WELCOME
Welcome to Oglala Lakota College Department of Nursing. Nursing offers a wide variety of opportunities for those who choose to make it a career. You have chosen to enter nursing by earning an associate degree in nursing. Academic degree programs in nursing are developed to offer participants a career ladder approach, that is, you may earn degrees in sequence with one degree building on the next. For example, once you have earned the associate degree in nursing and become licensed to practice as a registered nurse, you may begin to work on a baccalaureate degree in nursing, followed by a masterÕs degree, and ultimately a doctoral degree in nursing. These nurses with higher degrees fill jobs with different and expanding roles and responsibilities including research, education, leadership and administration. Some of our students have started the ÒladderÓ approach by first becoming licensed practical nurses. You will be exposed to upward mobility opportunities and pathways as you proceed through this program.
This is an exciting time to be involved in healthcare. Throughout the United States there are exciting opportunities being created for nurses as this country struggles with issues related to equality and quality of life. Nowhere is that struggle more evident than in Indian Country where there is a dramatic lack of Native American nurses and physicians. This program is dedicated to the development of nurses who will have a deep respect for and understanding of and for the Lakota culture. Each of you brings to the program, and later to the profession, your unique and special experiences, abilities and heritage. It is such diversity that makes this program and this college such a rich and stimulating environment in which to learn.
The purpose of the student handbook is to communicate to students the beliefs and policies of the department that guide the program of learning, activities and student outcomes. Students are expected to study this handbook carefully as it serves to clearly delineate expectations that govern student behaviors and activities.
OGLALA LAKOTA COLLEGE STATEMENTS OF MISSION AND PURPOSES
Oglala Lakota College is chartered by the Oglala Sioux Tribe with a mission to provide educational opportunities Ð community services and certificates, GED, associate, bachelor, and graduate degrees. OLC provides frameworks of excellence for student knowledge, skills, and values towards Piya Wiconi Ð a new beginning for harmony in the fulfillment of aspirations and dreams. OLC is creating Oglala Lakota University through emphasis on teaching, research, community service and assessment and is committed to continuous improvement Ð wolakolkiciyapi.
Tribal
To provide the Lakota with outstanding graduates.
To promote the study and practice of sovereignty.
To work with tribal entities toward building our nation.
To support graduates in achieving meaningful work and healthy lifestyles.
Cultural
To utilize Lakota cultural values in all learning frameworks.
To celebrate Lakota culture including sacred songs and ceremonies.
To research study and disseminate Lakota language, culture and philosophy.
To provide leadership to maintain and revitalize Lakota culture in a diverse and changing
environment.
Academic
To encourage high student learning expectations through active and collaborative learning frameworks, student-faculty interaction, enriching educational experiences, research and a supportive campus environment.
To practice open enrollment and support student success towards graduation.
To provide knowledge, skills and values for self-fulfillment, civic involvement, and making a living in a diverse world.
To work with other institutions and agencies to further College interests.
Community
To support local communities in development and in working with their educational systems.
To engage people as active, productive members of their tiospaye, communities and global
networks.
To offer frameworks for leadership development in the context of communities and
organizations.
To provide lifelong learning through continuing education and community activities.
THE OGLALA LAKOTA COLLEGE DEPARTMENT OF NURSING
The University of South Dakota operated a satellite-nursing program at Pine Ridge from 1972 to 1984 and at Rosebud from 1972 to 1983. In 1986, Oglala Lakota College received approval from the South Dakota Board of Nursing to operate its own nursing program and provide individuals with the opportunity to earn an Associate of Arts Degree in Nursing. Upon completion of the curriculum, the student is eligible to take the National Licensing Examination (NCLEX) for licensure to practice as a Registered Nurse. The program was designed to recruit students from the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations. Designed to meet the needs of adult learners, the program can be completed in three years.
