Download philosophy - Trinity Valley Community College

TRINITY VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
ASSOCIATE DEGREE NURSING PROGRAM
PHILOSOPHY
The mission and philosophy of the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) Program support the
mission and purposes of Trinity Valley Community College (TVCC) by helping students realize their
educational goals in nursing. Successful completion of the associate of applied science degree
curriculum leads to acquisition of skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary for employment, thereby
helping to meet the health care needs of the community served by TVCC.
We believe nursing is both an art and a science which integrates concepts from the liberal arts
and the biological, psychological and social sciences to form a common focus: improving the health of
people from diverse communities, in a caring, culturally sensitive manner. Caring includes forming
relationships with individuals/ families in compassionate, nurturing, protective, empathetic,
nonjudgmental, open-minded and altruistic ways. As a scientifically based discipline, nursing
collaborates with individuals/ families and the multidisciplinary team to assist in meeting health care
needs. Nursing is dynamic and evolving, and includes health promotion, health restoration, and health
maintenance, as well as providing care to dying people so that they have a peaceful, dignified death.
Nurses contribute to health care activities across a continuum consisting of primary, secondary, and
tertiary prevention. Nurses provide competent, safe care by utilizing the tools of critical thinking, which
include the nursing process: assessment, analysis, planning, implementation, and evaluation, diagnostic
reasoning, making clinical inferences, and clinical decision-making. The nursing process is administered
through the four roles of the associate degree nurse: provider of patient-centered care, patient safety
advocate, member of the health care team, and member of a profession. The nurse incorporates a
professional, accountable, legal, and ethical framework into their nursing practice to empower
individuals to take charge of their own state of health. As a client advocate, the nurse actively supports
the welfare of the client through personal and professional actions and interactions with others. As a
change agent, the nurse is a proactive and reactive practitioner who acts to modify and improve current
health care by using evidenced based practices.
The practice of nursing includes a commitment to people and the community in which they live as
well as to the society and the environment encompassing the individuals.
The nursing education
curriculum prepares the graduate to provide community-based, community-focussed health care. The
associate degree nurse collaborates with licensed vocational nurses, baccalaureate prepared nurses, and
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masters prepared nurses as well as other disciplines to empower clients and their families to attain and
maintain an optimal level of wellness.
We believe learning is a dynamic process based on life experiences, ability to learn, and
readiness to learn. Learning is most effective when the learner is an active participant in setting goals,
and evaluation of learning experiences and competency. Complex concepts build upon previous
knowledge and experience. We believe learning is a partnership between the instructor and the learner
which encourages intellectual curiosity and the capacity for self-direction. The instructor assists the
learner by creating a learning-centered environment utilizing a variety of teaching strategies. Quality
learning is enhanced with greater engagement within the student learning community. This community
consists of learning experiences in the classroom, skills lab, and the interdisciplinary health care system
that serve as motivational forces for life-long learning.
MISSION STATEMENT
Our mission is to prepare graduate nurses who use critical thinking to provide safe, competent
health care, who are ethically-guided and culturally sensitive client advocates, who collaborate with the
multidisciplinary health care team in an ever-changing environment, and who provide compassionate
nursing care throughout the community in traditional and nontraditional settings.
PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
PROVIDER OF CARE
The graduate will:
1. Provide comprehensive nursing care to patients and their families.
2. Determine the health status and health needs of clients and their families based upon interpretation of
health related data and evidence-based health practices.
3. Formulate goals/outcomes and plans of care for patients and their families using established best
practices in collaboration with the patient, their family, and multidisciplinary health care team.
4. Implement plan of care within legal, ethical and regulatory parameters and in consideration of client
factors.
5. Develop and implement teaching plans for patients and their families to address health restoration,
maintenance, and promotion.
6. Evaluate patient outcomes and responses to therapeutic interventions.
7. Use the nursing process and critical thinking to analyze clinical data and current literature as a basis
for decision making in nursing practice.
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8. Coordinate human and material resources for the provision of care for patients.
PATIENT SAFETY ADVOCATE
The graduate will:
1. Demonstrate knowledge about the Texas Nursing Practice Act and Board Rules.
2. Implement measures to promote a safe environment for patients and others.
3. Obtain instruction, supervision or training as needed when implementing nursing procedures or
practices.
4. Know, recognize and maintain professional boundaries of the nurse-patient relationship.
5. Comply with mandatory reporting requirements of the Texas Nursing Practice Act.
6. Understand the concept of “scope of practice” and function within individual scope of practice.
7. Accept and/or make assignments that take into consideration patient safety and that are
commensurate with educational preparation and employing health care institutional policy.
