Welcome to the JoAnne Gay
Dishman Department of Nursing

MISSION, MOTTO, VISION & PHILOSOPHY

Mission

The mission of the Lamar University Department of Nursing is to educate undergraduate and graduate students to become qualified, competent, professional nurses who are prepared for practice.  The Department provides quality nursing education relevant to a changing profession, society, and healthcare environment.  Collaboration between faculty and students promotes excellence in health care delivery to diverse populations.  A spirit of caring, continual inquiry, creativity and integrity is promoted through teaching, scholarship, leadership and service.

Motto

A spirit of caring - A vision of excellence

Vision

Excellence in nursing education, in partnership with the community.

Philosophy

The Department of Nursing faculty believe in preparing students to become competent graduates who provide quality nursing care to diverse populations in an ever-changing society.  Personal, social, and professional strengths of the graduates are developed to form a basis for continued growth.

Undergraduate
Faculty beliefs about the metaparadigm of nursing associated with undergraduate education are described below: 

Nursing is based on the concepts of professional integrity, effective communication, active inquiry, and service to the community. The goals of nursing are to assist humanity in disease prevention, health promotion, health maintenance and restoration, and the support of death with dignity.  Nursing utilizes a spirit of caring, interpersonal communication, critical thinking, and therapeutic interventions to contribute to the health of the individual and society. The responsibility of nurses is to utilize the nursing process to assist people to meet health care needs and to attain health related goals.  As members of the profession, nurses collaborate with other disciplines in achieving these goals. The faculty believe in the preparation of professional nurses for three major roles:  provider of care, coordinator of care, and member of the profession.

Health is a dynamic state of physical, mental, and social well-being, requiring constant adaptation to internal and external environmental stressors.  Each person experiences varying states of health while progressing through the life span.  Health decisions are an individual responsibility influenced by knowledge, culture, family structure, society, and personal choice.

Humanity consists of unique holistic beings of intrinsic worth and dignity that have the right to self determination, well-being, and equity.  Humans are adaptive in nature, constantly interacting with changing environments and society in progressing toward fulfillment of innate potential for growth, development, and maturation throughout the life span.

Society consists of individuals, families, and cultures living collectively as members of a community.  In a global society interactions among humans are diverse, continuously evolving, and interdependent.  Humans are adaptive in nature and an integral part of society.  Within society, the cornerstone of humanness is a spirit of caring.

Environment is an aggregate of all internal and external factors which influence individuals and groups.  The environment provides the context for the development of individuals, the identification of health needs, and the evolution of nursing.  Through an on-going interactive process the environment and nursing influence each other.  A caring environment is conducive to growth through creative, flexible learning opportunities and communication.

Undergraduate Education is a process shared by the faculty and the learner.  Learning is the exploration, utilization, and generation of knowledge.  Learning is the responsibility of each person and is accomplished through self motivation, active inquiry, and participation in the educational process.  Faculty believe that nursing education is the systematic guidance of the learner toward acquiring professional skills in communication, clinical practice, management, and critical thinking. Components of the nursing curriculum include the study of nursing theories, nursing process, professional roles, ethical and legal issues, therapeutic interventions, health care trends, and management concepts. The faculty support the preparation of registered nurses at the associate and baccalaureate levels.

Associate Degree graduates are prepared as competent entry-level practitioners to assess the health needs of individuals and families.  General education courses provide a foundation for nursing content in associate degree programs.  As members of the profession, graduates are able to plan, implement, evaluate and coordinate care for clients in a variety of health care settings. Through education, articulation, and experience, graduates are able to pursue lifelong learning.

Baccalaureate Degree graduates are prepared with a broad perspective and understanding of society, the environment, and people as diverse individuals, families, groups, and communities.  Baccalaureate education incorporates a broad range of basic, behavioral, and social sciences, communication and data analysis content to provide a strong foundation for future critical thinking and problem solving.  A baccalaureate degree is the most common requirement for entry into graduate nursing education where nurses may further develop their professional roles to become nurse educators, researchers, administrators, or advanced practice nurses.

Graduate
The master’s program builds upon the undergraduate philosophy and goals, and expands these to reflect advanced roles in nursing administration and nursing education.  The faculty adhere to the beliefs identified in the metaparadigm of the baccalaureate undergraduate nursing program and further define these beliefs to reflect the advanced roles of the nurse administrator and nurse educator.

Advanced Nursing Practice synthesizes theoretical frameworks from nursing and other disciplines into an expanded knowledge base.  The master’s prepared nurse functions as a teacher, researcher, advocate, consultant, collaborator and manager of systems.  Research methods are used to investigate problems, serve as the basis for initiating change, and provide new knowledge to improve nursing practice.  The master’s prepared nurse administrator and nurse educator demonstrates advanced nursing practice roles from professional, organizational, and personal perspectives within an ethical and legal framework.

Health:  Master’s prepared nurses contribute to the design and implementation of health care delivery and education systems for the improvement of health services.

Humanity: The nurse in an advanced nursing practice role utilizes expanded theoretical and evidence-based knowledge for interacting, educating, leading, communicating and initiating therapeutic interventions for various populations.

Society:  The master’s prepared nurse is able to analyze healthcare issues of various populations within a diverse society, and has an obligation to analyze and influence the development of healthcare policy.

Environment:  In advanced nursing practice, political and organizational systems are analyzed to improve healthcare delivery and nursing education. 

Graduate  Education:  Learning at the graduate level stems from an open collegial relationship between faculty and students. Faculty encourages the learner to be the determinant in the exploration and challenge of current knowledge and theories.  As students expand their professional paradigms to develop skills in knowledge synthesis, research, and advanced nursing practice roles, students change their thinking and incorporate knowledge from more theoretical models.  During this process they move from concrete perspectives toward an expanded awareness of the world, which can lead to doctoral study.