Nursing Department Philosophy Statement

The Dawson College Nursing Department philosophy is consistent with the Dawson College mission, to uphold diversity of thought and foster a quest for excellence in our nursing students.
Nursing is a caring and humane discipline which recognizes the dignity, individuality, autonomy and worth of each person. The program is based on the nursing meta-paradigm: person, health, nursing and environment.

The goal of nursing care and the health care delivery system is to prevent illness, to promote and restore health, to maximize one’s potential or, when not possible, to support the individual and significant others through periods of loss and grief.

We believe that teaching and learning are interactive processes. Within the learning environment, students and faculty engage in a partnership to achieve both professional and program objectives. The role of the educator is to facilitate and support learning. Through a variety of experiences, the student will acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, critical thinking, values, and ethics to respond to health care needs in an ever changing society. Students will graduate from the program with a commitment to life-long learning.

Our nursing program is designed to prepare and educate nursing students to become self-directed autonomous, accountable and critical thinkers within culturally diverse work environments. Upon completion of the program, the student will be theoretically and clinically prepared to apply the nursing process when assuming responsibility for the care of patients, whether in a state of health or in illness. Furthermore, the graduating student will be equipped to work both independently and collaboratively with the interdisciplinary team and to serve as a patient advocate.