The faculty believes that the baccalaureate-prepared nurse will have developed from the arts, sciences and nursing, the ethics and methods of logical inquiry, along with critical thinking skills and reasoning strategies needed to apply those methods. Fundamental to the ethics and methods of inquiry is the ability to think and reason to and from evidence in a deliberative, thoughtful, and directive manner. Such abilities are considered the essence of critical thinking, decision-making, and problem solving found in nursing practice . In nursing education and practice, the teaching-learning process is a dynamic, ongoing, lifelong, and complex phenomenon that leads to changes in cognitive, affective and psychomotor behavior. Requisites for effective teaching and learning are multi-dimensional, requiring the teacher to adapt instructional philosophies and methodologies to the individual's learning styles and needs.
Research is an integral component of professional nursing practice.
Contemporary society is characterized by new discoveries in the arts, humanities, sciences, and technology, which can produce rapid changes. These rapid changes are associated with information that nurses must interpret through research. Research guides the professional nurse in the provision of holistic care through the nursing process. Nursing research leads to the refinement of theories that serve as a base of a substantive body of knowledge unique to nursing. Individuals with a master's degree are prepared to function in advanced practice nursing roles, such as care provider, collaborator, advocate, change agent, educator, beginning researcher, leader, consultant, and case manager .