Aim

The aim of the baccalaureate program is to prepare students for beginning professional nursing practice. The program provides the general and professional education essential for understanding human beings, their culture, and their environment; for acquiring and utilizing nursing theory upon which nursing practice is based; and for promoting self-understanding, personal fulfillment, and motivation for continued learning. The graduates of this program are prepared to maintain and promote client adaptation in a variety of health care settings, through theory and utilization of the nursing process.

Program Outcomes

Upon completion of the program, graduates will:

1. Implement and manage a systematic approach (integration, translation, and application) to critical thinking and clinical reasoning, inclusive of knowledge from nursing, other disciplines, theology, philosophy, and the liberal arts and natural and social sciences to make judgments and create innovations in advanced nursing practice/specialty level for the common good.
   
2. Provide, promote, and manage care and care teams that support holistic, individualized, just, compassionate, coordinated, evidence-based, developmentally appropriate, and inclusive care that is respectful of the dignity of the human person, promotes human flourishing, and is consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
   
3. Implement evidence-based and collaborative activities that promote health, prevent disease, and manage risks, considering social determinants of health and advocating for the improvement of equitable health outcomes, across the continuum of care and levels of prevention through both traditional and non-traditional partnerships from diverse communities, public health, industry, academia, healthcare, local government entities, and others.
   
4. Synthesize, translate, apply, and disseminate nursing knowledge to improve health and transform health care.
   
5. Implement initiatives to address clinical quality issues using innovation principles and processes, improvement science, and evidence to promote a culture of patient, provider, and work environment safety through both system effectiveness and individual performance.
   
6. Implements models of interprofessional teamwork and intentional collaboration with colleagues, patients, families, and communities that value engagement with the city, nation, Church, and world through participatory decision-making related to healthcare needs that optimize, enhance, and improve health outcomes within advanced nursing specialty practice.
   
7. Develop and lead strategy implementation for coordinated, cost-effective, proactive, and efficient care within complex healthcare systems based on Catholic values to provide safe, quality, and equitable care to diverse populations.
   
8. Navigate information and communication technologies to gather data, guide decision making, and provide care respecting the dignity of the human person that aligns with best practice and professional and regulatory standards.
   
9. Model a sustainable professional identity grounded in Catholic social teaching, inclusive of honesty, integrity, accountability, a collaborative disposition, and ethical behavior reflective of the Catholic identity and nursing’s unique characteristics and values.
   
10. Model and mentor others in activities that demonstrate a commitment to lifelong whole person well-being, intellectual curiosity, professional growth and development, resilience, and healthcare leadership and influencing change.