Nursing care is provided with the guidance of a professional nurse and primarily in traditional structured settings. Baccalaureate nursing education is the minimum qualification to function in the professional role of nursing. The baccalaureate nursing education program prepares generalists with skills in critical thinking, clinical judgment, and ethical decision making to facilitate their work in a variety of settings including those considered nontraditional. Baccalaureate graduates are grounded in primary, secondary, and tertiary care and in community health theory and practice to ensure continuity of care across systems and settings. The graduates are also prepared to assume beginning leadership roles for providing health care and to serve as educators, advocates, active health policy participants and novice health policy developers.
Graduate education provides preparation for assumption of advanced practice roles.
Advanced practice includes active involvement in shaping health policy and conducting nursing research, proficiency in advanced clinical judgment, participation in interdependent practice, development and use of economic and quality indicators, and use of technological advances. Practice settings vary and provide local, national, and international perspectives. Central themes of graduate education include exploring the meaning of health and illness with clients and developing and implementing more effective models of care. Continued competence will be assured by values of life-long learning. The continuing education in nursing program embraces the value of life-long learning and promotes excellence in nursing practice by providing quality continuing education for nurses.