COORDINATOR OF CARE
The graduate will:
1. Collaborate with patients, families, and the multidisciplinary health care team for the planning,
delivery, and evaluation of care.
2. Refer patients and their families to resources that facilitate continuity of care and health promotion.
3. Function within the nurse’s legal scope of practice and in accordance with the policies and
procedures of the employing health care institution.
4. Communicate and collaborate in a timely manner with members of the multidisciplinary health care
team to promote and maintain the patient’s optimal health status.
5. Assign and/or delegate nursing care to other members of the health care team as needed.
6. Supervise nursing care provided by others for whom the nurse is responsible.
MEMBER OF A PROFESSION
The graduate will:
1. Assume responsibility and accountability for the quality of nursing care provided to patients.
2. Serve as a health care advocate in monitoring and promoting quality and access to health care for
patients.
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3. Participate in activities that promote the development and practice of professional nursing.
4. Demonstrate responsibility for one’s own continued competence in nursing practice and professional
growth.
The Program Objectives are the 25 main competencies of the Differentiated Entry-Level Competencies
(DELC) for graduates from Associate Degree Nursing Programs in Texas.
ORGANIZING FRAMEWORK
The TVCC ADN Program Curriculum has an eclectic organizing framework. It was developed
using the integrated nursing courses available in the Workforce Education Course Manual (WECM).
The integrated courses are created based upon the belief that man has both physiological and
psychosocial needs that must be met across the life span. The courses of the nursing curriculum follow
the continuum of health care and are structured based on an organizational framework of primary,
secondary, and tertiary prevention. The services related to primary prevention focus on health promotion
and specific protection from disease or illness. Secondary prevention activities are directed toward early
diagnosis and prompt treatment of health problems or illness. Nurses implement tertiary prevention or
rehabilitative activities to assist clients to achieve the highest level of functioning following treatment of
a health problem or illness.
The Level I theory course emphasizes primary prevention including health promotion. The
clinical course includes an assessment of a well elderly and a well child. Levels II and III focus on
secondary prevention moving from commonly occurring problems to complex problems. The Level II
clinical course emphasizes care of obstetrical and surgical patients and patients with other commonly
occurring health problems. Level III clinical courses include nutritional teaching of a client with complex
health care problem and care of clients with complex health care problems. Level IV focuses on tertiary
prevention including long-term care and rehabilitation. The clinical course includes rotations in cardiac
rehab, home health, long-term care, school nursing, dialysis and psychiatric care.
After the introduction to concepts in the first semester, each subsequent semester contains units
organized according to integrated systems across the life span. Within each unit, objectives are organized
according to the steps of the nursing process as outlined in the Differentiated Entry Level Competencies
for Graduates of Texas Nursing Programs. The program threads found throughout the program include
nursing process, nursing roles, safety considerations, ethical/legal considerations including the Texas
Nursing Practice Act (NPA), developmental considerations, cultural considerations and pharmacological
considerations.
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Nursing Process
Nursing Roles
Ethical/Legal,
Safety,
Developmental,
Cultural, &
Pharmacological
Considerations
Tertiary Prevention
DEFINITIONS
Primary prevention
Primary prevention services are directed toward health promotion and protection from specific
diseases. Care activities include immunizations and education related to fitness, nutrition, hygiene, and
risk factors.
Secondary prevention
Secondary prevention services are directed toward early diagnosis and prompt treatment of
health problems or illness. Care activities include actions designed to reduce severity of an illness or
avoid complications and encompass screening, acute medical and surgical care, and nursing care
provided at home.
Tertiary prevention
Tertiary prevention services are directed toward assisting the person to function at their highest
level of wellness. Care activities include rehabilitation and long-term care, preventing further disability
or reduced functioning.
Caring
Caring is the value of nursing in which there is high concern for human dignity. It includes forming
relationships with individuals/families in compassionate, nurturing, protective, empathetic,
nonjudgmental, open-minded and altruistic ways.
Competency
Competency is the quality or state of being functionally adequate, having the necessary
knowledge, skills or attitudes. Nursing requires cognitive, technological, and cultural competence.
Collaboration
Collaboration is the act of two or more individuals working cooperatively to achieve a common
goal. Nurses collaborate with individuals/families and the multidisciplinary health care team to assist in
meeting health care needs and ensuring continuity and coordination of care.
