Overview

Nursing is both an art and a science. The nursing program includes courses in the liberal arts, the sciences and nursing. The curriculum prepares graduates to accept responsibility for the care of clients and families in a variety of health care settings, to function in beginning leadership roles, and to be consumers of and participants in nursing research. Students are provided with the foundation for graduate study in nursing.  Upon completion of the program, graduates will be fully prepared to take the National Council Licensing Examination in Nursing for Registered Nurses (NCLEX), a required credential for nursing practice in Massachusetts and the United States as a whole. 

Small program size. In recognition of the growing health care needs of an aging population, the nursing curriculum places special emphasis on care of the older adult. A one-year formal student-to-student mentorship program where incoming freshman students are paired with an upperclassman nursing student, to help transition into the program and help get the incoming student connected with other nursing students and activities on campus. A patient Simulation Laboratory with video and voice recording equipment. Capstone Preceptorship program where students work at a health care organization during their last semester under the supervision of a registered nurse.

Contact us

Dr. Marcia Scanlon
Chair - Nursing Department
Wilson 216

Mission

To prepare nursing graduates who are skilled in promoting or maintaining health by delivering skilled, compassionate, client-centered care to individuals, families and communities utilizing cultural and ethical understanding and demonstrating leadership and life-long inquiry.

Vision

Nursing/ To offer an accredited baccalaureate program within the context of a scientific foundation and breadth of a liberal education leading to a professional nursing degree. Excellence in teaching, productive scholarship, and contributions to the nursing profession and the community will be evidenced.

Department Learning Goals, Competencies, Alumni Outcomes

Department Learning Goals

The goals for the Westfield State University Nursing Program are to assist its students to:

  1. Integrate knowledge from the humanities, physical and social sciences and to recognize and to support diversity in the practice of nursing.
  2. Use evidence-based skilled nursing practice to promote, maintain and restore health across the lifespan to individuals, families and groups in a variety of health care settings.
  3. Become beginning professional nurses who embody legal, cultural and ethical understanding to deliver patient centered care in a collaborative, caring and safe manner.
  4. Utilize critical thinking skills to formulate skillful, caring nursing interventions to effectively meet health care challenges for individuals, families and/or communities.
  5. Utilized current gerontological knowledge to maintain and restore health to aging clients or to support a peaceful end-of-life.
  6. Value and confidently use appropriate health care technologies to enhance the care of patients.
  7. Model an understanding of the role of the professional nurse as a leader who recognizes the importance of effective communication skills, the understanding of resource demands, the promotion of teamwork and the need to be flexible and delegate appropriately to achieve quality patient outcomes,
  8. Demonstrate a spirit of inquiry, an understanding of self and a commitment to life-long learning.
Department Competencies

Upon completion of the Nursing Program at Westfield State University graduates will:

  1. Provide safe, high quality, individual, empathic and family-centered care and interventions across the lifespan to promote health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities
  2. Exhibit a spirit of inquiry, use evidence as a basis for practice, and participate in life-long learning and self-development to support the identification of gaps in nursing knowledge and practice
  3. Collaborates using therapeutic communication with individuals, communities and inter-professional teams to design, manage, and evaluate care and maximize outcomes
  4. Advocate for ethical, and culturally relevant care for the populations served, incorporating changes in practice and policy, utilizing regulatory, legal and humanistic decision making.
  5. Integrate technology and information management to promote safety and to evaluate outcomes
  6. Utilize skilled, professional decision making by analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating the full range of client information in the delivery of nursing care
  7. Facilitate the transfer of both knowledge and skills to clients to achieve optimal health and higher quality care locally, nationally, and globally
  8. Provide evidence and theory-based nursing care to assure quality improvement
Alumni Outcomes