Statement of Philosophy

Cape Cod Community College
Nursing Program

The philosophy of the nursing faculty is consistent with the values of Cape Cod Community College and is based on the principles that people are holistic beings with high value placed on the quality of human life.

We believe that the individual is endowed with free will, inherent worth, and dignity. Each individual is unique and capable of adaptation and growth. People have complex needs: physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. These needs are common to all regardless of culture, race, gender, and age. The individual is continuously changing and communicating with the inner self and the environment.

We believe that society is a network of communicating individuals characterized by a variety of cultures and subcultures. The basic unit of society is the family, which transmits beliefs, values, and customs.

The individual's adaptation to stressors influences health. Optimal health is a state of maximum physical, social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and environmental harmony. Personal definitions of health may vary and be influenced by ethics, morals, culture, age, economics, values, and the environment. The external environment is dynamic, evolving, and changing, influenced by culture, economics, beliefs, ethics, and politics. Changes in the environment influence health. The individual has rights and responsibilities regarding health care.

We believe that nursing is the diagnosis and treatment of the human responses to actual and potential problems. The capacity to view humanity with caring and to appreciate the inherent dignity of people is a basis for ethical nursing practice. These characteristics are reflected in assisting individuals to adapt to their environment and in meeting their needs throughout the life span when they are unable to do so. The nurse integrates biophysical principles with an understanding of human behavior for the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health.

Education, a life long process, is a basic right to every individual. It results in acquisition of knowledge and facilitates behavioral changes. Education uses the teaching - learning process, a dynamic on-going art that integrates the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains. Learning is an active process requiring internalization of knowledge. Teaching is a logical, organized, goal-directed activity. The teacher creates an environment, which allows the learner to assimilate knowledge and discover personal meaning.Nursing education is an applied, purposeful discipline that best occurs in an institution of higher education. It is value and competency-based, integrating nursing and general education studies.

We believe that the graduate of the Nursing Program at Cape Cod Community College will be able to diagnosis and treat human responses to actual and potential health problems, supervise others, implement health teaching, and function in an accountable manner within the profession?s ethical and legal framework. The graduate is prepared to function in both acute and long term care settings where policies, procedures, and guidance are available.