Student handbook final draft

Nursing student Handbook Introduction 3 University and Program Overview 4-5 Mission Statement 5Philosophy Nine Foundational Concepts to Organize the Curriculum 7-8 Terminal OAACN Master’s Essentials 12 Masters Program Level Objectives _ 14AdmissionCurriculum 18 Policies & Procedures 19-40 Nursing Faculty & Staff 40 MSN NP Comprehensive Clinical Simulated Exam 41-42 Appendices 43-64Forms APPENDICES: Introduction Welcome to the Sonoma State University Nursing Department. The purpose of this Handbook is to inform allstudents about the nursing programs and specific policies and procedures of the Department, University and the Board of Registered Nursing. The guidelines/policies are effective for the current academic year. The curriculum prepares nurses to think critically and exercise leadership in planning, implementing, andevaluating nursing care. Students and faculty work closely together to choose clinical experiences that meet the interests of the student, fulfill the objectives of the course, and meet the needs of the community. Sonoma State University’s nursing programs are approved by the California State Board of Registered Nursing and accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing 3343 Peachtree RoadNE, Suite 850, Atlanta, GA 30326. We welcome you to the Sonoma State University Nursing Program and hope that your experience andeducation will be personally and professionally rewarding. University and Program Overview Located in California's premier wine country one hour north of San Francisco, Sonoma State University (SSU) is a small campus with big ideas located in Rohnert Park California. With a tradition of promoting intellectualand personal growth, leadership opportunities and technological proficiency, SSU offers its students a friendly, safe and informal atmosphere on a beautiful campus setting. SSU is one of 23 campuses in the California State University (CSU) system initially opening as a college in 1960 and moving to its current 220 acre location in 1966 and gained University status in 1978. SSU is a regionally serving public University and is one of 29 public Universities with COPLAC (Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges) designation in the United States and Canada and the only liberal arts college in the CSU with this prestigious designation. COPLAC designation is for small to medium size Universities that combine an egalitarian concern for access with academic rigor, focusing primarily on undergraduate studies. Our university was recently designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution with approximately28% of the student body identifying as Hispanic. We have just over 9,000 students at the University and offers 46 bachelor's degrees, 15 master's degrees, and 9 credential programs. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges regionally accredited the university. The Department of Nursing (DON) is housed in the School of Science and Technology along with 8 otherdepartments including Math & Statistics, Physics & Astronomy, Engineering Science, Computer Science, Chemistry, Biology, Geology, and Kinesiology. The Department of Nursing became a part of the university as a response to the service area's interest in a baccalaureate-nursing program at Sonoma State. In spring of 1971, planswere made to initiate a bachelor's program in nursing, and first nursing faculty came to SSU in 1972 and began working tirelessly to develop an innovative curriculum that was copied and used as a starting point for the curricula for the second step programs nationally and internationally for years to come. The Second Step program was developed with the primary purpose of providing a two-year upper division-nursing program for registered nurses, which articulated with junior college nursing programs. In fall 1972, the first class was admitted and later graduated in 1974, the program received its initial accreditation from the National League for Nursing the same year. In 1974 the nursing department moved into their current location in Nichols Hall. The program experienced phenomenal growth until the mid 1980s when undergraduate enrollment leveled off and then declined throughout the country. Enrollment in the baccalaureate program fluctuated for the next few years, and the department turned todevelopment of graduate education. A Master's program with Family Nurse Practitioner specialization was developed in 1984. A second Master's option in Nursing Administration was begun in 1988 and developed into a Nursing Leadership and Management program with tracks in Administration and Education that was discontinued in 2013. Concurrently with the graduate nursing program development, the Department of Nursing began to explore the creation of a pre-licensure baccalaureate program option that articulate with the established upper division RN toBSN program. The local community was very supportive of the Department of Nursing developing a pre-licensure baccalaureate program and in the fall of 1994 the department admitted the first class of students who completed theirBSN and curriculum for RN licensure simultaneously. The first class graduated in May 1998 and was successful on the RN licensing exam and in obtaining employment in the healthcare field. Our CNECM (Community Collaborative Nursing Education Continuum Model) program which began in 2009 was one of the first in Californiaallowing students currently enrolled in ADN programs at local community colleges to begin taking classes toward their BSN the summer between their 1st and 2nd year in their ADN program. Once they complete the ADN, they complete an additional summer and one additional year and graduate from the RN – BSN Program. Currently we havebaccalaureate and masters level education for the employed registered nurse in rural Northern California by removing barriers such as time and place, allowing students to remain in their communities to work and provide healthcare in these remote areas. Over the past decade, California experienced a deep economic recession that led to a sharp decrease in the state support for higher education. During that time the number of tenure track faculty decreased, class sizes increased and courses and programs were dropped from the schedule. Over the past several years SSU has welcomed an entirely new administration and state funding has improved affording the nursing department 5 new tenure track faculty hires to help fill the huge gap created during the previous decade with several retirements not replaced with new hires. The “new” University administration is working hard to expand and upgrade facilities and invest in students and the graduation initiative. Goals are being set based on a new 7 year strategic plan ()which was created by staff, faculty, administration and students with the primary goal to create a meaningful strategic plan that will guide campus decision-making, budget, academic program development, hiring,programming, fundraising, revenue diversification, and other core efforts for the next several years. In summary, SSU Department of Nursing is highly regarded and considered one of the best nursing schools in the region, with a strong commitment to diversity and our mission to serve the underserved populations of California. We offer pathways to BSN, MSN/FNP degree programs as well as the Post MSN FNP Certificate Program which benefit regional and distance students and employers while preparing students to make an impact in the community globally. The Department of Nursing continues to move on a positive path, striving to graduate