Georgia Southern University - College of Health and Human Sciences

Overview - About the School of Nursing

Description
History
Philosophy
The Conceptual Model
Mission and Purposes

 

Description

The School of Nursing is a constituent academic unit within the College of Health and Professional Studies at Georgia Southern University, a Carnegie Doctoral-Research University. Georgia Southern University, a unit of the University System of Georgia, was founded as the First District Agricultural and Mechanical School in 1906. On July 1, 1990, it became the fifth University established in the University System of Georgia. A comprehensive residential university of nearly 17,000 students, Georgia Southern's hallmark is a superior undergraduate experience emphasizing academic distinction, excellent teaching, and student success. The University's graduate programs are offered on campus, at satellite centers, and by distance and on-line delivery to expand advanced education and develop professional leadership in fields critical to regional development. Georgia Southern is Georgia's third largest university and, apart from the four research universities, the most comprehensive center of public higher education in the state. Georgia Southern celebrated its centennial year in 2006 and during the past 10 years has experienced one of the most active periods of growth, not only in physical size, but in the quality of its academic programs.

One of the top choices in Georgia for new freshmen, including HOPE Scholars, Georgia Southern enrolls an increasingly selective student body representing all of Georgia, every state, and 86 nations. The University continues to enhance its academic profile through higher admission standards, an expanded scholarship Honors Program, and targeted recruiting of academically-talented students.

The nearly 700-acre park-like campus continues and expansive building and beautification renaissance which has spanned the past 10 years. The learning environment for students and the public is enhanced by a museum of cultural and natural history, a botanical garden, and a unique wildlife education center. The University's Division I athletic teams compete in the Southern Conference. The campus is located in Statesboro, a safe, hospitable Main Street community of 30,000, an hour from historic Savannah and beach resorts of Hilton Head Island, and approximately 200 miles from Atlanta.
Georgia Southern's missions of education, research, and service promote education, economic, cultural, and social progress through creative solutions to regional problems. The School of Nursing is committed to helping meet the needs of the multiethnic rural populations of the region by providing high quality nursing education programs. The nursing program incorporates high academic and ethical standards, and a caring, learning environment for students consistent with the mission and objectives of the university.

The School of Nursing's Programs are accredited with the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) through June 2012. The BSN Program recently underwent a successful site visit from the Georgia Board of Nursing and was granted full approval through 2005. Georgia Southern University is accredited with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

 

HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL OF NURSING
1995-2008

The year 1995 marked a milestone year for Georgia Southern University (GSU) as well as the School (then Department) of Nursing.  Beginning in1995, the University joined others in the Georgia University System to begin a transition from a quarter to a semester academic year structure.  Faculty in the School of Nursing actually began the major undertaking of completely revising the curriculum prior to this mandated move to a semester structure.  Faculty voted to move away from an integrated curriculum in November of 1994 and began developing a new mission and purposes statement, philosophy, program objectives, and curriculum in 1995. This intense faculty effort included input from students and many local communities of interest.  The faculty approved new mission and philosophy statements in September of 1995.  The revised curriculum was instituted at the undergraduate level (pre-licensure program) in the Fall of 1996.  The graduate and RN-BSN continuation programs instituted their new curricula in the fall semester of 1998 in synchrony with the University’s conversion to semesters.

In 1998, Georgia Southern University awarded School status to the then Department of Nursing, a clear recognition of the programs’ growth in stature and national recognition.  The School of Nursing became one of only two Schools on the GSU campus, all other programs being recognized as Departments within their respective Colleges.   Shortly thereafter, the School won Board of Regents approval for the building of a new 117,000 square foot Science and Nursing Building with a projected construction date of January 2001.

In 1998, continuing on a path of academic excellence (and joining the majority of college and university nursing programs in the United States), the School of Nursing faculty pursued and was granted preliminary accreditation approval from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).  The CCNE accreditation process, newly recognized by the Department of Education as a premier accrediting agency for baccalaureate and graduate programs in nursing, provided the School with the framework to focus on continuous improvement unique to its programs of study.  Full approval by CCNE is anticipated in Spring 2001.