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Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis,
evaluation and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological,
criteriological or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based. Nurses utilize the tools of
critical thinking, including diagnostic reasoning, making clinical inferences, clinical decision-making and
the nursing process.
Community
Community may refer to the particular place or region, in which the student/nurse lives, works,
rests, prays, or seeks health care or a group of people with a common goal. Nurses provide communitybased health care services for individuals/families within a continuum of health care settings. Examples
include community hospital care, home health care, occupational health care services, long-term care,
school nursing services, rehabilitation services, clinic services, and physician office services. Associate
degree nurses are also members of a professional community. They collaborate with various levels of
nursing to address needs and concerns specific to the aspects of providing health care in collaboration
with other disciplines.
Cultural Sensitivity
Cultural sensitivity involves recognizing the possibility of different meanings of behavior,
looking objectively for cues that suggest the meaning, and validating the interpretation with the client. A
foundation of cultural sensitivity is necessary for the nurse to provide culturally competent care.
Client Advocacy
As a client advocate, the nurse assists clients in expressing their rights whenever necessary and
supports the client’s right to have health care that is consistent with the client’s values and beliefs. The
nurse seeks to ensure that the client receives the best possible care and speaks for that person when the
person is unable to speak for him or herself.
Change Agent
A change agent influences the direction of change and manages the change process. The nurse, as
a change agent, is a proactive and reactive practitioner who acts to modify and improve current health
care based on evidenced-based practice.
Body Systems
Body systems are the division of the human body into specific areas of human physiological and
psychological functioning.
Nursing Process
The nursing process is a systematic, client-centered, goal-oriented method that directs the nurse
and client to determine the need for nursing care through assessment, analysis, planning, implementation
of the care, and evaluation of the effectiveness of the care provided. The purpose of the nursing process
is to assist the nurse to manage the client’s care scientifically and competently while promoting,
maintaining, or restoring health or supporting the client with a peaceful, dignified death.
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Nursing Roles
The nursing process is administered through the interrelated roles of nursing, which define the
functions of the nurse. As a provider of patient-centered care, the nurse focuses care on the patient and
not the disease or provider. The nurse utilizes critical thinking to implement the nursing process in a
caring, competent, culturally sensitive manner. The role of the provider includes the use
teaching/learning principles and practice within legal, ethical and regulatory parameters. As a patient
safety advocate, the nurse promotes a safe environment for patients, maintains professional boundaries,
and demonstrates knowledge about the Texas Nursing Practice Act and Board rules. As a member of the
health care team, the nurse collaborates, communicates, delegates, supervises, refers, and functions
within the nurse’s legal scope of practice. As a member of a profession, the nurse serves as a health care
advocate, and assumes responsibility and accountability for one’s own competence and the quality of
care provided.
Safety Considerations
Safety is the minimization of risk to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and
individual performance. Safe nursing practice includes consideration of factors affecting safety, creating
a culture of safety, recognizing adverse effects, effective use of technologies and strategies to support a
safe environment for patients and providers, incorporation of the Joint Commission’s National Patient
Safety Goals into patient care, and quality improvement processes.
Ethical/Legal Considerations
Ethics is the systematic, autonomous, critical inquiry of inner values that direct decisions
regarding right and wrong as they related to conduct. Ethics involves the promotion of good and the
avoidance of harm to clients under nursing care. Laws affecting nursing practice, including the Texas
Nursing Practice Act, are standards or rules of conduct established and enforced by the government that
are intended to protect the rights of the public and enable nurses to conduct themselves in a manner that
is consistent with their personal moral code and professional role responsibilities.
Developmental Considerations
The developmental process is an orderly, predictable, continuous, life-long progression of either
an individual or family through definable stages beginning at conception and ending with death.
Development is an outcome of the individual’s or family’s response to a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic
factors: biological, chronological, psychological, social, environments, life experiences, and state of
health. Nursing practice focuses on identification of the states of the basic life cycle to promote factors
that permit attainment of the client’s optimal potential.
Cultural Considerations
Nursing seeks to understand each client’s unique perspective in order to provide care that
enhances his/her individual health and well-being. Focusing on the differences and similarities among
cultures is the framework needed to provide culturally competent nursing care, especially in regard to
caring, health and illness.
Pharmacological Considerations
Medication administration includes the knowledge of medication classification, actions and
interactions, side/adverse effects, nursing implications, and safe administration practices. It is
fundamental and imperative for the nurse to competently and safely administer medications and assess
the effects of the medication on the client’s health. This knowledge incorporates the physiological,
psychological, and sociological effects of medication administration on clients.
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Reviewed 03/10
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