Nursing | Department Philosophy | Mission Statement

The Department of Nursing faculty believes in and supports the mission of Alderson-Broaddus College. The nursing faculty commits to the college, the community, and society to provide quality nursing education. The philosophy of the Department of Nursing is derived from basic beliefs about education and the relationship among the essential constructs of client, environment, health, and nursing.  The department of nursing operationalizes these constructs through the nursing process as the client experiences and adapts to crisis.   Student achievement is assessed through cumulative Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) that are ordered through the structure of the three curriculum levels.  These names of these levels derived from the AACN roles for the baccalaureate generalist are:  Level I (Provider of Care), Level II (Manager of Care) and Level III, (Member of the Profession).

The faculty believes the client, whether viewed as an individual or collectively as family, group, community, or society, is constantly interacting with the environment.  The client is unique and holistic, learning and adapting throughout the lifespan, and is accountable for the decisions and practices that affect health and life.  The client has needs intrinsic to life and requisite to survival and holistic functioning. These needs are interrelated, ranked in a hierarchy, and modified by experiences, values, and culture. Unmet needs motivate behavior and may result in crisis.

The environment encompasses all the internal and external influences affecting the life and health of the client. The client responds holistically in interactions with the environment through the ability to adapt. Adaptation necessitated by a threat to needs being met is intrinsic to the attainment, maintenance, restoration, or enhancement of health.  Adaptation is an intrinsic dynamic process denoting a passage or change from one health state to another along the health continuum.  The process of adaptation can be automatic or deliberate and simple or complex.

Health is viewed as the dynamic ability to adapt in order to meet needs. Health is multifaceted and influenced by variables in the internal and external environment. Ineffective adaptation to environmental influences results in actual or potential crisis. A crisis is the result of unmet needs and/or ineffective adaptation. Crisis is categorized as, developmental, situational, or multiple/complex.  Developmental crisis involves predictable life changes, situational crisis involves unpredictable change and/or loss, and multiple/complex crisis involves the combination and/or accumulation of developmental and situational crises.

Nursing is a caring, therapeutic, interpersonal profession that values diversity, and embodies a Christian service orientation to address the holistic health needs of clients. The professional nurse uses the nursing process to facilitate the client’s ability to adapt and meet needs. The nurse intervenes to enhance health or when actual or potential crisis threatens health. Knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, and values associated with the practice and profession of nursing are assessed through nine SLOs.  The SLOs for Level I (Provider of Care) are teacher, communicator and caregiver.  On this level, the student uses theory and research based knowledge to support adaptation and facilitate health of clients experiencing developmental crisis. On Level II (Manager of Care), three more SLOs, counselor, decision-maker, or coordinator of care, are added to those of Level I.  Here the student integrates multiple resources in order to facilitate adaptation to achieve health in clients experiencing situational crisis.  The SLOs for Level III (Member of the Profession) are leader, collaborator, and advocate and are added to the SLOs of Level I and II for clients experiencing multiple-complex crisis.  Here the student synthesizes professional behavior, values, legal and ethical standards and accountability into nursing practice.

The faculty believes a baccalaureate nursing education grounded in the liberal arts must provide learners with the opportunity to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, and values to become safe, responsible practitioners of professional nursing. The teaching-learning relationship between faculty and learner is central to education. Learners are expected to be self-disciplined, self-directed, and accountable for their own learning. The faculty is responsible for creating a caring environment in which knowledge is shared and role development enhanced.