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The mission of the School of Nursing and Population Health is to facilitate the education of future professional nurses to be effective clinicians and leaders. As clinicians, graduates are prepared to promote the ability of all persons, families, and communities in attaining their highest level of wellness. As leaders, graduates are prepared to use research for evaluating and improving health care approaches and for continued study in nursing.

Philosophy

Nursing, a caring art, and science encompass the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to health and illness. Nurses use a variety of models to guide people of many cultures toward identifying their own health care and healing needs. Nurses model self-care while supporting people in their own pursuit of health. People are born with healing capacities with or without perception of these capacities although a cure is not always certain. The nurse as a health care resource is available to assist people to move toward and maintain health in their human experiences. The society in which the nurse functions are rapidly changing and is technologically oriented. Nurses use knowledge gained from client preferences and values, clinical expertise and best research evidence as well as the integral process to guide their practice. The practice of nursing must be in accordance with established standards of clinical practice and the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics (ANA, 2001) and the Maine Nurse Core Competencies (MPNEP, 2012).

Health, a personally perceived state of wellbeing, is an ever-changing holistic interplay among the physiological, spiritual, psychological, social, cultural, cognitive and emotional dimensions of people. Faculty believes that reflective practice is a continuous one wherein the student develops a unique holistic awareness of self and how one’s self affects others. As people grow and develop, they strive to meet the needs of these interconnected dimensions to achieve a sense of harmony and balance between self and environment. Clients, as partners in their care, may be individuals, families, groups or communities. Faculty value the uniqueness, worth, dignity and integrity of all people and believe that each human being is a dynamic holistic system. 

The essence of professional nursing education lies in the integration of academic and clinical experience. Faculty are committed to a foundation of study grounded in arts, sciences, and humanities that leads to Interprofessional and nursing education. The acquisition of competency-based knowledge, skills, and attitudes prepare future nurses to meet the healthcare needs of a diverse population. Faculty believe that student-centeredness is the cornerstone to optimal learning and are committed to a supportive, caring and interactive environment that takes into account the diversity of culture and experience that students bring to the learning situation. Learning is a collaborative process whereby students and faculty learn from each other, clients, peers, mentors, preceptors as well as other health care professionals.

The RN to B.S.N. Completion Program is designed for registered nurses who embrace the opportunity to broaden and enhance current knowledge and skills, acquire knowledge in evidence-based nursing, further their career opportunities and provide the credentials necessary for graduate education. Delivered through both didactic (hybrid) and experiential components, the curriculum includes advanced courses leading to competencies in the areas of theoretical nursing, evidence-based practice, health assessment, critical thinking, clinical theory and practice, health care of populations, leadership, management, teaching, and learning. Nursing course work is offered as a hybrid including online and face-to-face. This allows the student to continue practicing as a registered nurse and encourages individuals to apply concepts presented in the classroom to actual clinical practice. The RN to B.S.N. completion curriculum exposes students to different ways of knowing through interprofessional opportunities, exploration of social sciences, natural sciences, and the humanities. Upon completion of the program, the student is awarded the Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.) degree. Graduates of the program are prepared to participate in the health care delivery system in the role of direct care provider to populations, researcher, manager and leader, health teacher to aggregates, change agent, and interprofessional collaborator or coordinator.

*C=Clep; CC= Competency Challenge; T=Transfer

**Courses require experiential learning component

Credit by Examination Policy for Selected Nursing Courses (CLEP)

The Department of Nursing acknowledges and validates student’s prior education and practice. The Department of Nursing provides credit by examination for admitted and enrolled Registered Nurse (RN) to BSN students only. The Department of Nursing contracts with a standardized testing vendor (Kaplan) to provide all students the opportunity to acquire credit by examination. The following courses are available for credit by examination:

• NSG 360 (Health Assessment)
• NSG 370 (Pharmacology)

Students requesting credit by examination must contact the program coordinator to register at least 3 weeks prior to the start date of the course being challenged. Instructions and a blueprint for the examination will be made available to students at the time of registration. The examination will be graded within five working days and the student will be notified of the grade. A successful grade will be recorded and appear on the student’s transcript. The student who is successful using the credit-by-examination process may not continue as a regular student in the course for the purpose of increasing the passing grade to a higher level. If the student is not successful using the credit-by-examination process, he/she will be eligible to continue in the course as a regular student. Credit by examination does not calculate into the final Grade Point Average (GPA). 

DEPARTMENT POLICIES

Academic Integrity Policy

The University of New England values academic integrity in all aspects of the educational experience. Academic dishonesty in any form undermines this standard and devalues the original contributions of others. It is the responsibility of all members of the university community to actively uphold the integrity of the academy; failure to act, for any reason, is not acceptable. Charges of academic dishonesty will be reviewed by the dean of the appropriate College and, if upheld, will result at minimum in a failing grade on the assignment and a maximum of dismissal from the University of New England. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:

• Cheating, copying, or the offering or receiving of unauthorized assistance or information.
• Fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
• Actions that destroy or alter the work of another student.
• Multiple submissions of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without the permission of each instructor.
• Plagiarism: the appropriation of records, research, materials, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one’s own.

HIPAA Compliance

Prior to attending any clinical/experiential offering, it is mandatory that each nursing student document yearly completion of the ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ training program explaining their legal responsibilities under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Under this regulation, nursing students are permitted to have access to Protected Health Information (PHI) only when observing and performing direct client/patient care as part of their training and must follow approved HIPAA policies on usage of PHI. Additionally, students will complete a department-specific HIPAA training that highlights specific examples/scenarios that might be seen in the clinical setting. More detailed information is available in the ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ Department of Nursing Student Handbook, and will also be provided by the ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ HIPAA training program. Students requiring further clarification are referred to ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ HIPAA compliance office. Students must also comply with requirements and expectations for appropriate storage and transmittal of client information. No PHI can leave a covered entity site unless it is de-identified. All HIPAA violations will be reported to the ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ HIPAA compliance officer and the appropriate clinical partner individual who oversees HIPAA compliance.

Office for Students with Disabilities

The University of New England will make reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. Students need to register with Disability Services and inform their instructors of any academic accommodations. Timely accommodations are dependent on early registration with Disability Services. This office is located in Stella Maris 131 on the Biddeford Campus (207) 602-2815 and on the Lower Level of Ginn Hall on the Portland Campus (207) 221-4418.

WCHP Course and Instructor Evaluation Policy

Course and instructor evaluations are one of the most important tools that we have for evaluating the quality of your education, and for providing meaningful feedback to course instructors on their teaching. In order to assure that the feedback is both comprehensive and precise, we need to receive it from everyone, so course evaluations are a required element of every course. Students who complete all their evaluations on time will have access to their grades as soon as they are available. For those students who do not complete their evaluations, grades will be masked for approximately two weeks.

DEPARTMENT OF NURSING ACADEMIC AND PROGRESSION STANDARDS

Students admitted to the RN to B.S.N. completion program enter at the level of