Overview

Philosophy

The faculty has a set of beliefs regarding the metaparadigm concepts of the discipline: nursing, humans, the environment, health, as well as education. These beliefs, as well as those regarding education and care quality, provide the foundation for the organizing framework for the Rutgers School of Nursing undergraduate and graduate curricula and underpin our graduates’ reputation as resilient, skilled practitioners and researchers who contribute to high-quality, safe, equitable, holistic and person-centered care. This philosophy is consistent with our mission and vision statement.

Nursing

Nursing is the professional discipline of caring based on evidence drawn from nursing science, nursing standards of practice, and the Code of Ethics. It is both a science and an art. The profession, discipline, and science of nursing build the capacity of individuals, families, communities, and populations for health and well-being throughout the life course. 

• Nursing science is a distinctive discipline that integrates knowledge from social and physical sciences but also generates its own body of knowledge through research and scholarship. It encompasses paradigms, frameworks, and theories that describe, explain, and predict phenomena related to the core concepts of nursing, such as person, health, environment, and nursing itself. Nursing science advances healthcare by developing and testing evidence-based practices and continuously improving patient care and health outcomes.
• The art of nursing is human connectedness manifested through compassionate concern and openness, which enables the nurse to become aware of the unique values, interests, priorities, and needs of individuals, families, communities, and populations.
• Nursing ethics focus on the moral principles guiding nursing science and practice, encompassing practices such as respect for autonomy, beneficence, justice, and nonmaleficence.
• The practice of nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations. Nurses practice in a variety of settings, from primary health promotion to the provision of supportive and palliative care.

The nurse uses the knowledge from both the science and the art of nursing to practice person-centered, evidence-informed individual and population care to promote the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities and to lessen the burden of disease and mortality associated with social inequalities. Practicing in a society characterized by increasing social and cultural diversity requires that nurses collaborate with other professions, respect cultural differences, and recognize the right of choice regarding healthcare decisions.

Nurses use a broad range of health and information technology and skills in enabling individuals, communities, and populations. These skills include assessing and triaging acute, chronic, and wellness needs; care planning, monitoring, and coaching; providing self-management support; educating and supporting caregivers; and coordinating among medical, community, and social resources. Nursing has an active and enduring leadership role in improving the health of the public and ensuring accessible, safe, quality primary, secondary, and tertiary care for all. To achieve these goals, nurses must be advocates and champions for quality, social justice, and health equity by influencing and promoting change across health, social, economic, and political systems.

Human Beings

Human beings are individuals, families, and communities or populations. Human beings are biological, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual beings with the capacity for growth. They are affected by their environments and possess the ability to change or adapt to these environments.

• Biological. Human development is shaped by genetic endowment; conditions in utero; and experiences at home, in the neighborhood, at work, and in the broader society throughout the life course. Nurses promote and support biophysical health by addressing biological factors that affect health, recognizing that these biological factors are influenced by genetics, prenatal conditions, and environmental exposures at home, in the neighborhood, at work, and in the broader society.
• Psychosocial. Nurses integrate the psychosocial component of an individual’s/community’s experience by recognizing how historical experiences of sociocultural groups and present life conditions shape a person’s worldview and interactions. Nurses consider the timing of life transitions and events, understanding that these factors influence development and life potential in unique ways.
• Cultural. Nurses help build human capacity for self-empowerment, self-advocacy, and autonomy by respecting a person’s unique background and experiences and by providing care with cultural humility to accommodate differences, negotiating with the established social hierarchy and advocating on their behalf for public policy.
• Spiritual. Nursing actions are informed by the spiritual as well as secular values and practices of human groups and social realities affecting their circumstances in the broader society.

Nursing advocacy requires an understanding of the worldviews of health professionals, organizations, and the dominant society. When nurses advocate for patient/client/community empowerment, self-advocacy, and autonomy, they exhibit respect for these differences.

Environment

Nurses assist individuals, families, communities, and populations to draw on their resources from their physical, social, and cultural contexts of human life — all of which are intimately linked and can promote or diminish health — to create healing, establish equitable environments, and maximize human and community potential.

• The physical environment comprises geographic location, climactic, temporal, and situated resources; technology and technological resources; and the built environment, all of which affect the quality of life, access to services, safety, and the population’s health.
• The social environment encompasses the interpersonal elements, societal structures, and policies that refer to human-designed structural arrangements and policies in society that divide groups of people, which may affect their status and position within the social hierarchy as well as their well-being and opportunities in life.
• Cultural environment is the constellation of the values, meanings, beliefs, philosophy, spirituality, and morality that evolve from prolonged experience within specific environmental contexts. An understanding of the cultural context is fundamental to the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate care.

Health

Health is a multidimensional and complex phenomenon influenced by biological, developmental, cognitive, behavioral, political, economic, environmental, spiritual, social, and cultural factors.

• Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

• Optimal health enhances one’s capacity, while poor health may diminish capacity.
• Humans biologically incorporate their social and physical worlds; thus, health status is determined by the structural inequalities that create variant exposure, susceptibility, and resistance of individuals through their life course.
• Health disparities is defined in Healthy People 2020 and 2030 as “…a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with economic, social, or environmental disadvantage. Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater social or economic obstacles to health.”
• Health inequities are reflected in differences in length of life, quality of life, rates of disease, disability, death, severity of disease, and access to treatment. Health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to attain his or her full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances.
• Advocacy, empowerment, and transformative partnerships are needed to promote health equity. Achieving health equity and social justice entail the development and implementation of social policies and programs that support healthy environments, safe neighborhoods, and broad access to quality health services.
• Quality improvement of programs and services are inherent in effective capacity building.

Education

Nursing education is grounded in liberal arts; behavioral, biological, and social sciences; humanities is the foundation for nursing education, a humanistic practice-based discipline. Learning and education are interactive and transformational processes. Education is a lifelong pursuit aimed at developing the optimum potential of the learner. Education should include empowerment to practice at the highest level of nursing, as well as the use and generation of research-based evidence. Educating students to practice and conduct research in increasingly complex and diverse settings requires not only theoretical and clinical expertise but also an atmosphere of caring, support, cultural humility, and mutual respect based on innovative and novel learning models inclusive of interprofessional learning experiences.

Rutgers University School of Nursing is committed to creating and cultivating an environment that is equitable, diverse, and actively anti-racist and anti-biased in our institutional practices, settings, curricula, and daily interactions. Nursing faculty are responsible for creating and maintaining a learning environment that fosters free, respectful, and open interaction and stands against racism and hate in all its forms. Educational practices — rooted in philosophy, empirics, and learning theory — foster the integration of varied learning strategies that support critical and creative thinking. Educational delivery at all levels must incorporate learning strategies to facilitate all learning styles, evidence-based clinical knowledge, and research with effective communication and leadership skills. Excellence in scholarly activity, service, and best-practices are nursing education’s hallmarks.

Clinical Practice

Clinical practice in nursing embodies the roles of care provider, leader, and scholar, demonstrated through autonomy, advocacy, interprofessional collaboration, accountability, and a commitment to quality, evidence-based care. Competencies in clinical practice span the 10 domains of nursing, emphasizing quality, patient-centered care, professional and leadership development, and systems and technology integration. To achieve these goals, nurses must form effective partnerships and relationships within their organizations and the broader healthcare system, ensuring holistic, high-quality patient care that respects patient autonomy.

Key Goals

At Rutgers School of Nursing, all of our efforts flow from and point toward excellence in five key focus areas — education, research, service, practice, and leadership. Continue reading to learn more about how we integrate these principles into everything we do.