NURS390:
Lesson 2: Educational Reflections/Goals
In this lesson, students will explore the evidence that supports baccalaureate education of professional nurses.
Congratulations for making the decision to further your education! As a registered nurse, you have already completed a rigorous program of study to obtain your current degree and now you are in a position to learn more about nursing and professional growth. In this lesson, we will explore some of documents and research that support baccalaureate education in nursing.
Lesson 2 Objectives
Upon completion of this lesson, you should be able to:
- Explain the processes inherent in successful transition to the role of the baccalaureate prepared nurse.
- Examine the IOM report: The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health (2010).
- Review evidence-based information that supports baccalaureate education of professional nurses.
Lesson Readings and Activities
- By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Course Schedule for Lesson 2.
Educational Preparation
Describe Your Educational Preparation.
Our three guests all have different educational experiences and career paths. It is interesting to hear about their reasons for obtaining their professional degrees and how they have applied them.
Bettyann Milliron: Yes. I started my nursing career at a hospital school of nursing, which was a diploma program. And at the time for financial reasons, I couldn't afford to go to a university for a bachelor degree, so that was my way of getting into the nursing profession of which I loved.
And then later on in my career, I found that for any advancement I would need to have a bachelor degree. So I got my bachelor degree through a distance-learning program that was being offered because I couldn't actually go to a university, because I had to work, and distance learning was really good for people who have to work.
Michelle Stroud: My educational preparation included receiving my associate degree in nursing from Mount Aloysius College. And then I went on to Penn State Altoona for the RN to BSN program. And then continued from there into Saint Francis University for my school nurse certificate, which required a BSN. And then-- now I'm interested in continuing on for the DNP program at Penn State.
Kelly Wolgast: My educational experience is very varied. I think I have both an academic educational experience and a life experience. I always wanted to be a nurse. My mom was a nurse. My aunt was a nurse. And I sort of always thought that I wanted to take care of people. I didn't know exactly how to do that. But in high school, I worked in a nursing home. And I really learned a lot about the hard work behind caring for people. But then I thought, OK, now I need to go off to college to do that.
And so I remember my mom sitting me down after I told her I wanted to be a nurse. And she said, gosh. It's the hardest job you will ever love. And so she wished me well. And off I went to Penn State in the '80s to get my baccalaureate degree in nursing.
After that, I needed to go on. I knew I was going to have to go on. And so academically, I have a master's in nursing from Vanderbilt University, nursing administration and education. I always thought leadership was where I wanted to be. I loved clinical, but I wanted also to do that.
At the same time, I explored a career in the military. I served in the Army as an Army nurse for over 26 years on active duty. And that is an encouraging leadership, not only clinical, but leadership opportunities, so I needed to get more education as well. So on the way, I got another master's degree in strategic studies through the Army War College as part of my military professional training.
And then finally, my doctorate in nursing practice is from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in executive nurse leadership. And so I really have a broad educational experience, I think, in nursing, but also really in health care, and in systems and understanding that nursing is really part of a bigger, broader system in our nation.
My life experience is also my education, and I've had many, many roles, both clinical and leadership, throughout my military experience, and then in my faculty in leadership positions at both when I retired from the military and now serving in academia.
Required Materials
PSU College of Nursing Philosophy
The College of Nursing at The Pennsylvania State University is an integral part of the College of Health and Human Development. The faculty at the College of Nursing ascribe to the general philosophy and educational policy set forth by the College and The Pennsylvania State University. The faculty believe that education for nursing is best achieved under the auspices of institutions of higher education and accept accountability for the academic functions of teaching, research, and service. Beliefs shared by the faculty emphasize and support the importance of diversity and human development throughout the life span. These beliefs serve as a basis to assist individuals, families and communities to develop desirable health patterns.
Human Beings
Human beings are unique and unitary. They are constantly evolving in the direction of increasing complexity as the individual accumulates experiences, life not only involves a fuller potential, but also offers a greater variety of behavioral repertoire. Important dimensions of human beings include: growth and development across the life span; communications and relationships that develop between individuals and within families, groups and communities; and those characteristics identified with human consciousness such as values, creativity, feelings, choices, and will. The capacity for thought and emotion enables individuals to be introspective, purposeful, and self-directed. His/her learning behaviors are motivated in response to perceived needs.
Environment
Environment is viewed as the contextual systems in which the individual, the family, the group, and the community exist and interact. The environmental contexts include: the personal environment consisting of significant others and social support systems in the life of the individual; the group environment, consisting of characteristics which emerge and develop as he/she relates in a group situation; the supra-personal environment that represents the norm of the person's proximal environment; the social environment consisting of those societal forces impacting on the individual; and the physical environment, that portion of the person's environment that is reducible to matter. Human beings, as open systems, are in mutual, simultaneous process with the environment and continually change together during that process.
Health
Health, which fluctuates throughout the life span, is a gestalt of wellness and illness. Wellness and illness are coexisting and interacting phenomena. The unitary person interacts with the totality of the environment, and the unique quality of this interaction influences one's health. Health is a synthesis of dynamic patterns of energy within the individual and between the person and environment. Health patterns maintain themselves and manifest multiple configurations of individual and environmental relations. Health is self-perceived and relative to each person's or group's beliefs and values. Common approaches to the understanding of the phenomenon of health stem from theories of human development, stress, disease, adaptation, crisis, life style, change, and consciousness. Because health patterns are dynamic, the recognition, identification, and facilitation requires periodic assessment.
