TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. The Nursing Program

A. The Nursing Major................................................................................................................ 1

B. Nursing Program Mission, Goals and Philosophy.................................................................... 1

C. Terminal Behavioral Objectives.............................................................................................. 4

D. Requirements for the Major in Nursing--Bachelor of Science..................................................... 5

E. Requirements for the Major in Nursing--Bachelor of Science..................................................... 6

(Registered Nurse Option)

II. General Information

A. Prerequisites to Cognate Courses.......................................................................................... 7

B. Other Information.................................................................................................................. 7

III. Minor Programs.......................................................................................................................... 8

IV. The Advising System

A. Definition and Importance of Academic Advisement................................................................. 8

B. Student Role and Responsibility in the Advising System.......................................................... 8

V. Policies and Procedures

A. Academic Progress Standards.............................................................................................. 9

B. Department Academic Standards Progression Policy

1. Generic Students, College Transfers, Change of Majors, RN Study Option......................... 9

2. Additional Requirements to be Met by RN Option Students............................................... 10

C. Absence from Class............................................................................................................. 10

D. Change of Major/Advisor Procedure................................................................................... 10

E. Academic Dishonesty........................................................................................................... 11

F. Program Requirements......................................................................................................... 11

G. Rereading of Papers............................................................................................................. 12

H. Clinical Evaluations.............................................................................................................. 12

I. Classroom........................................................................................................................... 12

J. Laboratory: Clinical and Nursing Skills.................................................................................. 12

K. Course Overload Policy......................................................................................................... 13

L. Course Withdrawal Policy..................................................................................................... 13

M. Repeating a Course.............................................................................................................. 13

N. Permission to Study at Another Institution.............................................................................. 13

O. Student Grievance Procedure................................................................................................ 14

P. Dismissal Policy.................................................................................................................. 16

Q. Grading............................................................................................................................... 16

R. Attendance at Professional Conferences................................................................................ 17

VI. Dress Code for Clinical Experience............................................................................................... 17

VII. Additional Information

A. Instructional Facilities........................................................................................................... 17

B. Expenses............................................................................................................................ 18

C. Health Regulations............................................................................................................... 18

D. Infection Control Policy......................................................................................................... 19

E. Accidental Injury: Nursing Skills Laboratory........................................................................... 20

F. Incident Involving A Client...................................................................................................... 20

G. Liability Insurance................................................................................................................ 21

I. THE NURSING PROGRAM

The Nursing Program admits both generic (basic) students and graduates of associate degree and diploma programs in nursing. Upon successful completion of program requirements at Plattsburgh, candidates are awarded the degree of Bachelor of Science with a major in Nursing.

Graduates of the generic (basic) program, are eligible for admission to the professional Nurse Licensing Examination (NCLEX/RN). All graduates are prepared to function as a professional nurse in the delivery of care for individuals and groups in a variety of settings. The baccalaureate program also serves as the foundation for specialization through graduate study.

The program is approved and registered by the State Education Department, Division of Professional Education of the University of the State of New York. The program is fully accredited by the National League for Nursing and is an agency member of the Council of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs. The program holds preliminary approval from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. Associated with Plattsburgh State is Gamma Delta Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society of Nursing.

A. THE NURSING MAJOR

In keeping with the philosophy of the Nursing Program, the program of study consists of a balance of liberal and professional education. The student enrolled in this program receives a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Nursing upon completion of 120 semester hours. The nursing major, consisting of 54 semester credits, begins in the Sophomore year. The 54 credits include 3 credits which serve to meet the College Advanced Writing Requirement. Clinical experience begins at the sophomore level. Courses follow a planned sequence and students are required to take the courses in sequence. Nursing courses must be passed with a final course grade of a C, or better, before the student can progress into the next semester's nursing courses.

Requirements for all components of the General Education Program are described in the Undergraduate Catalog. You should consult your academic advisor for more detailed information concerning both the General Education and the nursing major requirements.

B. NURSING PROGRAM MISSION, GOALS AND PHILOSOPHY

MISSION STATEMENT

The primary mission of the Plattsburgh State Nursing Program is to prepare individuals from diverse backgrounds for the practice of professional nursing in a wide range of institutional and community settings. Another essential commitment is for faculty and students to provide service to the community and region in a commitment to social responsibility. The undergraduate nursing curriculum is rooted in a foundation of the sciences, humanities, technology and informational literacy, complemented by a broad-based, multicultural general education program. In service to this unique, rural region, registered nurses are provided the opportunity to continue their nursing and liberal studies in a challenging and supportive climate. Socialization to the professional role is developed through organizational and curricular experiences and a strong interactional relationship between faculty and students. The program’s focus on intellectual development prepares individuals for graduate study.

PROGRAM PHILOSOPHY AND GOALS

The Nursing Program faculty offers a professional nursing program leading to a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in nursing. Basic students and graduates of associate degree or diploma nursing programs are eligible for admission. The faculty’s beliefs regarding people, health, environment, nursing and nursing education form the philosophical base upon which the curriculum is developed.