The year 1998 also saw a transition in leadership at the School of Nursing.  Dr. Kaye Herth resigned her position as the School’s Chair in order to pursue career opportunities in Minnesota.  Her work in bringing the Department of Nursing to its current School status in the University as well as her leadership during the School’s monumental curricular and programmatic changes set the stage for the next level of growth for the School.  Dr. June Alberto served as Acting Chair through the next year during which time the entire University converted to the semester system, planning for the Science and Nursing Building continued, and the search for a new Chair of Nursing was completed.  Dr. Jean Bartels, leaving her position as Chair of the Division of Nursing at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, accepted the GSU Chair position in July of 1999.

Georgia Southern University welcomed a new president in July of 1999 setting in motion a major strategic planning initiative for the entire University.  President Bruce Grube articulated a vision for the University focused around six themes:

1. Academic Distinction
2. Student-Centered University
3. Technological Advancement
4. Transcultural Opportunities
5. Public and Private Partnerships
6. Physical Environment

Beginning in 2000, the School of Nursing engaged in Strategic Planning efforts that picked up these themes. 

Other noteworthy accomplishments of the School between the years 1995-2007 are documented below.

1. Final approval for the construction of a new Science and Nursing Building complex, the largest building structure on the GSU campus, was obtained.  Construction is began in January 2001 with completion in June 2003.
2. An LPN-BSN program option was launched affording individuals with an LPN license an accelerated path to obtaining a BSN degree.
3. AN RN-MSN program option was approved allowing RN students an accelerated progression path to graduate education.
4. The graduate program attained national recognition, ranked in the top 5% of all graduate programs in nursing in the United States.  Graduate pass rates on national certification examinations exceeded 98% on a consistent basis.  Graduate program grants were received for pharmacology teaching initiatives, managed care collaborations, and educational traineeships.  A Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner program was started to complement the Family Nurse Practitioner, Rural Clinical Nurse Specialist, and post graduate certification programs.
5. A $100,000 grant from the Helene Fuld Health Trust Grant, HSBC, Trustee was awarded to the School to provide substantial financial support for the educational mobility of LPN-BSN, RN-BSN, and RN-MSN students.  Federal Traineeship grants for graduate education in excess of $45,000 were also obtained each year.  In addition to these awards, the School was able to award over $80,000 per year in scholarship monies to undergraduate and graduate students.
6.  A new computer lab was opened with 30 individual student computer stations.  A+ Testing software was installed on all computers allowing for student testing on computers across the curriculum.  The lab also facilitated increased use of web-based initiatives for student learning.
7. In the 1998-1999 academic year, the Rural Nursing Outreach Program began offering primary care nursing services at its Rural Nursing Outreach Community Center in Portal.  Over 150 clients actively use the Clinic.  In the 1999-2000 academic year, two migrant population health care service opportunities were instituted in Tattnall and Screven Counties.  These initiatives provide learning experiences for both graduate and undergraduate nursing students.
8. In October of 2000, The Georgia Southern University School of Nursing Alumni Association, representing over 830 alumni, was formally organized at its first annual alumni homecoming event.  
9. The Jimmy Crockett Lectureship Series, endowed by the Crockett family of Georgia in memory of the outstanding humanitarian efforts that marked the life of Mr. Jimmy Crockett, continued to be a resounding success.  Featured nursing leaders to date have included Drs. Madeline Leininger, Jean Watson, Christine Tanner, Nola Pender, Anne Boykin, Em Olivia Bevis, Joyce Murray, and Sally Karioth.
10. In May 2000 the School of Nursing created the Em Olivia Bevis Spirit of Nursing Award to recognize a graduating senior who demonstrates exceptional leadership qualities, is committed to excellence in nursing through professional achievements, and displays notable scholarship in maintaining good academic standing.  This award will be presented in honor of Dr. Em Olivia Bevis, the founder of the Georgia Southern University School of Nursing.  Dr. Bevis was on hand to present the first award.  A GSU School of Nursing era ended shortly thereafter with the untimely death of Dr. Bevis on July 20, 2000.  Her legacy, however, will long be remembered.
