Following the mission of the Chamberlain University, "To educate, empower and embolden diverse healthcare professionals who advance the health of people, families, communities and nations," the College of Nursing strives to prepare graduates to serve the needs of diverse communities including underserved populations.

Learning is designed to provide diverse students with the best academic experience and support services to become extraordinary nurses. This is done through application of the three aims embedded in our mission:

• To educate. A culture of care creates an academic environment in which students thrive by being appreciated for their wholeness and individuality and supported to discover and unlock their potential.
• To empower. Teaching is an enterprise of engagement and collaboration between students and faculty that fosters accountability and self-determination in the practice of nursing.
• To embolden. The learning environment is intentionally designed to promote and instill confidence in one’s professional identity as a nurse.

Chamberlain Care^® creates the framework for educating, empowering and emboldening students in the following ways:

• Curricula include concepts and competencies for development of care practices including teaching self-care practices to patients. Self-care is taught as a professional imperative for developing the capacity to care for others. Likewise, colleague care is emphasized as a way of promoting working environments of respect, collaboration, collegiality and teamwork.
• Pedagogical approaches focus on:
  • Engaging through fostering self-direction, reflection and deep learning
  • Individualizing learning aligning with strengths, diversity and desires of the learner
  • Developing clinical judgment through innovative experiential learning
  • Leveraging academic technologies that facilitate progressive and efficient attainment of learning outcomes
• Faculty are supported in developing, sustaining and enhancing these pedagogical competencies through a program of master instruction preparation, assessment and certification.
• Clinical education is designed using a holistic experiential learning model that recognizes and fosters each student’s professional potential.
• Campus and online leaders promote educational environments that exemplify and cultivate a culture of care that maximizes the use of self-care, colleague care and student care.
• A student success program is provided to all students through a community of faculty and staff coaches that personalize support.

College of Nursing

Conceptual Framework of Nursing

Educational programs at Chamberlain University are guided by a holistic health, person-centered, care-focused framework of nursing that emphasizes cultural humility and professional identify formation. Nursing is a discipline with a distinct body of knowledge built upon general education. The art of nursing culminates in the application of this knowledge in practice. Nursing practice encompasses the provision of care in defined roles from beginning to advanced, ranging from direct delivery of care to the provision of education, administration, systems and resources that promote the quality of care. The full spectrum of knowledge needed to practice nursing effectively requires the intellectual, physical, emotional, social and passion components of holistic discovery, learning and application.

Holistic Health is a way of living by appreciating the wholeness of life, expressing one’s highest potential, nurturing resources and relationships that support well-being and taking responsibility for advancing one’s own health. The role of the nurse is to support, promote and advance holistic health through educating, empowering and emboldening others.

Person-Centered care involves the creation of respectful care that takes into account responsiveness to the patient’s preferences, needs and values (IOM, 2001). The patient is recognized as a full partner and source of control in their own care (Cronenwett et al., 2007). Person-centered care at all levels requires planning and assessing care in a way that is responsive and meaningful to the person (Barnsteiner, Disch & Walton, 2014). Families, communities, organizations and populations are approached with the same perspective.

Care-Focused nursing epitomizes Chamberlain Care^® through appreciating and recognizing the role of care in promoting the health and well-being of self, colleagues and patients. It advocates that nurses take accountability for being in the best position to provide extraordinary care to others and that they foster an environment of collegial support and respect. Care-focused nursing is aimed at applying principles of holistic health and person-centered care to persons, families, groups and communities as well as organizations. Care for self, care for colleagues and care for persons culminate in extraordinary nursing care and superior health outcomes.

Cultural Humility is a continual process of self-reflection, self-awareness and self-critique by healthcare providers in order to develop and maintain mutually respectful and useful partnerships with individuals, families and communities (Tervalon & Murray-Garcia, 1998). Rather than focusing on the mastery of many cultures as in cultural competence, cultural humility suggests that understanding other cultures requires a lifelong commitment to a learning process. This encourages an intentional examination of how the nurse’s beliefs, values and assumptions influence the delivery of healthcare and development of relationships with patients and their families (Kools, Chimwaza & Macha, 2014). ”Attaining cultural humility becomes not a goal but an active process, an ongoing way of being in the world and being in relationships with others and self,“ (Miller, 2009, p. 92).

