Mission, Vision, Values and Philosophy

Mission

The mission of the College of Nursing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis is to shape the future of nursing practice through education, research, and service. Our goals are to:

develop nurses who are dedicated to excellence and leadership through innovative baccalaureate, masters, doctoral, and professional programs; and,
leverage strategic partnerships to generate, translate, disseminate, and apply knowledge that will improve health within our metropolitan region and beyond.

Core Values

Diversity

We recognize, celebrate and incorporate the value of the diversity in thought and culture in our environment.

Intellectual Discourse & Rigor

We encourage excellence and continuous improvement along with free and open discussion, dialogue and debate of ideas.

Caring

We offer ourselves through empathy, nurturing and mentoring.

Professionalism

We hold ourselves accountable to the standards of professional performance, practice and ethical behavior.

Mutual Respect and Support

We respect the importance of individual strengths and contributions, and support each other to ensure the success of our mission. We have an abundance mentality that drives us to work together to create the future vision we desire.

Transparency

We maintain open and honest organizational and interpersonal communication.

Vision 2012

Constituents

As the only college of nursing in a public research university in the St. Louis region, we are recognized for providing stellar education for our students and cutting edge research to improve practice.
We are recognized nationally as a premier metropolitan research college of nursing that responds to the needs of diverse learners and other constituents.

The prelicensure undergraduate program has grown substantially to support the growing need for nurses in the region.
The Advanced Nursing Practice programs will have evolved into a Doctor of Nursing Practice program that is recognized for its excellence and innovative approaches to educating leaders for nursing practice.
A Clinical Nurse leader program has been implemented in partnership with clinical agencies and provides outstanding advanced generalist nursing education.
We have a thriving research enterprise that provides excellent learning opportunities for PhD nursing students and expands interdisciplinary linkages with the UMSL campus and with institutions in the St. Louis region and across the UM system.
Our collaboration with health care providers, institutions and businesses has created new opportunities for our students, faculty and staff members, and graduates while making an impact on advancing the practice of nursing.

Financial

Our growing research enterprise is supported by significant extramural funding including federal funding.
Grants for education and practice, and intramural funding have increased by 500%.
Private funding through alumni and donor contributions has grown to support achievement of the Colleges mission.

Operational

Policies that define the expected norms and procedures are clearly communicated.
Facilities have been transformed to support the changing needs of a college that provides educational excellence.
The criteria to attract, admit, and graduate students continue to yield an academically excellent and diverse student body.
Residencies, fellowships, externships and other creative programs are providing our students with experiential learning opportunities that enhance their transition into the profession.
Faculty members who wish to practice as part of their roles have opportunities to do so and to contribute to developing new practice models through their roles.

Culture / Organization

The values of the CON are evident in all of our interactions, both internally and externally.
We recruit, develop and retain top quality professionals who are dedicated to the Colleges mission, values, and vision.
Non-tenure track, tenure track, and adjunct faculty members, and staff have been added in the right mix to contribute to the evolving programs.

Philosophy

The philosophy of the nursing faculty at the College of Nursing is congruent with the missions of the College of Nursing and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Faculty and staff are dedicated to providing nursing education that prepares graduates as professionals to practice in generalist nursing roles, advanced nursing roles, and as nurse scientists in all health care systems. All academic programs reflect the facultys beliefs about nursing, clients, health, environment, and nursing education.

The faculty believes that nursing is a profession and an academic discipline possessing a scientific body of knowledge that requires critical thinking, problem solving, and informatics. The primary function of nursing is to educate and assist the client to promote, protect, maintain, restore, and support health, or, to provide for a peaceful death. As a profession, nursing encompasses moral, ethical, legal, and scientific dimensions. Nurses are accountable to society for their practice and responsible for functioning within economic, legal, and moral/ethical parameters. Nursing practice is both theory and evidence based, using theories from nursing and other related disciplines. Nurses synthesize and apply knowledge from the arts, sciences, and humanities in nursing practice utilizing interpersonal communication to meet the complex and multidimensional needs of the client in a variety of health care settings throughout the metropolitan area and beyond. Through leadership and strategic partnerships, this knowledge is further integrated into nursing as research is conducted, disseminated, and used to guide nursing practice, improve healthcare outcomes, and to advance nursing science.

Each human being is unique and complex, with physiological, psychological, spiritual, and sociocultural developmental characteristics. Individuals respond to their environment differently based on these characteristics, as well as their personal attitudes, values, beliefs, and perceptions. Nurses provide care to the client (individuals, families, communities, and populations) during all of lifes phases. Therefore, nursing practice requires rigorous education with focus on provision of evidence-based, holistic and culturally competent care.

Health is a multidimensional state that requires adjustment to environmental stressors and balance of the physiological, psychological, spiritual, and sociocultural developmental characteristics. It consists of both subjective and objective components and may be viewed differently by health care providers and clients. Health care involves those activities designed to promote, protect, maintain, restore, and support an optimal state of health though the life span.

Teaching and learning are both dynamic and interactive processes of education. Learning is the active, continuous process of acquiring knowledge and skill that brings about actual or potential changes of behavior. It includes both formal and informal experiences. Learning builds on previous experiences. It is facilitated when the goals and purposes of the new knowledge are clear and relevant to the learner. The goals of learning are defined mutually by the learner and the teacher.

Teaching involves using a curriculum that fosters effective communication and knowledge acquisition. In the rapidly changing health care system, new, innovative, and technologically competent curriculum models are designed to meet the needs of a global society, including the greater St. Louis metropolitan area, the state of Missouri, and beyond. Effective teachers guide, direct, mentor, and evaluate learning while encouraging critical thinking, self-direction, creativity, and independence.

Nursing education guides the learner to attain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to practice professional nursing. It is designed to meet the needs of students who have unique and diverse backgrounds. Nursing education best occurs in a non-threatening, supportive environment that fosters student growth and professional development. Preparation for nursing practice includes providing health care experiences to clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, across the life span, and in a variety of settings.

Professional nursing education is a life long endeavor, consisting of formal and continuing educational strategies and should be available to individuals with diverse cultural, experiential, and academic backgrounds. Baccalaureate education prepares the nurse generalist for professional nursing practice. Masters education focuses on the integration of advanced knowledge and skills within a particular practice context to improve the health care of individuals and populations through the provision of nursing care that is scientifically, ethically, and holistically grounded. In addition to a mastery of their specialty content, masters level nurses are critical thinkers who have advanced knowledge and skills in the areas of leadership, informatics, health care policy, and research utilization for evidence based practice.

Doctoral level nurse scientists use theory and implement research methods to improve nursing practice and science. Doctoral level nurse clinicians improve health outcomes through the translation of research into advanced nursing care of patients, families, communities, and populations.

College of Nursing