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Philosophy

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to communicate the vision, mission, values, philosophy, professional practice model, and nursing care delivery model of the Department of Nursing Services at the University Hospital of Brooklyn/SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Collectively, these components serve as the organizating framework for conceptualizing and actualizing nursing care, practice, and outcomes within the only academic medical center in Brooklyn and provide the Nursing architecture that supports the achievement of organizational and departmental goals.

Policy

Nursing Services is a professionally organized department within the University Hospital of Brooklyn/SUNY Downstate Medical Center. To achieve the vision, mission, values, and organizational goals of the medical center, Nursing care is delivered utilizing all appropriate resources in partnership with other members of the heathcare team, our patients, their families, and the community. Ongoing communication and collaboration with all members of the health care team are vital to coherent planning strategies and positive outcomes for patients and their families. The professional nurse provides and seeks expert consultation from other nurses and professionals to enhance care outcomes.

Nursing is a independent, autonomous discipline. The nursing process serves as the framework for the assessing, planning, implementating, and evaluating nursing care. The nursing plan of care reflects interdisciplinary collaboration and mutual goal-setting in partnership with the patient and family. Nurses provide patient-centered and goal-directed care based on scientific knowledge. The nursing environment of care is governed by sound principles of clinical excellence, safety, education, and financial management to meet the unique culture care needs of patients and their families.

Nursing practice is evidence-based, safe, therapeutic, beneficial, satisfying, and meaningful. Nursing care is population specific, age-appropriate, and culturally relevant. Nursing excellence requires continuous learning, commitment, and professionalism. Ongoing Nursing professional development supports the enhancement and maintenance of knowledge, skills, and abilities in the use of the nursing process across the continuum of care including the provision of palliative care and end of life care.

Vision Statement

The Department of Nursing Services at the University Hospital of Brooklyn/SUNY Downstate Medical Center will be at the forefront of advancing the art and science of nursing and will be recognized as the center of excellence in nursing practice, education, research, and scholarship in Brooklyn. Together, we shall create a service driven culture and create a socially responsible nursing organization recognized for quality nursing care, clinical best practices resulting in improved nursing sensitive patient outcomes, and exemplary customer service.

Mission Statement

Together, and in partnership with members of the healthcare team and our patients, their families, and our community, nurses at the University Hosptial of Brooklyn/SUNY Downstate Medical Center will be at the forfront of improving people's lives by providing culturally congruent care to diverse patients within an environment of scientific inquiry, fiscal accountability, and evidence-based practice.

Nursing Core Values

Our guiding values of professionalism, caring, teamwork, commitment, and continuous learning enable nurses to achieve the collaborative mission of the Department of Nursing Services and SUNY Downstate Medical Center. We value the contributions of our nursing and interdisciplinary colleagues, seek to acquire and retain top nursing talent, mentor nurses and students, advance nursing practice, and recognize excellence in clincal, administrative, research, and educational practice, leadership and scholarship.

Theoretical Framework

Theories are essential in scientific disciplines as they enable practitioners to describe, explain, and predict concepts and phenomena. Nursing theories guide practice, influence decisions and interventions, and provide a framework for evaluating outcomes.

Professional nursing practice utilizes a theoretical framework based on nursing and other scientific and technological knowledge in order to assume responsibility and accountability for the care of patients and their families and to repsond to the needs of the community. Through competence, respect, and caring, professional nurses can enhance the patient and family's ability to achieve optimal, desirable health outcomes, or to face illness and death.

Consistent with the organizational values of respect, compassion, dignity, diversity, cultural competency and cultural sensitivity, the Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality (Leininger & McFarland, 2002) provides the theoretical underpinnings for nursing practice at the University Hospital of Brooklyn/SUNY Downstate Medical Center. The theory serves as the foundation for the provision of culturally congruent nursing care by culturally competent nursing practitioners.

According to the theory, caring is the essence of nursing and is central to guiding nursing practice. In addition, health and illness states, health outcomes, and satisfaction with healthcare are strongly influenced and often primarily determined by culture. Furthermore, culture and caring are universal and the most holistic means to conceptualize and understand people. Consequently, the provision of culturally congruent nursing care is central to guiding nursing practice that is relevant, meaningful, satisfying, and beneficial. She believes that care is the essence of nursing and the dominant, distinctive, and unifying feature of nursing.