DEPARTMENT
OF NURSING EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
The Oglala Lakota College Department of Nursing prepares the Associate Degree Nursing graduate who will:
WOWAHOLA Ð Respect
1. Evaluate the role of culture in shaping the clients values, beliefÕs lifestyles, and learning styles;
2. Maintain effective communication with the client, family members and members of the
health team, recognizing cultural influences on communication styles;
WOKSAPE Ð Wisdom
1. Integrate knowledge from the biophysical and social sciences and the humanities into the knowledge base for safe nursing practice;
2. Evaluate the role of Lakota value systems in promoting, maintaining, and restoring balance/wholeness at all developmental levels;
3. Provide health information and skills required to facilitate client achievement of
function/balance.
WACANTOGNAKA Ð Generosity
1. Utilize the nursing process as the means to provide care to clients;
2. Perform the technical nursing care skills competently for individuals with common health imbalances in structured health settings;
3. Provide nursing care to groups of clients in well-defined settings under designated
supervision;
WOOHITIKA Ð Courage
1. Practice and advance within the professional, legal and ethical framework of nursing;
2. Assume continued responsibility and accountability for oneÕs own personal/professional
growth.
STATEMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
The faculty of the Department of Nursing, in developing the philosophy, organizing themes, and objectives, has been guided by the mission statement and purposes of the parent institution, Oglala Lakota College. The faculty believes that nursing, as a human caring profession, has the primary responsibility to address the holistic, health care, health promotion/disease prevention needs of individuals and families on the reservation or rural community.
The faculty also believes that ÒcaringÓ is a central aspect of nursing that is valued by all cultures. Each culture has its caring behaviors, some of which are unique and others that are universal. The Lakota term Òwico kuja awanyankeÓ means Òone who watches over or cares for the sickÓ. We believe nursing concerns itself with Òcaring forÓ and Òcaring aboutÓ.
The nurse is a responsible and accountable member of society who is committed to lifelong learning and education Ð for service Ð as a means of responding to the needs of society. We believe cultural groups have the right to retain their traditional health practices and life ways while participating in the western health care system. We believe that, although learning is an individual process, the transmission of knowledge is a social and cultural process. The acquisition of knowledge is conditioned by cultural milieu and social structure. That is, culture affects and shapes the way in which an individual perceives experiences, and learns about the world.
Lifelong learning requires the continuous pursuit of diverse opportunities for intellectual growth that will enable the nurse to advance to full participation in a pluralistic society.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the program is to provide a program to prepare an associate degree nurse in an environment of academic excellence, who is knowledgeable of existing health care needs of individuals. The AD nurse will be able to respond with relevant knowledge and skills to meet these health care needs at an entry-level in any health care setting.
It is anticipated that the associate degree nurse, as an individual and as a community/tribal member will demonstrate responsibility and accountability to that community/tribe and to the nursing profession. The nurse will collaborate with other members of the health care team to provide high levels of health care to the community/tribe.
HUMANS
We believe that each human is a unique individual and should be perceived from a holistic viewpoint, which includes bio-psycho-socio-cultural components. As holistic beings, individuals are more than, and different than, the summation of their parts.
Individuals are related to all that exists in a sacred manner and therefore, they are worthy of respect and care. Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Lakota stated, ÒYou must remember that the two-legged and all other people who stand upon the earth are Wakan (sacred) and should be treated as suchÓ.
The basic unit of Lakota social structure is the tiwahe (family). The tiwahe provides the protection, caring, intimacy, and teaching that enable individuals to participate in larger, secondary units (i.e., tribe/communities) that may be based on geography, common goals, and/or common concerns.
SOCIETY
AND ENVIRONMENT
The four internal dimensions of the individual interact with the external systems and processes such as family, community, nature, and meaningful events in the surrounding world. We recognize that cultural environments affect an individualÕs worldview by influencing beliefs and values concerning the nature of self and humankind, health and illness, and healing and caring.
If, when two groups of people come into contact, they recognize the relatedness and sacredness of each other, that each can remain open to the sharing of positive elements. It is one of the basic struggles of society to reconcile differences so that no group is exploited, abused, or discounted. We believe that it is through interaction of these groups that society maintains its vitality and viability.
