Nursing Program
Purpose and Philosophy
- PURPOSE AND PHILOSOPHY
PURPOSE
The purpose of the Associate Degree Nursing Program of Jefferson Community College is to provide a curriculum that includes liberal arts, science and nursing education courses which will prepare men and women to practice as Associate Degree Nurses upon successful completion of the National Council Licensing Examination for registered nurses. - PHILOSOPHY
The philosophy of the Department of Nursing reflects the mission of the State University of New York and Jefferson Community College, as well as the consensus of the entire nursing faculty.WELLNESS
We believe that health is an optimal state of integration. Each capable individual must assume responsibility for maintaining health within self and within the environment. The degree to which basic needs are met and the ability to adapt to changes will affect the individual, the family, society, and the environment. And since every person has a right to optimum health if he so chooses, wellness requires identifying and meeting individual needs through the appropriate use of adaptive responses. Illness represents an interruption in the level of wellness and requires mobilization of adaptive responses with the intent of returning to the previous or higher level of functioning for the individual. Basic needs can be complex and have different meanings and purposes for different individuals and groups; therefore, these basic needs stimulate within the individual the response to maintain integrity.UNIQUENESS OF INDIVIDUALS
Each person is a unique human being, and as such is a complex physiologic, psychologic, socio-cultural being, capable of sensation, emotion, language, communication, cognition, creativity, and spirituality. These dimensions exist and function in a unique manner within each individual, and this uniqueness is valued and respected. Also each person interacts with a constantly changing environment by adapting holistically to it.HUMAN POTENTIAL
Each person has varying potential and has to seek this potential to his/her maximum level and to choose his/her destiny. He/she is a member of a family, which is the basic functional group of individuals and an integral part of society, whose values and relationships evolve from each person's past experiences and are developed by individual and family participation in collective activities. Therefore, society has an obligation to protect the vital resources of the environment that are crucial to sustain and maintain life.NURSING
The faculty believes that Nursing is a helping art and discipline based on a scientific body of knowledge with applications from the biological, physical and social sciences and its practice is defined as diagnosing and treating human responses to actual or potential health problems. This is achieved through such services as case finding, health teaching, health counseling, and the provision of care which is supportive or restorative of life and well-being, or supportive of a dignified death.TEACHING/LEARNING
Our faculty believe they are facilitors of the teaching-learning process. Learning includes acquiring knowledge, skill, and attitudes, and is measured by changes in the learner's behavior. The faculty recognize that students possess unique differences in educational background and life experiences which affect their responses to learning. The educational outcome of each learner is greatly influenced by integration of past experiences as well as the degree of active participation engaged in by the individual learner. Learning is made easier when the material to be learned is meaningful and when it proceeds from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Opportunities for practice, repetition, and reinforcement contribute to greater retention and promote technical competence. Use of theory, skills and evaluation tools provide necessary feedback and allow students to be continually aware of their progress. Students are guided by faculty through planned and purposeful teaching/learning activities which help them clarify their roles and aid them in their transition to the profession of nursing.NURSING EDUCATION
We believe that nursing education is a continuous learning process that results in behavioral change. College based opportunities for personal, intellectual, cultural, social growth, as well as professional preparation, enable the student to develop holistically. We also believe the curriculum is most effective when it integrates liberal arts, and nursing education courses. This provides students with opportunities to acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to function as a person, a citizen, and a health professional. Nursing education should result in the attainment of a vocational goal and therefore must be current and should prepare students for nursing practice in a dynamic society.ROLE OF THE NURSE
- Associate Degree Nurse
Associate Degree Nursing Education prepares nurses who will interact with patients in a holistic way. The A.D. Nurse must be able to provide needed care and information to patients and families for the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health. He/she is prepared to work as a beginning practitioner with patients in structured settings who experience common and/or complex, well defined health problems with predictable outcomes. The associate degree nurse works under the guidance of a more experienced registered nurse. - Licensed Practical Nurse
The practice of nursing as a Licensed Practical Nurse is defined as performing tasks and responsibilities within the framework of case finding, health teaching, health counseling, and provision of supportive and restorative care under the direction of a registered professional nurse (excerpt from Nurse Practice Act NYS 1972). - Baccalaureate Nurse
The Baccalaureate Registered Nurse applies a broader base of knowledge in the practice of nursing with individuals and community groups in both structured and nonstructured settings. The nurse utilizes nursing theory and research in an effort to improve the practice of nursing and delivery of health care. The Baccalaureate degree is also the entry level for graduate nursing education.
A.D. NURSE'S CHALLENGES
The future will present several additional challenges for the Associate Degree Nurse. To begin with, as people live longer, the elderly population will place increasing health care needs on society. Another challenge for the nurse will be to continue to provide optimum care to patients and families while coping in a variety of settings with rapidly advancing technology and constant change. - Associate Degree Nurse
Revised: 1982, 1984, 1988, 1989.
Nursing Curriculum: 5/18/89, 9/13/95