RN to BSN Online Completion Track
General Information
The changing healthcare environment necessitates various levels of nursing educational preparation. This RN-BSN Online Completion Track prepares highly competent practitioners of nursing for professional careers in a dynamic healthcare environment. It provides educational mobility for associate degree and diploma prepared nurses and the foundation for graduate education in nursing. This flexible track makes possible the opportunity for registered nurses to receive credit for previous nursing education and experience.
Professional nursing education integrates liberal and nursing education to foster critical thinking skills required for professional nursing. Professional nursing education prepares nurses to practice effectively in a healthcare environment in diverse settings. Nursing education at the baccalaureate level is an active learning process.
Accreditation
The RN-BSN Online Completion Track in the Carolyn McKelvey Moore School of Nursing is accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC). The NLNAC may be contacted at 3343 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 500, Atlanta, GA, 30326, telephone 404-975-5000.
The Carolyn McKelvey Moore School of Nursing is approved by the Arkansas State Board of Nursing.
Arkansas State Board of Nursing NCLEX Pass Rates
Mission
The mission of the Carolyn McKelvey Moore School of Nursing is consistent with the mission of UA Fort Smith by its design and program outcomes. The nursing education program challenges students to think critically in an environment that facilitates educational mobility, personal growth, and a pattern of life-long learning.
Philosophy
Consistent with the vision, mission and values of the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith, the faculty of the Carolyn McKelvey Moore School of Nursing ascribes to the following beliefs regarding a human being, health, environment, nursing and nursing education.
A client or client system is a unique holistic individual, family or community with worth, rights, and responsibilities. All clients or client systems have needs. Fulfillment of these needs occurs within the context of culture and responses to life experiences.
Health is a dynamic state that encompasses the holistic client or client system. Health results from the response to changes in the internal and external environments, occurs along the wellness/illness continuum and is influenced by personal and cultural values.
Environment is the set of conditions within which the client or client system exists. Stimuli within the internal and external environment are constantly interacting and affecting the individual, family and community’s position on the wellness/illness continuum.
Nursing uses communication, leadership and management skills to assist clients and client systems to meet needs along the wellness/illness continuum. Nursing, as an art and science, is a dynamic profession with an evolving body of knowledge that is supported by research within the profession as well as from principles and theories from other disciplines. Nursing focuses on assisting clients and client systems to meet needs along the wellness/illness continuum. Nurses use the nursing process and critical thinking in the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health in culturally diverse clients throughout the lifespan. Changes in the current healthcare environment reflect an increased complexity in client needs and in delivery systems and, thus, necessitate various levels of nursing educational preparation.
Nursing education is the means by which students learn to practice nursing and is best provided in an institution of higher learning. Learning is a lifelong activity that is purposeful and motivated by individual need. The various levels of nursing education include, but are not limited to, practical nursing, associate degree nursing and baccalaureate degree nursing. Each type of nursing educational program provides a unique and valuable contribution to health care.
Baccalaureate nursing education expands upon the liberal arts and sciences to provide the foundation for the practice of professional nursing including care of the client, family and the community. Baccalaureate nursing education occurs in a facilitated learner-centered environment which considers the student’s unique needs and emphasizes preparation for graduate study.
Organizing Framework
The Competency Outcomes and Performance Assessment Model (COPA) and Neuman Systems Model were used to structure and organize the nursing curriculum. The COPA Model emphasizes practice-based outcomes, practice-focus learning, and structured, objective assessment of performance competencies. Neuman’s multi-dimensional and dynamic model describes the client or client system as individuals, families, groups and communities. According to Neuman, the client is an open system that is constantly impacted by intra, inter and extra personal stressors in their internal or external environment. Graduates are prepared to intervene with primary, secondary and tertiary prevention strategies to assist the client to maintain a state of equilibrium.
The COPA Model and Neuman Systems Model are implemented throughout the curriculum using the concepts of critical thinking (assessment and intervention), research (knowledge integration), communication (human caring and relationship skills), leadership and management, health promotion (teaching), and professional development.
Critical thinking is a “process that involves questioning, analysis, synthesis, interpretation, inferences, inductive and deductive reasoning, intuition and application” (AACN, 1998).
Research is the scholarly inquiry, which culminates in evidence-based practice.
Communication is a “complex, ongoing and interactive process, which forms the basis for interpersonal relationships” (AACN, 1998).
Leadership and management are overlapping concepts. Leadership is a process of influencing people to accomplish goals where as management relates to resource coordination and integration to achieve goals.
Health promotion is the science and art of supporting positive health practices to maximize quality of life.
Professional development is a process of life-long learning that enables the nurse to function in the roles of provider of care designer/manager/coordinator of care and member of a profession.
Program Outcomes
The University of Arkansas - Fort Smith RN-BSN Online Completion Track graduate will:
- Use the nursing process and critical thinking to promote, maintain and restore the health of individuals and families throughout the lifespan.
- Evaluate the application of research findings to support evidence-based practice.
- Communicate effectively using interpersonal, written, and technological strategies.
- Integrate leadership and management skills in the provision of cost-effective quality health care.
- Individualize culturally and ethnically sensitive health promotion strategies with individuals, families, populations and communities in a variety of settings.
- Model professional role development through nursing behaviors consistent with professional standards.
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Contact Information
Barbara Lange, Ph.D, RN
- Executive Director Carolyn McKelvey Moore School of Nursing
- Office: Pendergraft Health Sciences Center 243
- Phone: 479-788-7844
- Fax: 479-424-6844
- Email: Barbara.Lange@uafs.edu
