Nursing

Contact Information

phone: (716) 839-8387
daemen.edu/nursing

Chair

Martha Kershaw EdD, RN, CNE
(716) 839-8387

Degrees Offered

The RN-BS program is designed for working nurses. The 1+2+1 curriculum provides an opportunity unlike any other in Western New York through Daemen’s unique partner collaboration and has been implemented in response to New York’s increasing nursing shortage.

Certificate Program

Accreditation Information

Nursing baccalaureate (B.S.) programs are accredited programs. You can find Nursing accreditation information in our catalog

Nursing Department Philosophy

Consistent with the stated mission of Daemen University, the nursing philosophy embodies compassion, personal and professional commitment, and lifelong learning. The complexity of healthcare demands Registered Nurses (RNs) in different levels of practice with a variety of educational backgrounds as crucial members of the healthcare team. Baccalaureate education is viewed as the foundation for professional practice. Graduate education builds on baccalaureate education through the acquisition of advanced knowledge, skill, and technology proficiency that would facilitate complex decision-making to prepare nurses for independent advanced practice in clinical, education, research, and leadership roles.

The faculty views professionalism as the consistent demonstration of core nursing values. Caring and compassion are essential to professional nursing practice. Professionalism involves accountability for one’s self and nursing practice through the demonstration of professional standards of moral, ethical, and legal conduct. Nursing embodies continuous professional engagement to assure competent practice. Service to the community and the profession are essential components of professionalism.

Daemen seeks to build on the RN’s existing knowledge to prepare nurses as leaders in the healthcare community. Leadership promotes ethical, critical decision-making as the nurse designs, coordinates, and manages patient care at all levels of practice. Nurse leaders are necessary to shape healthcare policy and organize healthcare delivery systems that span the continuum from acute to community-based care. Leadership involves the utilization of interpersonal skills to influence others to move toward achieving a vision or goal with emphasis on practice, improving health outcomes, and ensuring patient safety. The curriculum emphasizes leadership practice, improvement of health outcomes, and ensuring patient safety.

Central to the nurse’s ability to provide care as a leader in a complex world is clinical reasoning. Clinical reasoning is developed through continual assessment of the quality of information from multiple perspectives including, but not limited to the humanistic arts and sciences and the biological arts and sciences. Critical thinking employs multiple lenses and perspectives to understand and interpret a situation that provides a background for bringing creative and innovative approaches to the health care environment.

Clinical reasoning and critical thinking are developed through evidence-based practice. Evidence-based practice embodies the application of existing knowledge and the generation of new knowledge. This implies the use of informatics to gather information, and critical thinking skills to apply the information at the appropriate time. It further promotes the generation of new knowledge through research to answer questions that affect professional practice.

The provision of nursing to a global community encompasses patient-centered care of diverse individuals, families, groups, and communities through the recognition and respect of patient differences, values, and preferences. The health needs of the underserved members of the local community are considered in relation to their connection to larger populations. Care to the global community includes a demonstration of cultural sensitivity in the identification and formulation of strategies for improved access and use of healthcare services and the sustainability of these strategies.

Vital to providing care to the global community is a nurse’s ability to utilize healthcare informatics. Health care informatics encompasses knowledge, skills, and the application of technological advances that are used to optimize the delivery of quality patient care. This incorporates both information systems/technology and patient care technology. Graduates from the program will acquire technological skills in accessing, utilizing, and evaluating information systems that support and guide safe nursing practice.

Nursing education is viewed as a collaborative process where learners are engaged in classroom, clinical, and external learning environments. Faculty act as facilitators to promote and support professional development and student-directed, lifelong learning. The student-centered atmosphere empowers students to grow personally and professionally beyond their initial expectations. The transformation that occurs allows the graduate to impact the nursing profession and society.

End of Program Competencies

Upon completion of the undergraduate nursing program the student will:

  1. Collaborate with other health care professionals and patients to provide culturally appropriate care.
  2. Advocate for social justice, including the commitment to the health of vulnerable populations and the elimination of health disparities.
  3. Evaluate sources of evidence and clinical practice guidelines for patient care.
  4. Integrate the best evidence, clinical judgment, and patient preferences in planning care.
  5. Interpret multiple biological, physical, and social factors in assessing, planning, and implementing safe patient care to diverse populations in diverse settings.
  6. Demonstrate skills in using patient care technologies, information systems, and communication devices to improve patient outcomes and create a safe patient care environment.
  7. Demonstrate leadership skills working within organizations or in the community both in the actual provision of care and/or supervising the care provided by others to improve and ensure patient safety.
  8. Demonstrate professionalism through accountability in nursing practice, professional engagement, and service to the profession and the community.