Mission, Philosophy, and Overview
PROGRAM MISSION AND PHILOSOPHY
The mission of the ADN program is to provide a quality education that prepares nurses at the advanced beginner level to provide safe, holistic care to clients across the lifespan. The ADN program focuses on admitting and graduating students from the local community. The graduates of the ADN program are role models for others and demonstrate a commitment to lifelong learning.
The concept of educational humanism as found in the writings of Carl Rogers and H.Jerome Freiberg and the philosophy and theory of human caring as developed by nursing theorist Jean Watson, serve as the foundation for the ADN program philosophy and provide the disciplinary, scientific, and professional guidelines within which both faculty members and students learn and grow.
OVERVIEW OF NORTHERN NEW MEXICO COLLEGE AND THE
DEPARTMENT OF NURSING EDUCATION
Nursing is one of the fastest growing healthcare professions in the United States. The demand for nurses has never been greater. Nursing offers a wide range of career opportunities working with various populations, from neonatal care to gerontology.
NNMC has a proud 25-year history of educating associate degree nurses. The NNMC ADN program is the largest educator of associate degree nurses north of Santa Fe and reaching up to the Colorado border, 120 miles away. Annually the ADN program graduates approximately 40 to 50 students with degrees or certificates in nursing (ADN, LPN). The College of Nursing and Health Science’s development over the last five years, with the creation of an RN to BSN completion program, mirrors the collective progress of NNMC.
Historically, the NNMC College of Nursing and Health Sciences has been preparing associate degree nurses to meet the healthcare needs of the community, on both local and national levels, since 1986. To this day, nursing faculty continue to carry on this tradition of excellence in nursing education through the implementation of a rigorous, evidence-based two year associate degree in nursing curriculum that meets New Mexico State Board of Nursing education requirements. Needless to say, both students and faculty alike are proud of our rich educational heritage and our recognized, state-of–the-art ADN program.
THE ADN STUDENT
Throughout the course of their ADN studies, students will find that emotional maturity, integrity, discipline, and commitment are qualities essential for success. Competence in performing nursing procedures, making safe nursing clinical decisions, communicating efficiently and respectfully with others, honesty, and the ability to maintain confidentiality are additional critical attributes that are nurtured and expected of the nursing student.
Throughout the two-year course of ADN studies students will develop these critical thinking and technical skills as well as the professional consciousness necessary for entry into advanced beginner nursing practice. The nursing faculty is committed to providing the collaborative teaching-learning environment that will encourage the development of these skills as well as the opportunities necessary for personal and professional growth.