Nursing
Nursing is a humanistic profession which respects the human being's dignity, integrity, and right to self-determination. The focus of nursing is the health of the person throughout the life span. Based on the assumption that the person has a responsibility for his/her own health, the goals of nursing are to utilize the nursing process in assisting clients in the recognition of health patterns and, when necessary, in the identification and facilitation of desirable alternatives. Nursing assumes a responsibility to society to develop and transmit knowledge and to provide service to individuals, families, groups, and communities as clients. Nursing educators, acting as an autonomous body, accept the responsibility for the development of professionals who are able to invest of self as therapeutic agents, who utilize critical thinking and decision-making skills to provide leadership in health care, and who have defined values and ethics relating to practice and research. The nature of nursing as a professional discipline includes its history, philosophy, science, and practice.
Beliefs about Learning/Nursing Education
Learning
Learning is a continuous, life-long process of self-discovery, knowledge development, evaluation, and growth. It is individualistic and proceeds in a simple to complex manner from the level of development, interests, and motivations of the learner. The teaching-learning process is reciprocal and interactive, with faculty and students sharing the cooperative enterprise of learning, inquiry, teaching, and evaluation. The learner is an active participant who assumes responsibility for his/her own learning, and independent learning is fostered by encouragement and support of the learner' self-directed inquiry. The role of faculty is to facilitate the learning process and to provide and foster opportunities for life-long learning.
Nursing Education
Nursing is primarily an intellectual endeavor and requires that its practitioners develop critical habits, intellectual curiosity, and disciplined modes of inquiry that are used in the practice of nursing. Nurses and nursing students should develop an understanding of the humanities, learn the fundamentals of the natural and social sciences, and acquire skills and perspectives unique to the field of nursing. One of the faculty's major responsibilities is to develop and implement a nursing curriculum that draws from other disciplines; that organizes content around the fundamental concepts of health, humankind and environment; and develops full appreciation of nursing's special obligation to teach. The faculty is equally aware of the responsibility to students and nurses to engage actively and continuously in opportunities that will enhance nursing competence and personal awareness. Furthermore, the faculty is sensitive to variations among students that may influence how rapidly and expertly they may be able to assume adequate nursing knowledge and related responsibilities. They encourage personal expressions of interest and preferences within the academic traditions of the University.
The faculty support the concept of educational mobility to provide opportunities for qualified students to enter new careers. The faculty recognize that students learn in many ways and their competencies may be validated by a variety of internal and external evaluative measures. Continuing education is a part of nursing education and supportive to the concept of life-long learning.
The focus of associate degree education in nursing is to prepare a competent individual to provide nursing care in a variety of health care settings to individuals with commonly occurring acute or chronic health problems. The graduate of the associate degree program is prepared to (1) be accountable for his/her practice (2) utilize nursing process in providing care (3) collaborate and consult with other health team members and (4) practice in a variety of health care settings.
The Associate Degree Program in Nursing consists of a basic foundation in the scientific and humanistic disciplines inherent in basic education. Nursing courses provide the foundation to enter the nursing discipline at a beginning level of competency. In addition to courses in nursing, other studies complement the nursing component and provide a basic level of general education. The structure of the Associate Degree Program in Nursing follows the same pattern as that of other associate degree programs at the University.
The focus of baccalaureate education in nursing is to prepare an individual with general nursing skills, knowledge, and values, who can function as a nurse within the health care system to provide comprehensive service to individuals, families, groups, and communities. The graduate of the baccalaureate program is prepared to (1) be accountable for his/her own nursing practice (2) accept responsibility for the provision of nursing care through others (3) develop methods of working collaboratively with other health professionals, and (4) practice in a variety of health care settings.
The Baccalaureate Program in Nursing is characterized by a foundation in scientific and humanistic disciplines inherent in learning, upon which is built the major in nursing. In addition to nursing courses, upper division studies include courses that complement the nursing component and increase the depth of general education. The structure of the Baccalaureate Program in nursing follows the same pattern as that of other baccalaureate programs at the University.
Differences may be found in practice settings and in the level of autonomy. However, the complexity of decision making within the nursing process is a major component in the differentiation of roles and levels of nursing practice between the associate degree nurse and the baccalaureate-prepared nurse.
The focus of master's education in nursing is to prepare a nursing scholar as an advanced practice nurse with a specialty focus in clinical nursing. The master's degree specialists include clinical nurse specialists, and acute and primary care nurse practitioners who serve individuals, families, and aggregate groups within diverse populations and settings.
The focus of doctoral education in nursing is to develop nurse scientists who are expert clinical scholars and able to provide leadership in nursing practice, research, and education.
Graduate education in nursing is characterized by a philosophy of expanding ideas and emphasis on knowledge development in nursing and healthcare. The primary goal of graduate nursing education is the development, transmission, and organization of nursing knowledge and the translation of that knowledge into practice in order to promote the health of individuals, families, and communities throughout society. The graduate nursing programs are an integral part of the Graduate School and graduate education at Penn State.
Your Nursing Philosophy
Now that you are familiar with the PSU College of Nursing Philosophy, what is your own? Think about your philosophy and share it with the class within the Nursing Philosophy Discussion Forum. It will be a valuable experience to see each other's thoughts/philosophies. Feel free to participate in discussion within this discussion forum as it relates to the Nursing Philosophy postings.