11. In 2001, the number of doctorally prepared faculty in the School rose to 13.  Of those, 10 hold a PhD in Nursing, 1 holds a Doctor of Nursing Science, and 2 hold Doctorates in Education.  This results in 68% of the total faculty in possession of their terminal degree.  Twelve of thirteen faculty (92%) in tenure track positions hold a doctoral degree.  Diversity of the nursing faculty also improved.  In 2001, 21% of the faculty were non-Caucasian, closely approximating the 23% non-Caucasian student population.
12. In May 2001, the School of Nursing received a $ 400,000 gift from the Bulloch Health Care Foundation, Inc. to establish the first endowed chair in nursing at Georgia Southern University.  The gift will be more than doubled by matching funds to build the $1 million endowment required for a university chair.  Georgia Southern secured the additional $100,000 needed to qualify for a $500,000 grant from the Board of Regents Eminent Scholars fund.  The Board of Regents approved the Eminent Scholar in 2002.
13. On June 5, 2001, the University broke ground on a $24 million Science and Nursing Building.  The facility, approximately 125,000 square feet, is being build across from the new College of Education and will feature research labs and a community nursing clinic.  Construction was completed in June 2003.
14. The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education granted the School of Nursing BSN and MSN programs full approval (without recommendations) on April 20, 2002 following a successful self study and site review visit.  The accreditation granted 10 years of approval for the School’s programs.
15. In May 2002, the School of Nursing received the University System of Georgia Board of Regents’ 2002 Teaching Excellence Award.  This award recognized the School’s programs from all programs in all the regional and state university programs.
16. In October 2003, the College of Health and Professional Studies was reorganized into the College of Health and Human Sciences.  Three units were formed:  The Department of Public Health, The Department of Hospitality, Tourism, and Family & Consumer Sciences, School of Nursing.  The School of Nursing received oversight for the Medical Technology major with this relocation, but was otherwise unchanged in structure.
17. From 2004-2006, the Family Nurse Practitioner Program was named #11 in the U.S. News and World Report rankings.
18. The RN-BSN Program was converted to a totally on-line program in 2004.
19. The School of Nursing received a $712,000 grant for 2003-2006 from HRSA/Office of Rural Health Policy to support the expansion of the Rural Nursing Outreach Program and graduate educational opportunities.  The Healthcare Georgia Foundation also awarded the RNOP $75,000 towards outreach nursing activities.
20. In 2004, the School of Nursing received a 3 year HRSA grant totaling $753,302 to expand educational offerings in the graduate program.  Grant monies were used to develop the Community Health Clinical Nurse Specialist programs, offered as an on-line program.
21. In 2007, the School of Nursing submitted a proposal to begin a Doctor of Nursing Practice on-line program starting in Fall 2008.
22. By 2007, the School of Nursing Rural Nursing Outreach Program Became recognized for serving a major role in meeting the health care needs of the local community and surrounding Counties. The Rural Nursing Outreach Program developed additional practice and research sites for faculty and students and continued operation of Community Nursing Clinics located in the School of Nursing building and in Portal, Georgia. The program conducted primary care nursing clinics, blood pressure clinics, osteoporsis, stroke and cholesterol screening clinics, and other health promotion and health education activities at the Rural Nursing Outreach Community Clinics on campus, in Portal, and in many outreach locations in Southeast Georgia.  Nursing faculty, staff, and students saw 3147 unduplicated patients through the Program.  Migrant population health care initiatives in Tattnall, Toombs, Screven, and Lyons Counties provided clinical practice opportunities for faculty and students at the graduate and undergraduate levels.  Currently there are eight faculty research projects being conducted through the rural Nursing Outreach Program.
23. In August 2007, the School of Nursing welcomed its first Bulloch Healthcare Foundation Endowed Chair of Nursing, Dr. Elaine Marshall.  Dr. Marshall, a renowned scholar, assumed the position focusing on enhancing the research program of the School and contributing to community health nursing education and outreach activities.
24. In January 2008, the University System of Georgia Board of Regents granted approval for the School of Nursing to offer a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP).  The first class of students for the DNP began in Fall 2008.

