Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework has been designed to unify the approach to the curriculum by serving as a guide for the selection of nursing content, ordering of courses, and sequencing of meaningful learning experiences. The movement through the curriculum has as bi-determinants both content and process components.
Content Components
The four concepts that are central to the content development of the curriculum are the person, environment, health, and nursing. The concepts are defined as follows.
Person
Person incorporates the concepts of learner, self, individuals, families, groups, and communities. Human beings are unique individuals who have worth, rights, and inherent dignity. Persons have biological, psychological, social, spiritual, and cultural traits that influence their development. Throughout the life span, individuals exist within a social milieu and encounter forces that have an impact on optimal health and development.
Environment
Environment is the sum total of all internal and external phenomena and processes that have an impact on people. Environment includes physical, psychological, social, spiritual and cultural elements, as well as the conceptual space in which nursing is called for, initiated, and carried out. Environment also includes the historical, political, and economic conditions through which nursing evolves.
Health
Health represents a dynamic state of being resulting from interaction of person and environment. Health is the actualization of inherent and acquired human potential through satisfying relationships with others, goal directed behavior, and competent personal care. Adjustments are made as needed to maintain stability and structural integrity. Persons' state of health can vary from optimum wellness to illness, disease, and dysfunction and changes throughout an individual's life span.
Nursing
Nursing is the teaching of health promotion practices; the vigilant, sustained and continuous care of the acutely or chronically ill; the restorative care during convalescence and rehabilitation; the supportive care given to maintain the optimum level of health of individuals, families, groups, and communities; the teaching and evaluation of those who perform or are learning to perform these functions; the support and conduct of research to extend knowledge and practice; and the management of nursing in health care delivery systems.
Process Components
Interwoven with the concepts which determine content are those process concepts which nursing uses to maintain and improve the health of persons in their environment. These processes include inquiry, caring, and practice and are conceptualized as follows.
Inquiry
Inquiry is the process of seeking, developing , and applying knowledge. Inquiry includes the nursing process, scientific process, and research process. It also includes critical thinking, a deliberate and systematic process, which involves analysis and interpretation, inductive and deductive reasoning, drawing logical inferences, and evaluating and justifying conclusions.
Caring
Caring is a process, a way of relating to someone that involves development. In a caring relationship a person or idea is experienced both as an extension and as something separate from oneself. One experiences what is cared for as having a dignity and worth with potentialities and need for growth and development. Caring is the antithesis of possessing, manipulating, or dominating. In any actual instance of caring there must be someone or something specific that is cared for. Caring cannot occur in the abstract, nor can it occur by sheer habit. An essential ingredient of caring is communication: a dynamic, developmental process of transmitting perceptions, thoughts, and ideas in verbal, non-verbal, and written interactions. Within an intentional caring process, messages are effectively conveyed by persons or technology. Other essential ingredients of the caring process are: knowledge, communication, self-awareness and development, patience, honesty, trust, humility, hope, and courage.
Practice
The ability to provide theory-based therapeutic nursing interventions is the core of professional nursing practice. Therapeutic nursing interventions are those direct or indirect interactions that occur between a nurse and client to diagnose and treat human responses to actual or potential health problems. Furthermore, therapeutic nursing interventions have cultural and ethnic relevance for the client and are carried out within the ethical and legal domains of practice. In clinical practice, nurses use the nursing process to interact with clients in achieving mutual goals. The nursing process is informed through nursing research and consists of activities related to assessment, diagnosis, analysis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Professional nurses acquire and maintain current knowledge, are willing to participate in peer review and other activities that insure quality of care, and communicate effectively with clients, families, and other health care providers.
Summary
The conceptual framework of the School of Nursing may be summarized in the following statements: Health is a result of the interaction of a person with the environment and constantly changes across time. Nursing is the resource in the environment that can influence the health of a person through use of the processes of inquiry, caring and practice.
The curriculum is organized sequentially using the four content concepts. Person is conceptualized as self and individual at the sophomore level, is expanded to family at the junior level, and groups and communities are added at the upper levels. Likewise, the scope of the environment in which the individual interacts expands as the concept person develops to include families, groups, and communities.
Health is conceptualized as a dynamic state of being resulting from the interaction of person and environment. At the sophomore level, wellness of individuals across the lifespan is addressed. In the junior year, illness, disease, and dysfunction of families are added to the concept of wellness. The health of groups and communities is studied at the senior level. At the master's level, all aspects of health are addressed in the development of an advanced nursing practice. Nursing is characterized by a generalist approach at the undergraduate level and a specialist approach at the graduate level.
