BSN Student Handbook

A. MISSION OF THE CANSECO SCHOOL OF NURSING

The mission of the Dr. F.M. Canseco School of Nursing is to prepare professional nurses to improve the well-being of complex and diverse populations.

B. TEXAS A&M INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY MISSION STATEMENT

Texas A&M International University (TAMIU), a member of The Texas A&M University System, prepares students for leadership roles in an increasingly complex, culturally diverse state, national, and global society. TAMIU provides a learning environment built on a solid academic foundation in the arts and sciences. The University offers a range of baccalaureate and master’s programs and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in International Business Administration. In addition, the University pursues a progressive agenda for global study and understanding across all disciplines.

Through instruction, faculty and student research, and public service, TAMIU improves the quality of life for citizens of the border region, the state of Texas, and national and international communities.

C. PHILOSOPHY OF THE COLLEGE OF NURSING AND HEALTH SCIENCES

The faculty believe that the College of Nursing and Health Sciences of Texas A&M International University is in a unique position, as a result of geographic location and institutional affiliation, to prepare professional nurses to improve the well-being of complex, multicultural and diverse populations. Faculty believe that professional nursing education must address a wide range of health beliefs in combination with dynamic political, social, economic and legal issues.

Professional nurses have distinct educational needs and practice responsibilities. The faculty believe that nursing education is a lifelong process that includes formal and informal components and that teaching and learning are reciprocal activities during which faculty and students learn from each other. To effectively serve a diverse population amid rapid changes in health care systems and treatment, nurses must develop critical thinking through enhanced creative and flexible problem-solving skills. Diverse and changing health care needs and patient safety goals can best be met by evidence-based practice based on theory and research. The faculty of the

School of Nursing are committed to educating outstanding clinicians, scholars, health advocates, mentors and leaders who will be instrumental in addressing the health care needs of communities. Strong communication skills are essential to enactment of these roles and professional nurses must also be increasingly concerned with the ethical, legal, political and socioeconomic dimensions of their practice.

Nursing is a learned and complex therapeutic process through which the nurse engages individuals, patients, families, or communities for the purpose of meeting health needs. Nurses understand health and illness to be relative conditions that include life experiences and biological phenomena. Effective nurses utilize a broad framework based on the humanities and the social and biological sciences. Furthermore, the nurse-patient relationship requires a broad understanding of diverse individuals and communities along with the therapeutic use of self.

The faculty believe that the College of Nursing and Health Sciences of Texas A&M International University is in a unique position, as a result of geographic location and institutional affiliation, to prepare professional nurses to improve the well-being of complex, multicultural and diverse populations. Faculty believe that professional nursing education must address a wide range of health beliefs in combination with dynamic political, social, economic and legal issues.

Professional nurses have distinct educational needs and practice responsibilities. The faculty believe that nursing education is a lifelong process that includes formal and informal components and that teaching and learning are reciprocal activities during which faculty and students learn from each other. To effectively serve a diverse population amid rapid changes in health care systems and treatment, nurses must develop critical thinking through enhanced creative and flexible problem-solving skills. Diverse and changing health care needs and patient safety goals can best be met by evidence-based practice based on theory and research. The faculty of the

School of Nursing are committed to educating outstanding clinicians, scholars, health advocates, mentors and leaders who will be instrumental in addressing the health care needs of communities. Strong communication skills are essential to enactment of these roles and professional nurses must also be increasingly concerned with the ethical, legal, political and socioeconomic dimensions of their practice.

Nursing is a learned and complex therapeutic process through which the nurse engages individuals, patients, families, or communities for the purpose of meeting health needs. Nurses understand health and illness to be relative conditions that include life experiences and biological phenomena. Effective nurses utilize a broad framework based on the humanities and the social and biological sciences. Furthermore, the nurse-patient relationship requires a broad understanding of diverse individuals and communities along with the therapeutic use of self.

D. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The conceptual framework of the Canseco School of Nursing is portrayed as a pair of hands joined within a globe. The globe signifies the international context of the nursing program. The hands are joined in such a way that the individual fingers are intertwined and hidden within the clasp of the two hands. 

At one level, the clasped hands represent the interaction between nurse and partner, be that patient, individual, family, population, community, or member of the interdisciplinary healthcare team. In this interchange, the fingers of the two hands become so intertwined that it becomes difficult to determine which fingers derive from which hand.

At another level, the two hands represent the two foci of the curriculum: expertise in clinical nursing care and nursing in partnership with communities. Together these two capacities can effect dramatic changes in the world with which they interact.

The hand clasp can be loosened somewhat to reveal individual fingers that represent the strands of the nursing curriculum, as described by the ten curricular objectives: (1) a broad base of knowledge; (2) cultural competence; (3) critical thinking and the research process; (4) the nursing process; (5) health promotion; (6) professional nursing roles; (7) societal trends; (8) law and ethics; (9) life-long learning; and (10) service to the profession and community.

The ten strands are defined within the context of the overall program philosophy of cultural diversity and community partnership, as follows:

1. A broad base of knowledge includes grounding in the natural and social sciences, the liberal arts as well as awareness of tradition and prior learning and experience.

2. Transcultural nursing and cultural aspects of care include awareness of individual and cultural variations in health status, human development, values, beliefs, attitudes, history, and environment and how these differences affect the need for and acceptance of nursing care within a global context.

3. Critical thinking includes the use of problem solving, clinical judgment/decision making and the research process to apply appropriate principles for the resolution of ever changing societal and professional problems.

4. The nursing process involves assessing, diagnosing, planning, implementing and evaluating evidenced-based and culturally-appropriate nursing care in collaboration with patients, families, populations, communities, and other members of the health care team.

5. Health promotion strategies incorporate the three modes of Leininger’s Transcultural Nursing Care theory (preservation, accommodation and repatterning) to promote health of individuals/patients, families, populations, and communities within the limits of culturally acceptable behaviors.

6. Professional nursing roles include those of provider of patient-centered care, health care team member/collaborator, leader/manager, educator, scholar, patient safety advocate, activist, mentor, and entrepreneur.

7. Societal trends involve analysis of the impact of evolving socioeconomic, political, and demographic changes on nursing practice and health care systems.

8. Legal and ethical principles that guide professional nursing practice include adherence to the Texas Nurse Practice Act, standards of professional nursing, nursing codes of ethics, and statutory and case law.

9. Lifelong learning incorporates current evidence-based knowledge of nursing and health care standards.

10. Service to the profession and community includes participation in activities of nursing-and health- related organizations of the University and community.

E. SCHOOL OF NURSING BSN PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

During the course of studies, the student will:

1. Synthesize knowledge from the arts, humanities, sciences, and other disciplines in developing a framework for nursing knowledge and practice.

2. Explore the effect of variations in health status, developmental processes, values, beliefs and attitudes, culture, history, and environment on nursing care needs.

3. Use critical thinking, clinical judgment/decision making, problem-solving, and the research process in the development of nursing knowledge and practice.

4. Assess, diagnose, plan, implement, and evaluate evidence-based and culturally appropriate safe nursing care with patients, families, populations and communities.

5. Evaluate utilization of health promotion strategies in the development of nursing practice.

6. Develop professional nursing practice frameworks and roles, including the provider of patient-centered care, health care team member/collaborator, leader/manager, educator, scholar, patient-safety advocate, activist, mentor, and entrepreneur.

7. Evaluate the impact of evolving technological, socioeconomic, political and demographic changes on nursing practice and health care systems.

8. Adhere to legal and ethical principles in the development of professional nursing practice.

9. Articulate a commitment to life-long learning.

10. Participate in nursing- and health-related service opportunities.