History has a way of giving honor to past accomplishments and stimulating new challenges.  Such is the history of Georgia Southern University’s School of Nursing.  Through the dedicated efforts of the School’s past and present nursing faculty and the ongoing accomplishments of its graduates, the School has its best years yet ahead.  Echoing the words of Dorothy Jean Novello (1984), a nursing leader and poet:
                                               
Only as high as we reach can we grow.
                                                Only as far as we seek can we go.
                                                Only as deep as we look can we see.
                                                Only as much as we dream can we be.

It is my pleasure and honored privilege to add to this history and to join the Georgia Southern University School of Nursing in its next pursuits of excellence.  We invite all of our communities of interest—faculty, students, alumni, community members—to reach for, seek, and dream our future.

Jean E. Bartels, PhD, RN
Chair and Professor of Nursing

Philosophy

The philosophy of Georgia Southern University’s School of Nursing embodies the following core beliefs:

Nurses are essential to the healthcare of the nation and must act both locally and globally to positively affect the health of individuals, families, groups, and communities.

Based on professional standards, nursing practice is grounded in ethics, caring, altruism, holism, transcultural competence, diversity, and respect for the individual. Nursing education embraces theory, research, and evidence-based practice.

Nursing educators, using a student-centered approach, prepare socially responsible graduates who provide high quality health care, function as leaders in the community and profession, and engage in life long learning.

Metaparadigm Concepts

A Person is a holistic being central to nursing, with a unique culture, values, and beliefs. Having certain rights and responsibilities, a person is capable of self-actualization and self-determination. Whether alone or in families, groups, or communities, a person interacts with his or her environment.
Nursing is a practice discipline involving human caring that is concerned with improving quality of life and promoting, maintaining, and restoring health in partnership with persons, families, groups, and communities. The evolving art and science of nursing consists of a unique body of knowledge based on theory, research, and practice in nursing and other disciplines. More specifically, rural nursing involves the delivery of nursing care within rural areas. These rural areas include diverse groups of persons who live and work within an environment that is relatively isolated from the influence of metropolitan areas and therefore they have limited access to transportation and other resources. Rural nursing is unique in that it requires of the nurse highly developed levels of assessment, decision making, and communication skills, as well as the ability to live and work in close association with family and friends who may require care. Often, based on isolation and scarcity of health care providers, independent decision making and the ability to interface with other members of the health care team are the hallmark of rural nursing practice.

Nursing practice is actuated through therapeutic nursing interventions which enhance health promotion of persons, families, groups, and communities. Therapeutic nursing interventions are based on an ethic of human care that is contextually and culturally relevant to the receiver. Therapeutic nursing interventions are purposeful strategies and informed actions performed by a nurse for or with a person using primary, secondary, and/or tertiary prevention. Interventions are developed through a synthesis of theory, research, and experience and require the use of critical thinking, psychomotor, psychosocial, and communication skills. Factors that enable the nurse to perform therapeutic interventions include: human caring, communication, ethical principles, critical thinking, empowerment, research, healthcare technology, and cultural sensitivity. At the undergraduate level, therapeutic nursing interventions are developed through the nursing process with a goal to facilitate health of persons, families, groups, and communities. Subsequently, the focus of therapeutic nursing interventions at the graduate level is on influencing the health of persons, families, groups, communities, and healthcare systems. Health is an optimal state of well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO, 1974). In partnership with the nurse, health is defined by the person, family, group, or community, and is context driven. Environment constitutes the internal and external influences that affect or are affected by the person. These influences include, but are not limited to, biological, psychological, and spiritual factors, population density (rural/urban), socioeconomic status, cultural diversity, social values and beliefs, and scientific and technological development.

