Mission Statement

Graham Hospital School of Nursing will continuously achieve excellence in diploma nursing education.

Philosophy

Graham Hospital School of Nursing is a three-year diploma program that addresses the health care needs of the community by providing professional nursing education.  The program provides comprehensive educational experiences that nurture growth in professional values, develops competencies in nursing, and prepares the graduate to contribute to a diverse society.  The curriculum prepares the graduate to practice as a generalist independently or collaboratively with other health care providers.

Biological, physical, and psychosocial sciences are used to formulate nursing practice decisions.  Nursing has a specialized body of knowledge and skills derived through research, supported by evidence, and delivered in an effective, efficient, and caring manner.

Nursing education provides the student with the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills essential for beginning practice as a registered nurse in a variety of health care settings.  Nursing contributes to the total health of populations by providing quality care to individuals, families, and groups as aggregates.

The nursing process is an analytical approach that guides nursing activities while individualizing care for client(s), families, and groups.  Professional nursing is actualized through the roles of provider of care, communicator, teacher, professional member, leader, and client advocate.  Nursing practice decisions incorporate legal, ethical, moral, and economic aspects to advance our communities’ health.

Health is a dynamic state of functioning in which there is continual adaptation to internal and external stressors.  These stressors can be from the physical, psychological, social, environmental, and/or spiritual dimensions.  Health status is reflected by the extent to which the individual, family, or group has reached certain levels of adaptation within a multidimensional state of wellness.  Wellness is an adaptive state encompassing the maximum potential of the individual, regardless of their state of health.  Illness is a maladaptation or a breakdown in the ability of the individual, family, or group to cope with stressors in the environment.

Nursing is a caring profession whereby judgments are utilized in a variety of settings to assist man to attain, maintain, or regain an optimum level of wellness.  Man’s environment is both internal and external in nature and is understood as those interacting stressors that influence their state of health along the wellness-illness continuum.  Man functions as a unified whole within the environment and communicates their needs through an interpersonal process.  Man strives continuously to bring into balance those ever‑changing environmental stressors.  This inherent stress‑adaptation process is an integral part of man’s existence.

Man is a holistic, integrated being with inherent dignity and worth whose physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development progresses through the life cycle.  Freedom of choice and self‑determination are inherent rights and responsibilities of man.  Nursing formulates decisions that recognize man’s basic needs as a bio‑psychosocial‑spiritual being.

Education is a life‑long process of planned and peripheral learning experiences, which results in the acquisition of knowledge, skills, judgments and attitudes.  Important aspects of this process include critical thinking, communication, and goal setting.  The educators are facilitators of this process, assisting students to integrate theoretical knowledge and clinical experiences.

Learning is the emergence of new knowledge and/or patterns of behavior through active and dynamic interaction with the environment. Learning is affected by the individual’s values, needs, previous knowledge, experience, and reinforcement.  Learning is best accomplished in an environment that encourages free exchange of ideas and experiences between educators and students.  The educators are responsible for guiding the student toward independent, safe nursing practice based on nursing process and creating an environment which allows for mutual personal growth, freedom of expression, dignity, and self‑worth.  The students are responsible for their own learning and, with guidance, evaluation of learning outcomes.

End-of-Program Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the curriculum, the student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate professional values in relationship to self, profession, and society.
2. Analyze theoretical and empirical knowledge from the biological, physical, and psychosocial sciences and nursing as a basis for formulating nursing practice decisions.
3. Utilize the nursing process in a variety of settings to provide health care to individuals, families, and groups throughout the life cycle.
4. Use the roles of direct provider of care, manager, leader, teacher, communicator, client advocate, and professional team member to coordinate, facilitate, and improve the quality of health and the delivery of health care in a variety of settings.
5. Analyze theoretical knowledge relevant to human adaptation to assist individuals, families, and groups experiencing change on the wellness/illness continuum.
6. Evaluate the internal and external environment to promote the optimum wellness of man.
7. Formulate nursing practice decisions that recognize man’s basic needs, inherent dignity, self-worth, holistic nature, and self-determination.
8. Use the process of critical thinking to enhance the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes.