Our philosophy
Vision statement
The Faculty of Nursing contributes to nursing knowledge – locally, nationally and globally – through teaching, research, and participation in community service and by advancing leadership, innovation and excellence in practice.
Mission statement
The Faculty of Nursing promotes leadership in nursing education, research and practice. The faculty achieves this mission through commitment to:
* Questioning, developing, integrating, applying, and sharing nursing knowledge
* Creating a climate for the advancement of excellence in nursing practice
* Implementing a curriculum grounded in the principles of primary health care, social justice, and caring.
* Engaging diverse communities as full participants in inquiry, caring, and decision-making related to health.
Goals
- To create an academic environment that builds and maintains quality collegial relationships within and external to the faculty.
- To recruit and retain highly qualified faculty and student leaders capable of shaping practice, reflective of trends and needs that impact the health of the provinces.
- To model teaching excellence in theory and practice.
- To effectively allocate resources to best meet the diverse needs of all programs of study.
- To create and support a strong culture of scholarship.
Context
In order to prepare our students for practice in the current health care environment, the curriculum is responsive to the context of the social environment of health care. Of particular importance are societal and health care reform trends.
Philosophical underpinnings
The curriculum uniquely focuses on primary health care, social justice and caring as core values.
Major intellectual emphases are on understanding human responses and experiences in health and illness situations. Practice situations facilitate the development of knowledge and clinical competencies.
Our curriculum supports a holistic and multidimensional view of nursing.
Graduates are prepared to work with clients in achieving affordable and accessible care in a variety of settings. The Bachelor of Nursing degree fosters development of a transferable skill set, including critical thinking, which ensures a commitment to lifelong learning.
Societal trends
Societal trends have influenced both our health care reform and our nursing education.
The increase in acuity of client illnesses, shorter hospital stays, and diverse practice settings challenge nurse educators to educate nurses who both adapt well to institutional settings and are able to coordinate and provide follow-up care in the community.
Along with changing needs, rising costs of health care and economic constraints have resulted in a shift from expensive, curative medical approaches to practices that emphasize disease prevention and health promotion. This results in a more equitable and cost-effective distribution of health care resources.
As a consequence of consumerism, people no longer accept health care professionals as all knowing and all powerful and they want involvement in health care matters. An increased emphasis on health promotion to foster personal responsibility for wellness and to build healthy families and communities is a mark of health care reform that is sweeping New Brunswick and Canada.
Trends in health care reform
There is a continuing need for nurses to provide clinical services to individuals. This need is combined with a strengthened and more visible role for nurses in assessment, community based service, program planning, and evaluation (Nursing Resource and Management Plan, 1993).
Nurses need to be active in program development and policy-making across the range of essential health care services. (Nursing Resource and Management Plan). To ensure that the nursing curriculum meets service demands, nurses in various positions and settings around the province provide input into curriculum revision.
A continually evolving process we constantly solicit input from stakeholders (including employers, agencies, practicing nurses, students, and graduates) as part of our curriculum evaluation process.
Primary health care
Primary health care is both a philosophy and a resource.
This approach to nursing education is in keeping with The World Health Organization's definition for health which embraces the principles of social justice and equity and incorporates caring approaches.
Nursing is critical in a primary health care system by providing nursing education and practice with strategies to provide comprehensive, integrated, accessible, affordable, scientifically sound health services.
Primary health care addresses priority or essential personal, family and community needs through the full participation of clients and communities.
Social justice
Social justice is a philosophical approach that recognizes that all persons deserve fair treatment, basic necessities, and freedoms or rights. Nurses who are aware of social justice and social activism develop political consciousness and advocate for more equal distribution of society's resources.
Egalitarianism and utilitarianism from social justice
Fair treatment involves equitable distribution of benefits and burdens among members of society. Basic necessities include access to health care; minimum standards of income; access to affordable housing; and environmental safety.
Freedoms or rights that promote health include peace, shelter, food, education, income, stable ecosystem, justice, and equity.
Egalitarianism entitles all persons to equal shares of available goods and resources.
Utilitarianism distributes resources to achieve the greatest good and serve the largest number of people.
Caring
Caring as a universal phenomenon is essential to human development and survival and is a moral imperative of nursing.
Caring is a dynamic, informed, intentional process that requires a connection between individuals and/or groups.
Caring may occur privately or within broad socio-political contexts.