Health Promotion Throughout Life

The conceptual framework of the nursing curriculum at Georgia Southern University is Health Promotion Throughout Life. Health promotion is “behavior motivated by the desire to increase well-being and actualize human health potential” (Pender, 2002, p.7) which includes primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention throughout all life stages. The emphasis of primary prevention is health education and protection from illness and injury; secondary prevention is directed toward limiting illness; and tertiary prevention involves rehabilitation, restoration of health or support for end-of-life care. Central to the Health Promotion Framework are the metaparadigm concepts of nursing, person, health, and environment. Educating reflective nurse professionals requires a curriculum that is built on a liberal arts background and that incorporates professional values, core competencies, core knowledge, and role development.

Enabling Factors

Human Caring in nursing is a set of interpersonal acts that extend beyond concern, emotion, and benevolent desire. Caring in this context involves values, intent, commitment, knowledge, actions, and outcomes.

Communication, within the context of nursing, is a dynamic and interpersonal process that requires at least one messenger and one receiver. The process can be either verbal (oral or written) or nonverbal and is influenced by a person's culture, setting, values, beliefs and perceptions. Undergraduate and graduate students engage in increasingly complex levels of communication skills throughout their programs of study.

Ethical Principles, which include autonomy, freedom, veracity, privacy, beneficence, fidelity, and justice, are used to clarify and resolve identified moral problems and ethical dilemmas. The beliefs and values outlined in the American Nurses Association's Code for Nurses provide guidelines for ethical nursing practice.

Critical thinking is the process of purposeful, self-regulating judgment; an interactive, reflective, reasoning process. The disposition towards critical thinking includes inquisitiveness, systematicity, analyticity, truth-seeking, open-mindedness, critical thinking self-confidence, and maturity (American Philosophical Association, 1990). Engaged in by graduate and undergraduate students, the skill of critical thinking is practiced and refined over time.

Empowerment is an interpersonal process of providing resources, tools, and environment for people to achieve their optimal potential and well-being. Persons who are empowered actively participate in their healthcare.

Research is the systematic process of problem investigation designed to validate old knowledge and discover new knowledge for the improvement of care delivery (Roberts & Burke, 1989). At the undergraduate level, established research findings are critiqued, analyzed, and applied to the provision of care of persons, families, groups, and communities. At the graduate level, research related to nursing and healthcare is conducted, synthesized, disseminated, and integrated within nursing practice.

Cultural Sensitivity is the awareness of and appreciation for the diversity in backgrounds of persons. The nurse who is culturally sensitive takes into account the person's view of the world which is transmitted from generation to generation. The person's world view, which is manifested in beliefs, practices, likes, dislikes, customs, norms, and rituals, is incorporated within therapeutic nursing interventions. In addition, ethnic sensitivity takes into account the person's group affiliation or membership.

Healthcare Technology advances, including equipment (ventilators, implanted ports/pumps, etc.) and information systems (computerized recording, databases, etc.), are utilized and managed by nurses in various settings. Nurses must therefore maintain the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care that is technologically sound. Nursing's use of high technology, however, must be balanced with a caring, interactive approach. Approved 9/29/95, Updated 7/99, 8/00, 5/06

 

The Conceptual Model

To view the Conceptual Model please click here.

 

Mission and Purposes

The School of Nursing, through excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service, provides comprehensive and innovative nursing programs that promote health and quality of life using a global perspective. The School’s hallmark is a culture of caring in which faculty, staff, and students embrace the core values of holism, diversity, social and ethical accountability, transcultural competence, leadership, and citizenship.

