Mission & Goals

The Austin Community College Vocational Nursing Program is committed to excellence in education in an environment in which a diverse student community is able to develop the values, skills, and attitudes consistent with the nursing profession to meet the needs of patients and their families. To fulfill its mission, the Vocational Nursing Program will:

1. Provide a setting which promotes caring behaviors, clinical reasoning skills, and competent nursing care, with an emphasis on safety, within the vocational nursing scope of practice.
2. Deliver course content using site-based instruction and a variety of instructional technology to increase student accessibility within the ACC service area.
3. Provide a diverse clinical experience to enhance the vocational and technical programs of varying lengths leading to certificates or degrees.
4. Academic courses leading to an associate degree or serving as the foundation of a baccalaureate degree program at a four-year institution.
5. Provide adult education for academic, occupational, professional, and cultural enhancement.
6. Advising designed to assist students in achieving their individual educational and occupational goals.
7. Offer tutorial assistance by faculty to assist students to achieve their educational goals.
8. Provide skills lab, simulation activities and equitable resources such as site-based learning, on-line evening and weekend program education to increase student accessibility and to support didactics.

Teaching Philosophy

The Vocational Nursing Program supports the vision, helps fulfill the Mission, and aligns with the core values of Austin Community College.

The Vocational Nursing Faculty believes that all individuals are unique, with each being a dynamic blend of mind, body and spirit. Further, individuals have inherent dignity and worth, and are therefore deserving of respect. Individuals are social beings. Throughout the lifespan, individuals join together to form groups to achieve common goals, producing a society that assists the individual in maintaining homeostasis.

Health is a state of internal and external homeostasis existing on a continuum throughout the lifespan. Individuals make choices and take responsibility for their health based on their perception of their health needs.

Vocational nurses participate as members of the nursing profession and the interdisciplinary health care team. They serve as providers of patient-centered care and patient safety advocates for clients with predictable health care needs, utilizing the nursing process to perform these functions safely in a variety of healthcare settings.

Nursing is an art and science that encompasses caring, compassion, and competence and combines this with knowledge, skills, and judgment in meeting the individual’s health needs. Nursing exists in response to the health needs of society and is a process of nurse-client interaction. The nursing process is the systematic problem-solving approach used in promoting and restoring the individual’s health.

The faculty believes that learning is an interactive process that fosters personal and professional growth. Learning is an individual and collective responsibility proceeding from familiar to unfamiliar, general to specific, and from simple to complex. Faculty members accept the responsibility for creating a learning environment and for facilitating educational experiences for students which are enhanced through open communication between students, faculty, and clinical staff. They are accessible for advising and willingly assist students in meeting their learning goals. Faculty serve as role models and facilitators in the learning process but expect students to be responsible and accountable for their own learning by actively participating in the overall learning experiences.

Nursing education encompasses the development of nursing knowledge, skills, and attitudes (caring, ethics, compassion, nurturing) that are essential for the initial practice of nursing. The faculty believes vocational nursing education should provide an environment in which the vocational nursing student can develop self-discipline, intellectual curiosity, systematic problem solving techniques, clinical reasoning skills, technical skills, and the ability to integrate the use of computers and equipment in preparation for meeting the nursing needs of a changing, culturally diverse society.

Education is a life-long process; as one educational experience ends, another begins. Attainment of certification in vocational nursing lays the foundation for continuing education. Each educational experience builds upon previous experiences, developing in the individual, rich resources for future learning.

Vocational Nursing End of Program Student Learning Outcomes (EPSLO)

Upon completion of the Certificate in Vocational Nursing Program, the student will be able to:

1. Provide patient care within the legal scope of practice in accordance with the policies and procedures of the healthcare facility, as well as all regulatory and governing bodies.
2. Assume responsibility and accountability for the quality of nursing care provided while demonstrating competency, self-directed learning, and promoting the development and practice of vocational nursing.
3. Ensure patient safety in a safe environment by implementing nursing best practices, safety protocols, and National Patient Safety Goals.
4. Use clinical reasoning and evidence-based practice to interpret health-related data and determine the health status and needs of culturally diverse patients within a directed and supervised scope of practice.
5. Communicate, report, and collaborate in a timely manner with the interdisciplinary health care team, including the use of technology, to provide optimal patient care, prevent errors, and support decision-making.