Education

The Faculty of the Citizens School of Nursing believes that the patient is viewed as an open system that may be a person, family, group, or community. The system is a composite of interrelationships among physiological, psychological, sociocultural, developmental, and spiritual variables. These variables interact dynamically to keep the system stable. The person is viewed as being in constant change moving toward a dynamic state of system stability. The degree of resistance the person has to stressors that threaten to disturb system equilibrium is dependent on the person’s strength and interaction of the variables with the environment.

The person has a central core that consists of basic survival factors, genetic characteristics, and strengths and weaknesses of system parts. Additionally, the person has a flexible line of defense that serves as a protective buffer for a state of wellness. This flexible line of defense includes lifestyle factors, coping patterns, and developmental, cultural, and spiritual factors.

Health is a continuum that reflects the degree of system stability between wellness and illness. The response and adaptation to these interactions determines stability within the person. When all needs are met, wellness exists. Environment is the external and internal factors or stressors that surround or interact with the person and therefore influences the system stability of the person’s state of being.

Nursing is a multifaceted profession that is rooted in scientific theory. Nurses incorporate principles of therapeutic communication and utilize a wholistic systematic approach in collaboration with the multidiciplinary healthcare team in providing evidenced-based care for the client through primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. The nursing process includes interventions to promote, maintain, and restore health. Critical thinking is incorporated in the application of the nursing process. Caring is a continuous presence throughout this process.  Nursing is autonomous and therefore morally, ethically, and legally responsible to the patient, family, mutlidiciplinary healthcare team, and society for the quality of care provided. Nursing influences and is influenced by the current political, social, and economic trends that impact health care.

Learning is an active, participative, life-long process that results in the acquisition of knowledge and skills, as evidenced by changes in an individual’s behavior, values, and attitudes. The learning process progresses from simple to complex, general to specific, and directed to self-directed. It is influenced by past experiences, readiness, and motivation of  the learner.  Nursing education is a student-centered, collaborative process based on a mutual trust, respect, and acceptance of responsibility between the educator and the student. In the educational process, the teacher is responsible for planning and guiding the learning experience, which reflects the application of theory to practice. The students are supported as they strive for proficiency in critical thinking and critical decision-making skills essential to entry-level practice. The students are expected to be active participants in the educational process.

Citizens School of Nursing serves the community by preparing competent entry-level professional nurses who live and work primarily in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the general southwestern Pennsylvania region. The School also serves the community by encouraging faculty and student participation in health-related activites that promote the health of the community and demonstrate the role of the professional nurse in the community.