Professional Identity Formation is a dynamic process that, “involves the internalization of core values and perspectives recognized as integral to the art and science of nursing,” (National League for Nursing, 2010, p. 68) that becomes self-evident over time. Students develop, embrace and operate from core values as they learn, gain experience and grow in the profession. The fundamental values of professional identity are obvious in all aspects of the nurse’s practice in advancing health and promoting ideals of the profession. “Professional identity is evident in the lived experience of the nurse, in their ways of ‘being,’ ‘knowing,’ and ‘doing’” (p. 68). Formation of professional identity continues through the career of the nurse being dynamic, situated and lifelong (Crigger & Godfrey, 2014).

Extraordinary Nursing is a concept and an ideal expressed in vital competencies, regardless of level or focus, which fosters the greatest good, health and well-being of persons who are the recipients of nursing care. Extraordinary nursing goes beyond clinical expertise by delivering care that is compassionate and passionate expressed in appreciation of persons and communities to advance their own health. The extraordinary nurse exudes professionalism, is contagiously positive, goes beyond expectations, advocates for patients, enjoys teaching, is intentionally present, collaborates effectively, connects with families, uses evidence to promote the best care and is relentlessly committed to promoting health (Lefton, 2012).

We believe graduates with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree are prepared to provide safe, comprehensive, professional nursing care across the lifespan to individuals, families, aggregates and communities in global societies. Professional nursing care incorporates evidence-based principles, sciences and critical reasoning and judgment in the development of responses to real or perceived healthcare needs. The BSN graduate will have been given the necessary knowledge and core competencies to meet the challenges of a dynamic and evolving profession in the 21st century. The BSN degree program provides the foundation for graduate study and beginning scholarship, encourages service to the profession and community and supports the concept of lifelong learning.

We believe the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree program prepares the graduate to assume advanced roles in nursing administration, education, informatics, healthcare policy and clinical practice. The graduate applies acquired knowledge of leadership skills in educational, organizational and practice settings. The graduate attains proficiency in systematic inquiry with the use of evidence-based knowledge, which supports contributions to society and the nursing profession. This degree program provides a foundation for doctoral study, lifelong learning and continued scholarship.

We believe the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree program prepares graduates who aspire to earn the highest level of study for nurses in clinical practice. The graduate acquires proficiency in the creation of new knowledge, translating evidence-based research into practice and scholarship to advance patient safety and outcomes in a variety of healthcare delivery settings. In response to the complex healthcare needs of society, the program is designed to prepare the graduate to influence healthcare policy providing systematic leadership at the highest level of scientific knowledge and practice expertise.

Statement of Cultural Humility

Cultural humility is a continual process of self-reflection, self-awareness and self-critique by healthcare providers in order to develop and maintain mutually respectful and useful partnerships with individuals, families and communities (Tervalon & Murray-Garcia, 1998). Rather than focusing on the mastery of many cultures as in cultural competence, cultural humility suggests that understanding other cultures requires a lifelong commitment to a learning process. This encourages an intentional examination of how the healthcare professional’s beliefs, values and assumptions influence the delivery of healthcare and the development of relationships with patients, families and communities (Kools, Chimwaza & Macha, 2014). "Attaining cultural humility becomes not a goal but an active process, an ongoing way of being in the world and being in relationships with others and self," (Miller, 2009, p. 92).

Barnsteiner, J., Disch, J., & Walton, M.K. (2014). Person and family centered care. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International.

Crigger, N., & Godfrey, N. (2014). From the inside out: A new approach to teaching professional identify formation and professional ethics. Journal of Professional Nursing, 30(5), 376–382.

Cronenwett, L., Sherwood, G., Barnsteiner, J., Disch, J., Johnson, J., Mitchell, P., Warren, J. (2007). Quality and safety education for nurses. Nursing Outlook, 55(3), 122–131.

Institute of Medicine (IOM). (2001). Crossing the quality chasm: A new health system for the 21st century. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Kools, S., Chimwaza, A., & Macha, S. (2014). Cultural humility and working with marginalized populations in developing countries. Global Health Promotion, 22(1), 52–59.

Lefton, C. (2012). Strengthening the workforce through meaningful recognition. Nursing Economics, 33(6), 331-355.

Miller, S. (2009). Cultural humility is the first step to becoming global care providers. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing, 38(1), 92–93.

National League for Nursing. (2010). Outcomes and competencies for graduates of practical/vocational, diploma, associate degree, baccalaureate, master’s, practice doctorate, and research doctorate programs in nursing. New York: Author.

Tervalon, M., & Murray-Garcia, J. (1998). Cultural humility versus cultural competence: A critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 9(1), 117–125.