HEALTH
Balance
Health, as viewed by the Lakota, is the state of walking in balance and harmony with Grandmother Earth, recognizing and respecting the inter-relatedness of all living things. For the individual, health is a holistic, harmonious interaction of the body, spirit, mind, emotion, and environment, this harmonious interaction must exist between and within these different dimensions for health to exist. Therefore, balance is wholeness. Balance can be objectively assessed according to a set of culturally accepted standards.
Imbalance
Imbalance is the disintegration of spiritual, mental, physical and/or emotional dimensions, which manifests in perception of imbalance. Imbalance can also be objectively assessed according to sets of culturally accepted standards.
STATEMENT OF NURSING
Nursing, as a caring profession, supports individuals and families in promoting, maintaining and restoring well-being and is accomplished within the individualÕs and/or familyÕs cultural framework. The Oglala Lakota College Associate Degree Program bases its model of nursing on four traditional Lakota values. Those values are respect, generosity, wisdom and courage.
Respect (the belief in the sacredness of all life and individual autonomy) and generosity (caring) are the motivating forces and value characteristics required by the nurse in order to enact the nursing roles of communicator/collaborator, teacher/learner, advocate/decision maker, care giver, and member of a professional body. The values that drive nursing actions and behaviors are wisdom (cognitive-perceptual functions) and courage (integration of a continually evolving knowledge base with behaviors of advocacy, accountability, values clarification, and ethical decision making).
THE TEACHING LEARNING PROCESS
Learning is the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competence that result in changes in attitude, thought, and behavior. To achieve these changes, nursing faculty and students form a partnership in an atmosphere of care and mutual respect. Faculty serve as resource, role models, and facilitators of learning. Faculty defines the framework for acquisition of knowledge, examination of values, and application of concepts and skills. Learning takes place through a variety of life experience and teacher and student guided activities. Effectiveness of learning increases when it is associated with repetition, previous learning, and progresses from simple to complex concepts. Attending to a broad range of student needs, creative and flexible learning activities are provided within a variety of simulated college laboratory and nursing practice settings.
ROLE OF THE ASSOCIATE DEGREE NURSE
Nursing, at the Associate Degree level, is the human caring process that supports individuals and families in promoting, maintaining, and restoring health and is accomplished within the individualÕs cultural framework. The nursing process is the vehicle by which nursing care to individuals and families is delivered. It involves assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Associate Degree nurses function during times of imbalance and assist the individual and/or family to mobilize and utilize resources and strengths to move toward health. The nurse ÒcaresÓ for the individual and promotes health by facilitating an individualÕs optimal functioning. Caring is further defined as those nursing behaviors and actions that assist the client to move toward a desired or positive outcome. Caring is being with, creating an environment of hope and trust where the clientÕs choices are respected. These functions distinguish nursing from the medical approach that focuses on diagnosis and curing disease. As an accountable member of the profession, the associate degree nurse upholds the ethical and legal standards of nursing; assuming responsibility for life-long learning. The nurse participates in health care changes that promote quality of care.
NURSING EDUCATION
The characteristics and needs of the people of South Dakota and the setting of the program influence the nursing curriculum. Thus, although the graduates of this AD program will emerge with commonly recognized competencies, the means of accomplishing these competencies will differ due to the setting and the students.
The Lakota people perceive education as a life-long process that strengthens and encourages the individual to grow. Growth develops through the relationships an individual has within the tiwahe and environment.
The formulation of a nursing curriculum for a reservation-based nursing program must be based in and on cultural/anthropological knowledge. This will allow for the blending of two cultural systems of nursing/caring in a knowledgeable manner. The educational process thus involves the relationship between the cognitive interpretive frameworks of the teacher and learner. The educational process also provides the student with a framework of practice that will be applicable and efficacious both on the reservation and off the reservation settings.
