Catalog 2024–2025

Nursing - School of Nursing

Director: Jeannette Ayers-Kawakami, DNP, MSN, RN
Email: ayersjea@hawaii.edu

Nursing Office: University Classroom Building (UCB), Room 239
Tel: (808) 932-7067
Fax: (808) 932-7066

Website: hilo.hawaii.edu/depts/nursing/

Associate Professors:

Assistant Professors:

Instructors:

Mission

The School of Nursing supports the mission of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo in providing a learning environment that is responsive to the needs of a diverse student population and that stresses rigorous high quality education in a caring, personalized atmosphere. This educational experience encourages student-faculty interactions and offers hands-on learning and leadership opportunities. The Nursing Program emphasizes lifelong learning and how to deliver culturally congruent nursing care in a rural environment. The UH Hilo B.S.N. mission is summarized below:

C—Culturally congruent care
A—Active learning, critical thinking
R—Responsive to needs of diverse students and communities
I—Invested in quality and research
N—Nursing professionalism
G—Global peace

Program Goals

The program is committed to the following:

  • Providing quality nursing education with a strong focus on transcultural caring and an emphasis on critical thinking skills;
  • Maintaining currency with nursing practices and standards in the delivery of therapeutic nursing care to individuals, families and communities;
  • Developing effective communication skills that are congruent with cultural values and beliefs
  • Fostering community engagement through service and research projects which develops skills in collaboration, resource management and program development;
  • Satisfactorily meeting the needs of students as well as those of clients and employers.
  • Encouraging lifelong learning

The School of Nursing prepares students for careers in professional nursing. The UH Hilo School of Nursing is approved by the Hawaiʻi State Board of Nursing. The Baccalaureate program is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). The Doctor of Nursing Program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The degrees offered will be granted by UH Hilo upon the recommendation of the nursing faculty to those students who have successfully completed the prescribed curriculum.

Goals for Student Learning in the Major

The baccalaureate nursing graduate will be able to function at the beginning practice level skills:

  • Organizes and prioritizes transcultural nursing care for individuals, families, and communities using the nursing process by demonstrating clinical proficiency in the delivery of care
  • Uses critical thinking to provide therapeutic nursing care derived from current research and recognized state and national (professional) standards
  • Communicates effectively with healthcare providers and consumers in order to assess, plan, implement and evaluate health care
  • Advocates for positive changes in the health care delivery system in partnership with the community
  • Provides culturally congruent health education to a diverse population

As a manager of care, a baccalaureate nursing graduate will be able to

  • manage care of individuals, families, and communities with complex health problems using current, research based nursing practices
  • collaborate with other professionals to provide preventive health education and research-based interventions to promote, maintain, and restore health to clients of all age groups and varied cultures
  • involve others in meeting the health needs and nursing goals with the leadership and management roles
  • foster engagement through community and research activities which develop skills in collaboration, resource management, and program development

As a participant investigator, a baccalaureate nursing graduate will be able to

  • integrate theory, knowledge, and experiences gained from general education and nursing courses in refining critical thinking skills
  • read, interpret, and evaluate nursing research and begin to apply the knowledge and/or findings to nursing practice
  • begin to be involved in research activities, especially within the community

As a member of the profession, a baccalaureate nursing graduate will be able to

  • assume personal responsibility for professional growth, such as membership in nursing organizations, attendance at professional meetings, or reading professional literature
  • administer nursing care in an ethical and legal manner in accordance with accepted state and national nursing standards
  • incorporate leadership skills to effect change to enhance the health of individuals, families, and communities and improve the health care delivery system

As a promoter of transcultural caring, a baccalaureate nursing graduate will be able to

  • identify the caring values, beliefs, and practices of health and illness and work with individuals, families, and communities to provide competent culturally congruent health care

Curricula