The mission of the department is to educate baccalaureate level students as beginning practitioners of professional nursing. The curriculum reflects the importance of the Judeo-Christian tradition, of human beings' ability to reason, of the liberal arts, and of the behavioral and biological sciences as a basis for professional nursing. The department views persons as holistic beings possessing biophysical, psychosocial, and spiritual components. Persons interact within a culturally and ethnically diverse environment and are influenced in their efforts to learn and to exercise choices regarding their health. Health is viewed as a state and process in which a person fluctuates on a continuum from optimal wellness to illness to eventual death.
Nurses function with responsibility and accountability in a variety of roles and settings.
They are guided by values, attitudes, personal qualities, and professional standards as they demonstrate ethical and caring behavior. Nurses use critical thinking, communication, and therapeutic nursing interventions to empower persons to meet their health care needs. Aware of the dynamic expansions of knowledge and technology and of the changing face of health care delivery, the Mount Mercy College Department of Nursing prepares its graduates to make informed personal and professional decisions that allow them to practice effectively and creatively in a complex global society. Value a commitment to service in meeting human needs. Integrate knowledge gained from the sciences, liberal arts, and nursing as a basis for the practice of professional nursing.