Nursing education is a holistic, life-long process integrating concepts from the physical, behavioral, and social sciences, and progressing on the knowledge base from simple to complex. Nursing faculty serve as facilitators, providing activities that individualize, guide and evaluate learning experiences. Responsibility for learning is shared by both student and faculty. StudentÕs self-awareness, self confidence and ability to provide holistic nursing care is enhanced when cultural sensitivity is facilitated in the educational setting.
CONCEPTUAL
MODEL
This department conceptualizes nursing as a circular, holistic model that is reflective of Lakota values and philosophy. This model adopts the Lakota medicine wheel with dimensions of spiritual, emotional, mental and physical well-being. The department utilizes Marjorie GordonÕs functional health patterns listed under the four dimensions as the process by which to identify client needs.
CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION
The nursing curriculum focuses on the discipline of nursing and is supported by other sciences, Lakota studies and general education course work. The nursing curriculum concurs with the generally accepted pattern for Associate Degree education and is consistent with College-wide policy. The Associate of Arts Degree in Nursing requires a total of ninety-two (92) semester hours of credit; forty (40) of these credits are nursing courses and fifty-two (52) credits are in the liberal arts and sciences, including Lakota studies courses. A candidate for an Associate of Arts Degree in Nursing from Oglala Lakota College must have satisfactorily completed the prescribed curriculum.
Students in the Department of Nursing are granted one credit hour for every hour of classroom theory per week in a semester. One hour of college credit is earned for every five (5) hours of clinical laboratory experience.
The curriculum is offered within a semester structure. Students may alter the sequencing of some support courses in order to provide some flexibility in their curriculum; however, students must enroll in nursing courses in a prescribed sequence.
ORGANIZING FRAMEWORK FOR THE NURSING CURRICULUM
The organizing framework is derived from Nursing Department philosophy about the person, environment, health and nursing. This philosophy and organizing framework guide determination of educational outcomes, course objectives, and sequences of course content. The major concepts and threads are introduced during the first level of the program and are applied at increasingly complex increments at each succeeding level.
The major concepts are Person, Environment, Health and Nursing. The holistic dimensions, emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental comprise the sub-concepts under Person. These dimensions are developed in the four directions of the Lakota Medicine Wheel and are reflective of an individualÕs state of balance or health. In addition, the faculty has decided on continued use of an eclectic approach in support of that organizing framework. Those curricular supports derive from a wide variety of nursing models augmented by theories of growth and development, teaching/learning, and communication/collaboration. Each course reflects person, environment, balance/imbalance, multidimensionality, holism, caring, communication/collaboration, and nursing process in ever increasing degrees of complexity.
Sub-concepts, including the type of client (individual, family), functional and dysfunctional patterns of behavior, promotion, restoration and maintenance of wellness/balance, environmental concepts and specific nursing functions and processes are introduced with increasing degrees of complexity from the first semester to the fourth semester.
The nursing faculty believes that persons are biophysical, psychosocial, cultural, political, and spiritual beings who live and respond as holistic organisms. This totality is achieved through the unique patterning and integration of each human beingÕs multidimensional facets. The concepts of holism and multidimensionality begin in the curriculum with an introduction during the first semester (Level I) to individuals who exhibit functional behavior patterns and health promotion needs with the introduction of health restoration needs. Level II introduces students to individuals and families in the community who exhibit dysfunctional behaviors and exhibit health restoration needs. Level II focuses on individuals and families in the community who demonstrate health promotion, restoration and maintenance needs with functional/dysfunctional needs.
Faculty believes that nursing is comprised of two interrelated sub-concepts, nursing functions and nursing processes. Functional behaviors are introduced gradually as clinical complexity is developed. Nursing processes are operationalized in all clinical courses and are primarily developed through nursing process and communication theories. Nursing roles and practice behaviors are driven by the health requirements of clients and families. Persons are in constant interaction with the environment; therefore, environmental variable/sites are carefully introduced into nursing courses as the type of client and health case requirements develop in complexity.
The organizing framework provides a blueprint for placement of content and learning experiences in the nursing major.
