Saginaw Valley State University (Department of Nursing)

PHILOSOPHY & ORGANIZING FRAMEWORK We as a department acknowledge the influence of the University and surrounding community environments, as well as the historical context that has brought us to this point in time. Our beliefs have been framed by a number of factors that make us unique and give meaning to how we interact as faculty, both within the nursing profession and the SVSU community. We are unique in that: * We are part of a regional institution; many of our students remain in this area and have a direct impact on health care practices in this community. We have a responsibility, therefore, to understand the local health care environment and to help students understand the differences between this and other settings. * The contiguous three cities and counties are represented in the University symbol of the pyramid. The three have very different socioeconomic profiles including minority representation, ethnic orientation, and income levels. All three enjoy distinct images and have established health care institutions that reflect these images. Historical evidence, stemming from the lumbering era, points to these communities as being traditional and paternalistic. The communities also have been influenced by industries such as the automotive and chemical. These characteristics and influences are reflected in the decision making process and goals of the area's health care organizations. * Although the area has a rural influence there are some inner city influences that provide opportunities for a variety of student learning. * The students who select nursing generally come from similar value orientations; but, are diverse in age, preparation, inclination, motivation and exposure to a range of ideas. They grow when their assumptions about the world are examined and when they are challenged to do more abstract thinking. * The first graduating class designed the pin as a depiction of how they saw nursing--as a peaceful art. The symbol they used--a dove with an olive branch--then was adopted by the Department of Nursing. * The program is small and has allowed faculty to interact in a caring manner with students. * The nursing faculty represent a variety of institutions in educational preparation and experience and bring a variety of clinical expertise to the faculty role. All of these factors have contributed to our shared commitment to transformation as a perspective for the nursing program. Transformation involves change, empowerment, and innovation for a collective purpose. This perspective, coupled with our unique mix of students, faculty, environment and history, provides learners with the opportunity to explore their understanding of the world. Students need opportunities to engage in these explorations in ways that challenge and broaden their understanding and foster their general education experiences. The organizing framework of the department is based upon our beliefs about who we are and what we do as a faculty and as a group of learners. Our beliefs can be visualized as pyramids. For the undergraduate program, the base includes the concepts of communication and critical thinking, the sides represent the four metaparadigm concepts and the peak of the pyramid is nursing intervention. Similarly for the graduate program, the base includes the concepts of communication, critical thinking, leadership, and research; the sides represent the four metaparadigm concepts; and the peak is advanced nursing practice. Communication is seen as a universal function involving human interpretation with the goal of interactive competence. Critical thinking is seen as an evolutionary relationship between action and knowledge propelled by critical reflection for emancipation. Conceptually, for the undergraduate program, the nursing faculty believe that the base concepts of communication and critical thinking are supported by the processes of: nursing process, research, teaching learning, and leadership. For the graduate program, the faculty elevate the processes of leadership and research to concepts. Leadership is the creation of an environment that empowers people to work toward a shared vision. Research is systematic inquiry for the purpose of validating or developing knowledge. Research traditions emerge from the paradigms of the discipline and relate to phenomena of concern to nursing. The faculty also believe the metaparadigm (human, environment, health and nursing) provides a means of guiding learning in the curriculum. This belief is demonstrated through progressive development of knowledge using a variety of theoretical perspectives about the metaparadigm concepts. Knowledge development takes into account the level of the nursing student. Knowledge development is facilitated by critical thinking through the analysis of metaparadigm concepts using the lens of the broader, discipline-defining theories. Human is viewed as an entity who participates in a family unit, as the unit itself or as a community with inherent worth and dignity throughout the life span. Humans exercise freedom of choice in pursuit of self-actualization and have ultimate accountability for decisions and behavior. Environment is viewed as consisting of all conditions, circumstances, and influences that are part of being and becoming. Health is viewed as a function of perception and observation. Health incorporates illness and wellness and is viewed as actualization of human potential for development. Nursing, as a content area of general and advanced practice, is viewed in the curriculum as the practice of providing care, the roles enacted within the health care system, and as substantive knowledge. In this curriculum, family and community are co-participators with nursing in health care. Nursing roles are differentiated in focus and complexity at the graduate and undergraduate levels as is the understanding of the metaparadigm and foundational concepts. Nursing, as an academic and practice discipline grounded in research, has an associated value orientation and a professional standard of practice. Therapeutic nursing interventions, as the culmination of how the world sees who we are and what we do, are supported by the middle range theories and accompanying research. These theories and research studies support nurses' understanding and intervention and are explored for their instrumental and conceptual utilization. The nursing faculty view themselves as co-learners/expert learners. Faculty interact with students to explore scholarly modalities and go beyond rationale to situated meaning. The expectation of continuing education is shared with the student co-learners. The learning environment is a caring environment based on the learner's level of understanding of the meaning of how to be as a nurse.

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School name: Saginaw Valley State University (Department of Nursing)
Address: 7400 Bay Road
Zip & city: MI 48710-0001  University Center
Phone: 989.964.4132
Web: http://www.svsu.edu/nursing/nursing.cfm
Email: Click here to email this school

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