Organizational Framework, Roosevelt University

RN to BSN Program

The components of the organizing framework flow from the nursing program mission statement, vision, goal, and philosophy, and incorporate the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice and the American Nurses Association’s Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice to reflect contemporary nursing practice. The organizing framework of the Roosevelt University RN to BSN program accentuates what nurses do, emphasizing the unique contribution of nursing to health care.

Major concepts that weave through the curriculum are identified. These major concepts interrelate to provide a strong framework for the roles of the professional nurse for which the Roosevelt University graduate is prepared to perform. Program outcomes, based on the mission and reflecting the organizing framework, express the expected outcomes of the R. U. graduate.

The model representing the organizing framework for the curriculum is expressed as a series of concentric circles. The hub of the circle represents the Registered Nurse who is enveloped in previous liberal arts and nursing education. The RN to BSN Nursing Program expands the nurse’s knowledge and roles as represented by the encircling rings. The first annulus, or ring, contains the major concepts which provide the underlying framework for the nursing roles. The second ring contains the three roles the professional nurse performs. The broken lines indicate movement to express the notion that all concepts interrelate with all roles, and more than one concept can relate to more than one role at any given time. This intermingling of the liberal education, nursing education, major concepts, and roles of the professional nurse lead to the outer ring containing the program outcomes. The concentric circles can be visualized as a wheel, a wheel that moves the student through the various nursing courses to the program destination, while building a strong foundation to move on to graduate education.

Nursing is a complex profession with intertwining concepts and intermingling roles. A direct, linear relationship between any one concept and one program outcome would imply an unrealistic simplistic relationship that would fail to recognize the true richness and complexity of professional nursing practice. The program outcomes reflect this unique melding of concepts and rich complexity.

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