The goals of the program are to:

1. prepare nurses who are capable of practicing in a wide range of institutional and community settings, providing care to diverse populations;

2. educate individuals as professionals who take responsibility for professional development through participation in a variety of professional activities, continuing education programs, and graduate study;

3. develop ethical practitioners who contribute to the community through education, service, and leadership;

4. actively recruit diverse students of high academic quality and commitment;

5. prepare graduates who are capable of utilizing a variety of teaching-learning modalities and information technology to achieve learning outcomes; and

6. provide clinical experiences that expose students to delivery of health care in upstate New York and the Champlain Valley.

PHILOSOPHY

The Plattsburgh State University provides, at the baccalaureate level, a broad range of majors and minors in the arts, sciences, business and economics and professional studies. The University serves as a cultural, intellectual and public service center for the region. The faculty of the Nursing Program supports the mission and goals of Plattsburgh State University. The Nursing Program offers a professional nursing program leading to a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in nursing. Basic students and graduates of associate degree or diploma nursing programs are eligible for admission. The faculty's beliefs regarding people, health, environment, nursing, and nursing education form the philosophical base upon which the curriculum is developed.

PEOPLE

People exist as individuals, families and communities, and are viewed as primary units of varying complexity. People are bio-psycho-social cultural beings who have dignity and worth. Each person should be treated with respect and has the right to self-direction in making choices regarding adaptation and self-care.

To cope with a changing world, people utilize adaptation modes that are physiologic and psychosocial in origin. Innate and acquired mechanisms used in adaptation are biologic, psychologic, social and cultural in nature. People's adaptation is dependent upon and is influenced by factors including: values, beliefs, cognition, maturation, experiences, resources, sociocultural background and coping mechanisms.

People possess varying degrees of self-care ability. Self-care is deliberate or voluntary behavior and may involve cultural influences, acquired knowledge and habit. People direct self-care toward themselves or to conditions or objects in their environment in the interest of their own well being.

HEALTH

Health exists on a wellness-illness continuum. It is a state of being whereby people maintain integrity through adaptation to change and self-care activities. The physiologic and psychosocial aspects of people's health are inseparable. People may simultaneously exhibit manifestations of wellness and illness in either aspect of health.

Physiologic and psychosocial integrity is a basic need of people; any deviation from normal structure or functioning is seen as a threat to integrity. Changes in health are generated by stressor events that one encounters during the life span. Needs deficits or excesses may result when there is a threat to one's integrity. People cope with these threats through physiologic and psychosocial adaptive modes.

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Through self-care, people continually adapt to change to keep a balance between physiological and psychosocial processes and to maintain optimal human functioning. Self-care actions are instituted that are adaptive and therapeutic. These actions promote movement toward optimal wellness, meet people's need for physiologic and psychosocial integrity, and are described in terms of abilities and limitations.

Health care is a basic right and responsibility of people. Health care should be valued and planned for by people. The health care system should be flexible to meet the needs of people along the wellness-illness continuum.

ENVIRONMENT

The environment is composed of internal and external variables to which people respond. The internal environment is unique for each individual and includes physiologic structures and processes as well as psychosocial components. The external environment comprises all those natural and technological developments surrounding and affecting the evolvement of people.

People's internal and external environments are interactive, each influencing and being influenced by the other. Any environmental factor, internal or external, can act as a stressor and produce a behavioral response. Internal and external factors influence the individual's behavioral response to the stressor in both obvious and subtle ways.

The environment is potentially both supportive and disruptive of people's existence. Supportive environments are shaped through resources of nature, education, and technological, and social change. Environment may be disruptive because the potential for permanent disability or death is ever present related to acts of nature and the effects of technological developments. People need to take action to prevent hazardous situations, to remove or protect themselves from those which cannot be controlled, and to modify those situations when they are amenable to control.

NURSING

Nursing is a discipline comprised of theory, practice, and research. A sound theoretical knowledge base derived from nursing and other disciplines is prerequisite to the practice of professional nursing.

In the practice of nursing, theory is applied in a clinical setting with the goal of promoting people's adaptation, and assisting individuals, families, and communities to realize their maximum potential through promotion, maintenance and restoration of wellness. Nursing is practiced wherever people live who require or seek help. As a discipline, nursing is both autonomous and collaborative.

Professional nursing includes the use of the nursing process and the processes of communication, teaching-learning, management, and research. The nursing process is a humanistic problem-solving approach which uses critical thinking skills. The components of the nursing process are assessment, planning, intervention, and evaluation. Professional nursing practice utilizes theory and skills of communication in the implementation of the nursing process and in fulfilling the roles of nursing. Teaching learning is a major tool in facilitating clients' adaptation and self care behaviors. The professional nurse uses the management process to coordinate resources and services that facilitate the delivery of health care to people. The professional nurse should be a consumer of research, incorporating research findings to improve nursing practice.

