The philosophy and purposes of the Department of Nursing, Camden College of Arts and Sciences, are consistent with the Statement of University Goals. The faculty of the Department of Nursing believes in striving for continuing development and improvement of the nursing program that will serve the health care needs of the culturally diverse community located in southern New Jersey. This is accomplished through baccalaureate education for professional nurses who are encouraged to develop a spirit of inquiry and discovery, as well as creative and critical thinking. The nurse interacts with the individual, family and community to conserve health, prevent illness, restore wellness, and ameliorate the health status.

Professional nursing is based upon a framework of education, theory, practice, and research. This framework reflects philosophical beliefs about humans, environment, health and nursing.

The faculty believes that a human being is a biological, psychological, sociocultural, and spiritual being. Each individual is unique, has personal dignity and worth, and should be accorded all rights inherent in a free society. Multidimensional human beings are developmental beings, dynamically striving toward optimum potential. Humans' biological, psychological, sociocultural, and spiritual dimensions are in constant interaction with each other and with the environment. A human being influences and is influenced by family/group relationships, social roles, ethnic background, value systems, and socioeconomic factors. The individual has options and opportunities to make informed choices regarding health needs. The individual also impacts upon and is affected by the immediate environment as well as factors of the macroenvironment such as atmosphere, water, and food supply.

A human being possesses adaptive mechanisms and continually strives to adapt to both internal and environmental stressors. The level of adaptation at any given time varies and is seen on a continuum of wellness to illness.

Environment encompasses all that is external to human beings--the geographic location and physical setting as well as all available social contacts and resources. Human support systems and social networks within the community of a human being are in constant interrelationship and affect each person's adaptive responses to stressors. Environment is the setting for health services, which may include the home, hospital, clinic, community and society.

Health is a state of optimum function within a given environment. It is viewed as a dynamic process along a wellness/illness continuum. The ability of the client to adapt to actual or potential stressors affecting health status is dependent upon biological endowment, psychological orientation, sociocultural environment, and spirituality. Health potential is affected by the client's interpretation of an ideal healthy state. This view recognizes individual choices, values, culture, education, strengths and weaknesses. The client must be an active participant in the process of health care to achieve maximum health potential.

Quality health care is implemented through the American Nurses' Association's Standards of Nursing Practice. Access to health care and health education is a basic right of each individual and health teaching is an integral component of nursing care.

Nursing is a profession encompassing the four interdependent dimensions of education, theory, practice, and research. The goal of nursing is to facilitate the optimum health potential of the client. It encompasses assessment of the client's position on the wellness/illness continuum and identification of actual or potential alterations in health status. Planning and implementation of care are designed to prevent illness, to conserve and restore health, and to ameliorate the health status of the client. Evaluation of nursing care is a continuous process.

The professional nurse serves clients both through direct care and assisting clients to become self-reliant and autonomous advocates of their own health. The professional nurse knows the complex nature of quality health care and the need for referrals, collaboration and joint planning with other members of the health care team.

The faculty of the Department of Nursing believes the professional nurse is a collegial member of the health care team dedicated and committed to assisting the client to adapt to a changing environment. Professional nursing accepts the responsibility for the care and coordination of health services to human beings and society.

The professional nurse utilizes theories of communication, change, leadership, and teaching-learning as well as research methodology in the facilitation of optimum health potential of the client. The multifaceted professional role includes that of practitioner, health teacher, consumer of research, change agent, leader, collaborator, and client advocate. The nurse is self-directed, professionally and personally accountable, and humanitarian. Initiative is demonstrated in client care, professional development, and personal growth.

Education for Professional Nursing includes the acquisition of liberal education and scientific knowledge, promotes the transfer of this knowledge from one sphere to another, and from theory into practice. Education for professional nursing is best accomplished in a college or university setting that encourages the spirit of inquiry, excitement of discovery, and creative and critical thinking. It is within this setting that the future practitioner can best gain the understanding and appreciation of the function of nursing in society and become a contributing member through development of individual potential.

Learning is the acquisition of knowledge and skills that results in a behavior change. It is best accomplished through a process of inquiry based on previously learned knowledge and skills. Learning is enhanced by active participation of the learner; therefore, the students are actively involved in using scientific inquiry, identifying and meeting learning objectives, and independently utilizing the nursing process.

Students have varying abilities and bring a wide range of experiences to the learning situation. The faculty welcomes this heterogeneity in student population believing that it enhances the learning process. Provision must then be made for individual learning needs and abilities.

The faculty, as facilitators of learning, assume the responsibility for creating a climate in which the student has the opportunity to think critically, communicate clearly, and become self-directed in acquiring knowledge. The faculty serves as role models for clinical practice and professional character.

Consonant with the statement of University Goals and with the Philosophy of the Department of Nrusing, Camden College of Arts and Sciences, the purposes of the program are:

• to contribute to meeting the health care needs of a culturally diverse community through the preparation of generic students and registered nurses who will practice as professional members of health care teams in a variety of settings.
  
  
• to prepare graduates who assume responsibility for their professional practice, personal and professional growth, and for developing their leadership potential within the nursing profession and society.
  
  
• to generate scholarly activities in nursing and health care through presentation of a curriculum composed of liberal arts and scientific knowledge with emphasis on research/inquiry skills.
  
  
• to enhance the image of professional nursing by extending its resources, knowledge and expertise to the academic, health professional and lay communities.

The Department of Nursing of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Camden College of Arts and Sciences is committed to meeting its threefold mission of education, research and service in southern New Jersey. This mission will be accomplished through teaching of generic nursing students and registered nurses for baccalaureate level professional practice. Faculty will contribute to the mission through scholarly activities in nursing and health care. Faculty will extend their resources, knowledge, and expertise through service to the community.

In accordance with the Statement of Philosophy and the identified purposes of the program, the following expected outcomes are considered desirable behaviors for beginning professional nursing practice. The graduate will:

1. utilize the nursing process in the conservation, restoration, and amelioration of health and in the prevention of illness for clients experiencing various levels of health in a variety of health care settings;
2. synthesize knowledge from the natural and social sciences and the humantiies in the acquisition of core nursing knoweldge, competencies, and values, for professional pracdtice;
3. apply change theory in promoting innovations in the health care delivery system and in adapting to the diversified role of the professional nurse;
4. exercise independent judgment in planning, providing, and coordinating health care to the multidimensional client across the life span, who is the individual, the family, and the community;
5. collaborate with colleagues in nursing, with members of other disciplines, and withi consumers in sharing responsibility for the planning, coordination, and provisin of health care;
6. assume individual responsibility and accountability for professional practice;
7. exhibit initiative and self-direction in professional advancement and pursuit of life-long learning;
8. provide leadership and direction in the provision, promotion, and evaluation of quality health care;
9. utilize nursing research in professional practice;
10. incorporate nursing, ethical and legal standards into professional practice;
11. demonstrate core knoweldge, competencies, and technical skills in the planning and proivision of care with individuals, families, and communities.