Philosophy, Mission & Vision

The College of Nursing at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), views nursing as an innovative, professional service discipline grounded in the arts, sciences, humanities, nursing theories, patient care technologies, and the application of knowledge obtained through scientifically based inquiry. Nursing faculty promotes and adheres to a paradigm of compassionate, patient-centered care that addresses holistic human responses throughout the age continuum. This paradigm includes education, evidence-based practice and research that encompasses provision of care, coordination of care, and professionalism. The College of Nursing Philosophy supports UTEP’s mission, embracing its role as an intellectual cultural and socioeconomic asset to the region with a nursing program that meets human resource needs and contributes to the quality of life and social mobility. While the faculty subscribes to a variety of theoretical frameworks reflecting adaptation, self-care, transcultural, and humanistic aspects, we believe that the essence of nursing is compassionate patient-centered care.

Nursing Faculty view compassionate patient-centered care as the basis of nursing. Compassionate patient-centered care involves recognizing patient diversity, potential, autonomy, and universal needs. Further, compassionate care involves understanding and acceptance, promotes egalitarian relationships and has as its ultimate goal the empowerment of all individuals, families, groups, aggregates, and communities. Faculty believe the inherent values of altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity, and social justice are fundamental to the discipline of nursing. The concept of compassionate patient-centered care permeates nursing education, research, and evidence-based practice. All of these entities are intertwined in the delivery of health care. Nursing Faculty draw upon their collective cognitive, clinical, and creative abilities to prepare nurses for the delivery of safe and effective nursing care that is in compliance with established Standards of Practice. We believe that both faculty and students have a responsibility to each other to create a learning environment that is conducive to learning, freedom of thought, scholarly inquiry, affirmation of beliefs and skills, critical thinking, clinical reasoning, clinical judgment, ethical practice, facilitative communication, and leadership.

Graduates assume roles as care providers, care coordinators, and professional leaders. They promote the health of individuals, families, and populations, the enhancement of society, and the nursing profession in the 21st century. Health care provides a dynamic environment in which there exists potential for physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being for all individuals. Healthcare professionals practicing in this environment work in partnership with each other and the communities they serve. Both independent and collaborative nursing strategies are necessary components of practice. Faculty are committed to role-modeling an inter-professional approach to education, evidence-based practice and research while developing in students outcome-based awareness of the global healthcare environment and a commitment to lifelong learning.

Vision

The UTEP College of Nursing will prepare nursing leaders by providing student-centered nursing programs with academic rigor, integrating evidence-based knowledge in nursing education and clinical practice, and expanding nursing knowledge through healthcare research locally and binationally.

Mission Statement

The mission of the College of Nursing at the University of Texas at El Paso is to prepare baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral-level nurses to meet the diverse and complex needs of a competitive healthcare environment. We inspire evidence -based lifelong learning and utilization of advanced technologies by providing a progressive research environment where students, faculty and researcher investigate our community's healthcare needs by implementing accountability, human dignity, and ethics. We seek to improve healthcare and quality of life in our diverse, multicultural, underserved local communities by empowering nursing graduates to become transformative leaders in the dynamic healthcare environment.

Value Words

CON Values: The core values of our college are accountability, civic engagement, collaboration, ethics, human dignity, inclusion, and innovation.  

Guiding Principles

• Access
• Excellence
• Impact
• Diversity