Central to the nationally accredited School’s mission is the faculty’s commitment to excellence in graduate and undergraduate nursing education. Within a student-centered environment, the faculty promotes critical thinking and competence in evidence-based nursing practice. The highly qualified and diverse graduates of the academic programs meet nursing-related health needs and address both health and health care disparities with an emphasis on rural and other vulnerable populations.

Through collaboration and a process of engagement, faculty, staff, and students within the School of Nursing serve the university, the community, practice environments, and the nursing profession. Scholarly activities and dissemination of knowledge address vulnerable populations, health promotion, and nursing education.

Adopted February 13, 2006

Consistent with the mission of the University, the purposes of the School of Nursing are:

1. To promote and advance the quality, accessibility, and availability of nursing education and nursing care for the rural population of southeast Georgia by:

• providing for the education of baccalaureate and master's level nursing student capable of delivering high quality nursing care with skills and knowledge in keeping with the Statutes of the State of Georgia and as defined by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education;

• providing the opportunity for upward mobility for the registered nurse;

• providing instruction which focuses on the ethnic, cultural, and social content necessary to enable nurses to deliver care in a manner acceptable to the diverse population of the southeast region of Georgia;

• providing a regional academic center for professional nursing which contributes to the expertise of the profession and the well being of the community by promoting scholarly activities, creative endeavors, and continuing education for nurses;

• providing an educational base upon which graduate study may be built for specialization in nursing as a clinician, educator, administrator, or researcher; and

• promoting the placement of baccalaureate and masters prepared nurses in rural health care shortage areas;

2. To influence the course and progress of the health care delivery systems in the rural southeast region of Georgia by:

• preparing nurses to contribute to strategic planning and change in community health care organizations; and

• preparing nurses with appropriate skills to function effectively with community groups to impact health policy;

3. Increase the effectiveness of nurses as individuals and nursing as a discipline by:

• promoting professional identification and commitment;

• teaching caring and mutually enabling factors that will enhance the personal and professional growth and development of nurses;

• promoting professional autonomy and multi disciplinary collaboration;

• preparing self-directed, life-long learners, capable of initiating change and adapting to the rapidly changing environment;

• providing preparation for self-governance and participation in the institutions of a democratic society; and

• enhancing the quality and excellence of nursing care delivered in the region.

STANDARDS REFERENCED

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (1981 ). The essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice. Washington, DC: AACN.

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (1996). The essentials of master's education for advanced practice nursing. Washington, DC: AACN.

American Nurses Association. (1985). Code for nurses with interpretive statements. Washington, DC: American Nurses Publishing.

American Nurses Association. (1988). Nursing case management. Washington, DC: American Nurses Publishing.

American Nurses Association. (1995). Nursing's social policy statement. Washington, DC: American Nurses Publishing.

American Nurses Association. (1996). Scope and Standards of Advanced Practice Nursing. Washington, DC: American Nurses Publishing.

American Nurses Association. (1998). Standards of clinical practice. 2nd edition. Washington, DC: American Nurses Publishing.

Association of Community Health Nursing Educators. (1992). Essentials of master's level nursing education for advanced community health nursing practice. Lexington, KY: ACHCE.

Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and 9. 9. Neonatal Nurses and National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Reproductive Health. (1996). The women's health nurse practitioner: Guidelines for practice and education. Washington, DC: AWHONN and NANPRH.

National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties. (1995). Advanced nursing practice: Curriculum guidelines and program standards for nurse practitioner education. Washington, DC: NONPF.

National Task Force on Quality Nurse Practitioner Programs. (1997). Criteria for evaluation of nurse practitioner programs: Report of the national task force on quality nurse practitioner programs. Washington, DC: NONPF.

Revised 10/27/95, Approved 10/27/95, Updated 7/99, 8/00
Copyright © 2001 by School of Nursing, Georgia Southern University

 

This page is maintained by the School of Nursing at Georgia Southern University. Address inquiries, information and suggestions to: Jean Bartels, PhD, RN: Chair, Georgia Southern University School of Nursing or call (912) 478-5479.