Nursing

• Vocational Nursing
• Associate Degree Nursing
• EMT-P to RN Transition
• LVN to RN Transition

See the most recent college catalog for additional information and course descriptions.

MISSION STATEMENT

In keeping with the mission of Galveston College, the Nursing Programs will provide a collaborative educational environment of the highest standards to prepare graduates committed to excellence in nursing practice in evolving health care settings serving local and global communities.

VISION STATEMENT

Graduates of the Galveston College Department of Nursing will provide excellence in compassionate, patient/client centered nursing care. Graduates will be lifelong learners while providing care locally, nationally, and globally.

PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT

We believe the purpose of the Nursing Department is to offer Nursing degree programs and certificates which combine professional and liberal arts education within the framework of the college.

The nursing curriculum is based on the belief that humankind has dignity and worth. Individuals have the ability to plan, invent, discover, and direct their own lives. They relate through physical, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual development. This includes the acquisition of values and beliefs which influence their decisions.

We believe the Nursing Department at Galveston College is an integral part of the college community and as such we are actively involved in meeting the needs of the local community. As nursing educators, we are in partnership with students during their enrollment in the Galveston College Associate Degree Nursing Program. This partnership is a vital link in the educational process. Students and faculty share the responsibility for identifying learning agendas.

As faculty the goal is to empower students to learn and to pursue lifelong learning throughout their nursing careers. We believe that adult learners in the community college setting bring a variety of life experiences to the classroom and the clinical areas. Students need to build on these life experiences to fully develop their nursing potential. We believe that students need to be involved in making educational choices and selecting options to best meet their needs. Our role as faculty is to facilitate the transition from empowered student to life-long learning professionals.

We believe nurses are actively involved in decision-making and coordinating care with the client and health care team. To this end, we believe the clinical reasoning skills of students must be finely cultivated throughout the educational process at Galveston College. As graduates they will become competent practitioners able to make knowledgeable decisions based on moral and ethical reasoning, and evidence-based research and be accountable for their practice in accordance with the Nursing Practice Act. As graduates they will be prepared to meet health care needs by providing direct client care in acute care and community settings. We believe that the nursing process is the basis for decision making and actively incorporate this concept into all nursing courses.

We believe the cornerstone to quality nursing education and the profession of nursing is caring. Nursing is rooted in caring, which has been described as “human acts and processes that provide assistance to another individual in order to meet an expressed, obvious or anticipated need” (Leininger, 1985, p.209). Caring requires that the nurse give presence and attention to the client. In caring situations, decisions “are made with rather than for the client.” (Leininger, 1992, p.32). Nurses are presented with complex situations which require the ability to negotiate “between alternative points of view, contradictory lines of reasoning, and realities of situational contingencies.” (Jones & Brown, 1991, p.532). In order to effectively provide caring, the nurse must be able to proficiently critically think. Nurses provide care in varied settings with diverse clients. We as educators care about students; we as nurses care about clients; we as faculty care about fellow colleagues; and, we as members of society care about the global community. We believe that nursing involves caring for clients from diverse demographic, socioeconomic, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. We foster this caring attitude in classrooms, clinical practice, and in community involvement. We are committed to the ideal of caring nursing professionals who demonstrate this attitude towards themselves, peers, clients, and the community. We acknowledge that caring involves developing a sense of self-esteem in students. Enhanced self-esteem will foster self-caring attitudes. To this end we incorporate a caring philosophy into all courses in the nursing curriculum.

Communication is an essential element of nursing practice. Only through flexibility and open dialogue can faculty and students stay attuned to changing needs in partnerships and work to achieve client centered goals. As members of the health care team, the graduate must effectively collect and disseminate information pertinent to the client and the health care team.

We realize that nursing, nursing education, and health care is evolving. Nursing education can function as the catalyst for change in the profession and health care delivery system. We must focus students on the caring commitment of the nurse to the client, to the community, and to the profession to which they will become members.

See the most recent college catalog for additional information and course descriptions. For more information and degree plans, please contact us at (409) 944-1396 or by email at sbrannan@gc.edu or cstaub@gc.edu.

The Associate of Science Degree in Nursing (ADN) Graduate

Upon graduation, the new graduate is prepared as a safe, beginning nurse generalist. Therefore, the ADN graduate will:

SLO #1. Provide safe, quality, evidence-based patient centered care in a variety of health care settings to diverse patients across the lifespan.

SLO #2. Employ the Nursing Process using critical thinking and clinical reasoning to manage patient care within a culture of caring.

SLO #3. Participate in collaborative relationships with members of the inter-professional team, the patient and the patient’s support persons.

SLO #4 Implement fiscally responsible quality and regulatory measures to improve patient care.

SLO #5 Use information technology and patient care technology to assess, communicate, educate, mitigate error and support decision-making.

SLO #6 Assimilate professional, legal and ethical guidelines in practice as a licensed professional nurse.

Program Completion Rate

Graduate Job Placement (within one year of graduation)

Approved by:
The Texas Board of Nursing
333 Guadalupe Suite 3-460
Austin, Texas 78071-3944
Phone: (512) 305-7400
Website: www.bon.texas.gov