Professional nursing carries out its responsibility and accountability to society and the profession through the roles of caregiver, teacher, and leader. As a caregiver, the nurse uses the nursing process to identify client needs and problems. The major goal of nursing is giving care to maintain or enhance people's adaptation and self-care abilities. The nurse teaches people how they can participate in self-care to enhance, restore, or maintain their structural integrity, functioning, and development. Nursing provides leadership to facilitate change in policy affecting the health of individuals, families and communities. The nurse should promote conditions supportive of individual development and self care through participation in legislative efforts to enhance economic and social well-being.

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NURSING EDUCATION

Preparation of the professional nurse at the baccalaureate level provides the scope of knowledge and skills necessary to meet the challenges of complex societal health care needs. Critical thinking, assertiveness, creativity, and self direction, required of the professional nurse, are emphasized throughout the general and professional education of the baccalaureate program.

Students have fundamental knowledge and competencies that can form the building block for baccalaureate education in nursing. The learning needs of the RN student with previously acquired knowledge in nursing differ from the needs of the basic nursing student by virtue of prior learning and experience in nursing. Students have different styles of learning and prior experiences that mandate a variety of teaching strategies. A climate of learning that respects the student's value, dignity, uniqueness, and diverse educational and cultural background provides for integration of new knowledge with prior experience.

Selected learning opportunities will lead to the development of cognitive learning, concept attainment, psychomotor learning, skills achievement, professional values, and behavioral change. These opportunities will facilitate recognition of the need for ongoing learning for future practice. The baccalaureate student's preparation provides a framework for that practice and a foundation for study at the graduate level and advanced practice.

C. TERMINAL BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES (Desired Student Outcomes)

Upon completion of the program, the graduate will be able to:

1. Synthesize knowledge from arts and sciences with nursing theory.

2. Provide comprehensive nursing care for people of diverse backgrounds in a variety of settings.

3. Design nursing care plans, utilizing a systematic process, to facilitate people's adaptation and

self-care potential.

4. Appraise the effectiveness of own nursing practice as an accountable professional nurse.

5. Exhibit leadership behaviors that enhance the quality of nursing care.

6. Evaluate research findings to determine applicability to nursing practice.

7. Select teaching-learning principles to promote, maintain and restore people's self-care potential.

8. Act in accordance with professional values in making nursing practice decisions.

9. Work in a collaborative relationship with others.

10. Communicate effectively in a variety of modalities.

Revised 2002

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REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR IN NURSING - CURR: 202

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE

CREDITS

GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS 42

(The following cognate courses required for this program are taken

as part of the General Education requirements)

CHE 101 General Chemistry (4 cr.): Distributive (the Natural Sciences)

BIO 203 Microbiology (4 cr.): Distributive (the Natural Sciences)

ENG 101 Composition (3 cr.): Learning Skills (Written Expression)

LIB 101 Library Research Skills (1 cr.): Learning Skills (Library Research)

MAT 161 Statistics (3 cr.): Learning Skills (Mathematics)

SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology (3 cr.): Distributive (the Social Sciences)

PSY 101 General Psychology (3 cr.): Distributive (the Social Sciences)

MAJOR REQUIREMENTS 72

A. Departmental Requirements: (54 cr.)

1. Sophomore year: (4 cr.)

a. NUR 303 Nursing Fundamentals (4 cr.)

2. Junior year: (26 cr.)

a. NUR 304 Health Assessment (3 cr.)

b. NUR 344 Pharmacology I (1 cr.)

c. NUR 356 Professional Concepts (2 cr.)

d. NUR 360 Care of the Childbearing Family (3 cr.)

e. NUR 361 Care of the Pediatric Client (3 cr.)

f. NUR 362 Care of Adults I (7 cr.)

g. NUR 363 Care of Adults II (7 cr.)

3. Senior year: (24 cr.)

a. NUR 425 Community Health Nursing (4 cr.)

b. NUR 427 Research in Nursing (3 cr.)

c. NUR 428 Management and Leadership (4 cr.)

d. NUR 435 Psychiatric Nursing (4 cr.)

e. NUR 437 Professional Issues (3 cr.)

f. NUR 464 Care of Adults III (6 cr.)

B. Other Cognate Requirements: (18 cr.)

1. BIO 326 Human Anatomy and Physiology I (4 cr.)

2. BIO 327 Human Anatomy and Physiology II (4 cr.)

3. CHE 271 Introduction to Organic and Biochemistry (4 cr.)

4. FNI 211 Human Nutrition (3 cr.)

5. PSY 311 Survey of Human Development (3 cr.)

ELECTIVES 6

ADVANCED WRITING REQUIREMENT

(Satisfied by the completion of NUR 437) _____

TOTAL 120

ADDITIONAL DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:

A GPA of 2.0 must be earned in all required non-nursing and nursing courses.

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