Philosophy of Nursing

We believe that caring is the core of nursing, is central to guiding nursing practice, and the essence of the nurse-patient relationship. We believe that culture and caring are universal and the most holistic means to conceptualize and understand people. We believe that nursing competency is synonymous with cultural competency (Dreher & McNaughton, 2002). Therefore, to meet the culture care needs of diverse patients and families, our Philosophy of Nursing and our Professional Practice Model for the Department of Nursing Services are based on the Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality (Leininger & McFarland, 2002).

We believe that professional nursing practice encompasses the nurse, the patient (individual/person), other health care providers, health/well-being/illness, or dying, and the environment of care. We believe that Nursing Care delivered at the University Hosptial of Brooklyn/SUNY Downstate Medical Center must be safe, evidenced-based, therapeutic, beneficial, meaningful, and satisfying utilizing a team approach in patnership with the patient and family. We recognize the cultural, racial, ethnic, spiritual, and linguistic diversity of our patients, staff, and community. The provision of nursing care incorporates a holistic approach for the patient and family. The nursing process forms the framework for the implementation and evaluation of care within a collaborative practice model encompassing all health care disciplines.

Our concept is simple. We believe in C.A.R.E.

C: Clinical

We believe that our patients, their families, and the community must be given professional holistic care with kindness and compassion. Our nursing care is based on the best available evidence derived from scientific inquiry combined with clinical judgement and patient preferences. The provision of culturally congruent nursing care is based on a foundation of appreciative inquiry and patient safety.

Our nurses provide care in partnership with our patients based on their individual culture care needs to promote optimal outcomes. Our nurses demonstrate integrity and support for Nursing's ethical commitment to provide compassionate care that recognizes the worth and privacy of each individual. Innovation drives the application of evidence at the bedside that meets the unique culture care needs of patients and their families to maintain or regain their well being or health in culturally meaningful and beneficial ways, or to help people face handicaps or death.

A: Administrative

We believe that our patients must be given culturally congruent and protective care in a professional manner. Every member of the healthcare team is a proactive leader and patient advocate. The activities that influence and constitute patient care must be effectively and efficiently coordinated using all appropriate financial, human, material, and temporal resources. We provide the requisite administative infrastructure and resources that support the provision of culturally congruent care in an environement characterized by mutual trust, partnership, and empowerment.

Our nursing staff work in a practice environment in which culture and care are embedded in every facet of our practice. In partnership with our patients, their families, and the community, our nurses work independently, intradependently, and interdependtly as integral members of the interdisciplinary healhcare team. We advocate for quality care that is culturally safe and promotes continuity of care to meet changing patient needs.

R: Research

Evidence provides the scientific foundation for excellence in nursing practice. Through Nursing Research we discover new knowledge, utilize research findings that enable nurses to meet the holistic culture care needs of our diverse patients, family, and community, validate the efficacy of our nursing care, measure nurse-sensitive patient outcomes, and improve our practice.

We believe that through scientific inquiry and scholarship we discern the meanings of care essential to the design of effective clinical, administrative, and educational systems and plans of care that are culturally meaningful, beneficial, and satisfying. The integration of evidence, clinical judgment, and patient preferences provides the scientific foundation for our nurses to assist, support, facilitate, or enable patients and their families to maintain or regain their well being or health, or to help patients and families face handicaps or death in culturally meaningful and beneficial ways.

E: Education

Our hospital is a diverse, dynamic, urban, academic medical center. We believe our patients and families should be educated and informed so that they may actively engage in a caring partnership with the healthcare team in order to develop culturally meaningful, beneficial, and satisfying ways to achieve wellness, or to face illness, handicaps, or death.

Education embodies nursing's commitment to patient, family, community, and student education, mentoring, professional development, and advancement. Ongoing education is recognized as an essential component of our nurses professional growth. The constructs of the Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality are embedded in the continuous learning process for our nurses. We provide, encourage, and financially support learning opportunities that enable our nurses to seek academic and clinical advancement that support their journey toward becoming culturally competent practitioners.