Therefore, the programs in Pacific Lutheran University's School of Nursing are distinguished by their spiritual, caring and liberal arts foundations. This philosophy reflects the faculty's diverse perspectives about the conceptual domains and paradigms of nursing. The faculty hold beliefs about nursing, persons, environment, health, leadership, scholarship, and advanced practice. These beliefs guide the practice and direct the development of programs within the School of Nursing. Integral to all School of Nursing efforts are the faculty's beliefs about education, inclusive of teaching, learning, and life-long learning.
Nursing is an art, a humanistic science, and an intellectual discipline of informed caring.
Caring is the essence of nursing and a unifying focus. Caring is a nurturing way of relating to others toward whom one has a professional commitment. Nursing further assists persons in the promotion and maintenance of health behaviors, health restoration, and the prevention of disease. Nursing knowledge and practice are derived from, but not limited to, empirical, personal, aesthetic and ethical patterns of knowing. Nurses have responsibility for political and social activism for the promotion of the improvement of health care and the advancement of the profession.