Nursing is a practice profession providing goal directed wholistic care to individuals, families, and communities based on the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual or potential health problems for promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health. The Seward County Community College nursing faculty subscribe to the definition of nursing practice as described and protected by the Kansas Nurse Practice Act.
Nursing process is a systematic method involving critical thinking to guide the nurse and client as they together determine the need for nursing care, plan and implement the care, and evaluate the results. The steps in the client-centered, goal-oriented process are interrelated and include assessing, diagnosing strengths and problems, development of a wholistic plan of individualized care, implementation of the plan of care, and evaluating the effectiveness of the plan in terms of client outcomes.
Education is a life-long process and an empowering force that enables an individual to achieve higher goals. Nursing programs need to be flexible to meet the learning needs of a changing student population. Nursing education should occur in institutions of higher learning incorporating all types of collegiate activities. The goal of nursing education is to provide an approachable, nurturing environment in which nursing students can develop self-discipline, intellectual curiosity and critical thinking skills, and to prepare practitioners to meet the nursing needs of a diverse society.
The nursing graduate is a member of a collaborative health care team who functions within the legal/ethical framework to provide care to clients in a dynamic health care system. The graduate is prepared at an entry level to assume the nursing roles of provider of care, manager of care, and member within the discipline of nursing, having completed a core of nursing content and clinical experiences consistent with ANA Standards of Practice and NLN competencies for Associate Degree Nursing graduates.