General Information

Vision

The IPFW Department of Nursing will be the premier center for nursing education in northeast Indiana by:

• Providing timely and responsive healthcare education for a diverse community of learners.
• Preparing and challenging students to achieve their highest potential in scholarship and professional nursing practice.
• Improving the health and well being of our citizens through student and faculty service.
• Contributing to the profession through academic study, research, knowledge dissemination, and political action.

Mission

The mission of the IPFW Department of Nursing is to be a leader in providing excellence in undergraduate and graduate nursing education with distinction in nursing practice, scholarship, and service to the community.

Philosophy

The philosophy of the Department of Nursing is grounded in an awareness of the rapidly changing healthcare environment. Knowing this reality, students are prepared for practice using a perspective of on-going inquiry strategies that are based in evidence.  Baccalaureate students are prepared as generalist nurses to provide patient-centered care.  Master students are prepared in specialty practice (Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner, Nursing Education, and Nurse Executive) to provide patient-centered care. The nursing faculty believe that all individuals have inherent worth and dignity, are part of a larger social-cultural network, and are continually developing and adapting.

Learning is a life-long process which enables individuals to think critically in the appraisal and application of knowledge, skills, and values as these relate to self, others, and the environment. The faculty is responsible for creating a learning environment that facilitates the acquisition of the necessary knowledge and skills for professional nursing practice. Individuals must be actively involved in, and responsible for, their own learning.  Through formal education and experiential learning, nurses can advance to professional practitioners at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Health or optimum adaptation is achieved through equilibrium of physical, psychological, social, cultural, developmental, and spiritual components. Perceptions of health and health goals are determinedwithin a socio-cultural context and are influenced by knowledge, experiences, and values.

Nursing is an interpersonal process through which the nurse influences people toward understanding, attaining, maintaining, or regaining optimum health. Holistic and compassionate nursing practice incorporates knowledge and theory from nursing science, physical sciences, psychological and social sciences, humanities, and the arts to understand and address human needs. Nurses collaborate with other healthcare providers to promote optimal well-being.

Nurses must be knowledgeable about contemporary practice issues in assuming an active leadership role in promoting health and influencing delivery of care.  Nursing faculty value professional growth and participate in opportunities that contribute service to the profession, university, students, and the community through academic study, scholarly work, and political action.