is a purposeful, organized and ongoing process designed to assist the student in achieving the competency outcomes essential for contemporary nursing practice. Nursing education is a lifelong process and the curriculum is designed to promote educational mobility. The curriculum is developed, implemented and designed by the nursing faculty. The nurse educator assists the student in the use of the nursing process and the application of theory to nursing practice, and promotes self-direction of the learner toward achieving independence. Faculty have the responsibility to involve the student in the learning process and to actively assess and evaluate student achievement. The relationship between students and faculty is a partnership characterized by mutual respect, support and a spirit of inquiry.
Curricular outcomes are achieved through active engagement in the learning process and a commitment to the intellectual rigor required for synthesis and application of nursing knowledge. Students demonstrate engagement in the learning process through a variety of cognitive and behavioral strategies including concentrating and thinking about the science of nursing, discovering analogies between and among nursing concepts, actively participating in learning activities, performing at one’s personal best while fulfilling program requirements and demonstrating a spirit of inquiry through dialogue with faculty and peers. Students utilize the processes of reflection and introspective thinking to promote learning and the development of critical thinking. The student is responsible for ongoing and progressive achievement of competent nursing practice and assumes accountability for the development of professional self-image and behavior.
Huron School of Nursing educates competent and caring professional nurses prepared to begin practice in a variety of settings. Care is provided to individuals, families and groups of clients with identified health needs. Through achievement of program outcomes, graduates are prepared with the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and judgment to function in a complex, changing health care system. The graduate assumes the roles of caregiver, teacher, counselor, client advocate, coordinator of care and member of the profession. The graduate functions collaboratively within a multidisciplinary health care team, and practices according to established standards of care and within an ethical and legal framework. The graduate applies research findings to enhance his/her practice. Graduates are accountable and responsible for initial competence as nurses and for their on-going development of professional competency.
Celebrating Excellence in Nursing Education since 1884