Mission: The UHMC nursing program provides a collaborative learning experience with access to multiple levels of nursing education, offering personal enrichment and career opportunities for our students. We provide a learning milieu in which faculty, staff, and students from diverse backgrounds work together with the community to create state of the art nursing education and practice.

Vision: We envision a nursing education program that produces caring, competent, and professional nurse leaders prepared to meet the healthcare demands of a diverse community and the challenges of a dynamic healthcare environment.

Core values:
• malama (to take care of, protect)
• mana’olana (hope)
• lokahi (harmony, unity)
• aloha (compassion, kindness)
• kuleana (responsibility)
• pono (goodness, ethical and moral qualities)

Philosophy:

UHMC Nursing Program faculty embrace the mission of Maui College. The faculty aim to inspire and support students in the pursuit of nursing education and life-long learning. We prepare students to recognize the trends in health care delivery, respond to the increased complexity of clinical environments, and adapt to economic changes. We believe that the learning process is enhanced when the student is self-directed, and support the student to take responsibility for their own learning when challenged with academic rigor.

The UHMC Nursing Program coursework builds on basic liberal arts, behavioral and natural sciences, and includes bioethical issues, application of technology, cultural awareness, and evidence-based practice. As a member of the Hawaii Statewide Nursing Consortium, the career ladder program supports students to achieve a Certificate of Achievement and LPN licensure at the end of the first year, an Associate of Science degree and RN licensure at the end of the second year, and, if the student chooses, to continue on for a Bachelor of Science degree from UH Manoa with the addition of a third year. MC nursing graduates are expected to abide by the laws of the state in which they practice, the American Nurses Association Standards of Practice, and the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics.

We believe that nursing is an essential health discipline concerned with providing quality care within a patient-centered framework that includes the ohana and community. We strongly believe that an attitude of caring must be internalized as a part of the professional practice of nursing.

Our philosophy of nursing education is informed by the ideas of Patricia Benner, Christine Tanner, and the Quality and Safety Education in Nursing (QSEN) Institute. We believe that nursing and nursing education incorporates:

• Acquiring and using knowledge and science (knowledge)
• Using clinical reasoning and skilled knowhow (skills)
• Ethical comportment and formation (attitudes)

Accordingly, the Hawaii Statewide Nursing Consortium developed the curriculum with principles from Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, and Day (2010):

• Replacing decontextualized knowledge with concepts

• Integrating clinical and classroom teaching

• Emphasizing clinical reasoning and multiple ways of thinking

• Guiding the formation of identity and self-understanding to a professional nurse

Clinical instruction in the UHMC Nursing Program is provided recognizing the conclusions drawn by Tanner (2006), that: clinical judgment is unique to the patient context, clinical reasoning occurs in many ways, and reflection is essential for improving clinical reasoning.

Students are expected to meet the following professional behaviors and nursing care competencies:

1. A competent nurse’s professional actions are based on core nursing values, professional standards of practice, and the law.
2. A competent nurse develops insight through reflective practice, self-analysis, and self-care.
3. A competent nurse engages in ongoing self-directed learning and provides care based on evidence supported by research.
4. A competent nurse demonstrates leadership in nursing and health care.
5. A competent nurse collaborates as part of a health care team.
6. A competent nurse practices within, utilizes, and contributes to the broader health care system
7. A competent nurse practices patient-centered care.
8. A competent nurse communicates effectively.
9. A competent nurse demonstrates clinical judgment/critical thinking in the delivery of care of patients while maintaining safety.

References:

Magnussen, L., Niederhauser, V., Ono, C., Johnson, N. K., Vogler, J., Ceria-Ulep, C. (2013). Developing a statewide nursing consortium, island style. Journal of Nursing Education 52(2), 77- 84.

UH Maui College is part of the Hawaii Statewide Nursing Program (HSNC).  There are two exit options from UHMC: Practical Nurse (PN), and Associate in Science Registered Nurse (RN). A Bachelor of Science Registered Nurse (BSN) option is available from UH Mānoa (UHM). Maui College students who successfully complete the required RN courses from Maui College have the opportunity to be admitted to the third level UHM Bachelor of Science courses, offered on Maui.

Health care students are required to complete University prescribed academic requirements that involve clinical practice in a University affiliated health care facility setting with no substitution allowable. Failure of students to complete the prescribed clinical practice shall be deemed as not satisfying academic program requirements. It is the responsibility of students to satisfactorily complete affiliated health care facility background checks and drug testing requirements in accordance with procedures and timelines as prescribed by the affiliated health care facility. Per UH Board of Regents policy, priority for admission is given to fully qualified State of Hawaii residents as determined by the registrar for tuition purposes.

• Practical Nurse – Certificate of Achievement (CA): PN graduates with the CA are prepared to work under the supervision of a registered nurse or physician in hospitals, extended care facilities, private nursing agencies, home health agencies, clinics, and physician offices.

• Registered Nurse – Associate in Science Degree (AS): RN graduates with the AS degree are prepared for beginning level positions in hospitals, extended care facilities, clinics, physician offices, private nursing agencies, and home health agencies.

• Apply to UH Maui College. Send one copy of official transcripts from previous colleges (outside of the University of Hawaii system) to “Registrar, UH Maui College.” Call 984-3306 as soon as possible for an appointment with an academic counselor for a transcript evaluation for “advanced standing credits.”

• Complete all required prerequisites.

Selection for the Nursing program is competitive. Criteria include grades in prerequisite courses listed above and other non-nursing courses required for graduation such as FAMR 230, and Humanities elective; experience in health care (nurse aide preferred); and Test of Essential Academic Skills score. MICRO 140 is not required but 1 point is awarded toward selection. In the event students have the same points in the Program Application, the student with the highest UHMC grade point average will be offered admission to the program.

• Effective with courses taken in the Fall 2018 semester, courses may be repeated twice to raise a grade. Of the three times that the course has been taken, the higher grade will be utilized. Only grades in the first three attempts will be considered for admission to the PN/RN program.

• The science courses, ZPHYL 141 and 142 (4 credits-lecture and lab) and Microbiology 130 (3 credit lecture), have a ten-year time limit, which must be completed within the last 10 years prior to the application deadline. (Note: Students do not have to repeat the lab course; PHYL 141 and 142 may be repeated in the UH system online as 3 credit lecture classes only.)

 Contact the Program Coordinator, Kathleen Hagan by email at  khagan@hawaii.edu for information.