wellqualified nurses to serve Northern California as well as enhance their faculty and programs. Welcome to Sonoma State University!! Mission Statement Sonoma State University’s mission (U) is reflected in the Department of Nursing’s (N) commitment to:N: Providing a foundation for lifelong professional learning U: Have a foundation for lifelong learning N: Practicing nursing within a broad cultural perspectiveU: Have a broad cultural perspective N:Affirming intellectual and aesthetic achievements as part of the human experienceU: Have a keen appreciation of intellectual and aesthetic achievements N: Developing professional leadership and active citizenship U: Are capable of pursuing fulfilling careers in a changing world N: Contributing to the health and well-being of the community within a perspective of the world at largeU: Are concerned with contributing to the health and wellbeing of the world at large Philosophy The philosophical foundation of the SSU Department of Nursing is based upon Humanistic NursingTheory (HNT) (Paterson & Zderad, 1988). Departmental values are based in Humanistic Nursing Theory (HNT from which faculty tailor curriculum and pedagogical methods. HNT is a multi-dimensional metatheory centered on the essence of nursing, the nurse client (individual, family, community, organization) interaction, and in providing an inclusive bridge from theory to practice. The Department of Nursing recognizes nursing as a nurturing response, based upon a blend of art and science, occurring within a subjective and objective environment with the aim of developing the wellbeing of both nurse and client (client as individuals, families, communities and organizations). Consistent with HNT is the considerationof students as unique individuals with varied ethnical and cultural backgrounds, learning styles and goals.Therefore, the following philosophical statements structure the Department of Nursing curriculum and policy. • Nursing centers on shared experiences and these interactions hold client nurse potentials forachieving growth, development and greater well-being. • Fulfilling health potentials for the client and nurse is the outcome of choices and the mutuallydetermined inter-subjective relating of those involved. • Humans have a basic need for being heard and affirmed. All nursing actions have the potential forbeing humanizing. • Humans have an “all at once” or gestalt existence including perceptions of the past, hopes, fears,environment and future. This inherent wholeness cannot authentically be reduced to separate needs, pathologies, cultures and parts. • The nurse must be aware of what he/she individually holds as truth so assumptions, preconceivedideas and expectations do not interfere with understanding the client’s perceptions of the experience. • The nurse perceives clients scientifically and intuitively through the synthesis of subjective andobjective accumulates knowledge. • Nurse client interactions are mutually dynamic in that they organize diverse data to createsomething new. • Nurses are members of an interrelated nursing community and a global community withobligations to each to promote a greater well-being. Nine Foundational Concepts to Organize the Curriculum Nine concepts are identified to serve as a foundation from which to implement the philosophy of the Sonoma State University Department of Nursing and guide for meeting the terminal objectives. These concepts are: caring, critical thinking, communication, advocacy/social justice, teaching, learning, professionalism, leadership, research and cultural competency. The faculty value the goal of the Qualityand Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) project and connect specific language of the QSEN Competencies with select concepts to emphasize the relationship to the curriculum. Within these Nine organizing concepts reside six critical competencies identified in the QSEN project. The faculty values the QSEN goal to prepare the future nurse with the knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA’s) necessary to continuously improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems within whichthey work. There we have connected the specific QSEN language for each of the six competencies to its related department philosophical concepts, thus emphasizing its relationship to the curriculum. • Human caring is the core of the intersubjective relationship between the client and the nurse. Caring encompasses nurturing thoughts and behaviors that support the fulfillment of client and nurse health potentials and the outcome of choices. Caring is manifested in compassion, empathy, respect, and presence. Caring occurs through sharing and relating with clients, families, professional colleagues and other health care providers within a local and global perspective. Supported by philosophical statements 1,4. • Critical thinking is essential for the practice of nursing. The ideal critical thinker is habituallyinquisitive, well-informed, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in evaluation, honest in facing personal biases, prudent in making judgments, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information, reasonable in the selection of criteria, focused in inquiry, and persistent in seeking results which are as precise as the subject and the circumstances of inquiry permit. (Facione, 1990, p3) Philosophical statements 1,2,5,7 support the following definition • Communication is the vehicle for inter-subjective relating between client, nurse and the greater community that fulfills health potentials. Communication requires scientific and intuitive perceptions to support an exchange in which the client is heard and affirmed. Communication in nursing is a dialogue in which meeting, relating, presence; a call and response are essential (Paterson and Zderad, 1976, 1988). Supported by Philosophical statements 1,2,3,5,7 • Advocacy/Social Justice is the spiritual and ethical determination of beneficence for the client,for the self and the profession. Advocacy acknowledges uniqueness and diversity and requires free choice, selfdetermination and self-responsibility. Social justice acknowledges just ways ofcare in accordance with ethical nursing practice. Supported by Philosophical statements 1,3,5,8. • Teaching is a system of directed and deliberate actions that are intended to result in learning.Learning is self-active and results in a personal change mediated by an experience. The teaching-learning process is a complex, cooperative and personal relationship. Supported by Philosophical statements 1,2,5,6,7,8. • Professionalism in nursing is the embodiment of the art and science of nursing. Professionalism is a process of self-transformation, which includes integrity, intellectual awareness, and commitment to the wellbeing of client and self. Supported by Philosophical statements 1,3,4,6,8. • Leadership is the ability to influence change and is guided by vision and commitment to the well-being of the client as an individual, group or organization. Leadership is an active state inwhich the nurse is fully present in actualizing inter-subjective choices. Supported by Philosophical statements 1,8 • Research is a scholarly process of acquiring knowledge essential to provide evidence and theorybased on practice. Scholarship includes the critique and management of information and thoughtful participation in inquiry. Supported by Philosophical statements 1,6,8. • Cultural Competency encompasses diverse populations of clients who need culturally sensitivecare by healthcare provider. Supported by Philosophical statements 1,3,4,5,6.