The mission is to graduate professional and competent nurses from undergraduate studies. Graduates possess knowledge, skills, professional competence, and are capable of providing safe nursing care services to individuals, families, and communities in various healthcare facilities (primary, secondary, tertiary) in Iraq.
The philosophy of the Bachelor’s in Nursing program is aligned with the mission, vision, and strategic directions of the Ministry of Health in Iraq.
:The program philosophy includes
Adult education is highly valued, reflecting learners’ professional and life experiences as the most valuable source of education
Teaching and learning models focus on the learner, enhancing interaction, critical thinking, creativity, and innovation as foundations for learners to become change agents
The program is community-oriented and follows higher education and healthcare service philosophies in Iraq.
Methodology, assessment, and analysis relevant to patient, family, and community health needs and applying quality to clinical care are evidence-based from research findings.
Human safety, respect, responsibility, accountability, partnership, compassion, competence, and performance quality for teachers and learners are based on Islamic cultural values.
Individuals, families, and communities are cared for and treated with a unique structure considering psychological, physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual needs, requiring a comprehensive
multidisciplinary approach to provide high-quality care.
Learners acquire professional knowledge through comprehensive diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of acquired or potential health problems, acute and chronic health needs.
Health promotion, maintenance, disease prevention, and injury prevention are rights for individuals, families, and communities.
The nursing profession plays a vital role in empowering individuals to achieve activities of daily living, leading to optimal levels of health and general well-being.
Educational system outcomes establish resources for teachers, students, and the educational institution, subject to competence in assessment processes to ensure scientific growth and development.
Learners gain practice management and leadership skills to enhance their clinical performance and practice.
:Competencies of the Bachelor’s in Nursing program
The following are the expected overall competencies of graduates from the undergraduate program. These competencies are derived from a performance professional model and examine the responsibilities and expected tasks of nurses at the undergraduate level
The competencies are also based on the conceptual framework guiding the focus and direction of nursing activities in healthcare delivery
disease:
Health and disease are part of a connected chain. Disease occurs when there is a deviation from health, where the individual faces a break in the ability to cope with external and internal pressures and maintain balance and equilibrium. Disease leads to a disruption in normal performance, which in turn may affect the individual, family, or community.
Environment:
The environment is a mix of interactions between internal and external variables that affect the lives of individuals, families, and local communities. The environment consists of material, cultural, economic, political, and technological/scientific conditions.
Health Promotion:
It is a mix of all activities aimed at preserving, protecting, and improving health and health balance. These activities aim to empower people to have greater control over their health determination.
Health Support:
It includes efforts directed towards disease prevention, injury prevention, or promoting positive health. Health support involves helping individuals achieve a high level of health in their surrounding environment.
Disease Prevention:
These are strategies aimed at specific protection against diseases, early detection, treatment, rehabilitation, and follow-up care. These strategies are expressed at three levels: primary prevention, secondary prevention, and tertiary prevention.
Communication:
Communication skills consist of specific verbal and non-verbal behaviors, non-verbal cues, effective initiatives, and appropriate responses with patients and healthcare team members. These skills are influenced by several factors such as age, gender, and the patient’s condition.
Problem-solving and Critical Thinking:
Problem-solving and critical thinking involve the ability to think about ideas, actions, and decisions made by oneself and others. This ability allows students to study problems and cases, gather information in a comprehensive analytical and evaluative manner.
Learning:
It is a dynamic and active process involving critical thinking and multiple experiences in acquiring knowledge, skills, and behavior.
Care:
It is providing comprehensive care through planning, evaluating, and implementing care for patients, families, and groups. Care is also reflected in patient care delivery systems.
Partnership:
It is the process through which communities exercise their right to participate in making decisions about their health. This process includes identifying health needs, planning and evaluating health services to benefit from increased control, self-reliance, and social health resources.
Evidence-Based Practice:
It is the process through which nurses make clinical decisions using the best available evidence from research, their clinical experience, and patient priorities. There are three needs for research efficiency, which are: interpreting and using research, evaluating practices, and conducting research.
B. Relationship Between Concepts
Describing the conceptual framework of the nursing curriculum reflects continuity, sequencing, and interaction between the curriculum content. It also helps faculty members and students understand the relationships between knowledge, skills, and educational values throughout the program.
B – Horizontal Branches, which means interaction between curriculum content.
The curriculum’s conceptual framework consists of:
Vertical branches, which mean continuity and sequencing.
Horizontal branches, which mean interaction between curriculum content.
In the framework base, there are four concepts that form the curriculum’s content and through which nursing students acquire professional and personal development. These concepts include learning, partnership, problem-solving, communication, and professional ethics. These concepts appear and reappear with increasing depth and breadth at each level of the curriculum. These concepts form the basics of the curriculum, which are the foundation of competence, community priorities, curriculum interaction, and dynamics. As students progress through the academic years, the curriculum prepares them to provide nursing care to patients within their own environment, capable of assessing the complexity in applying each concept at different levels. The aim of the curriculum is to help patients, families, and communities participate and interact with health behaviors that lead to overall health, well-being, and economic and social prosperity ultimately.
