March 2024
Mount Carmel College of Nursing (MCCN) has embraced Caring Science as the framework for their curriculum for many years. Nursing course titles usually begin with “Caring Practices in”...such as for the Transition to Leadership, Older Adult, and Child and Family courses. Our healthcare partners over the years have given accolades regarding our graduate nursing students’ ability to demonstrate caring and compassion for their patients.
Recently, MCCN submitted a proposal for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), Johnson & Johnson Resilience Grant Project and it was accepted. MCCN’s premise for the project was to collaborate within the Mount Carmel Health System (MCHS), a Trinity Health Ministry, with senior level undergraduate nursing students emphasizing professionalism and the importance of self-care. Learning outcomes were targeted at the Essential Domain 10: Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development. A modality to support the students was mindfulness seminars. Thereafter the MCHS incorporated into their colleague MCHS Clinical Ladder program a wellness and self-care emphasis; which is in alignment with the 10 Caritas Processes®.
Also in the past year, the MCCN Steering Committee undertook the restructuring of the Undergraduate Program to align MCCN curricular objectives with the AACN Essentials. In doing so, MCCN researched scholarly data to identify key concept exemplars to be threaded throughout the curriculum. One of the 58 key concept exemplars that MCCN chose is Caritas. This priority is foundational for MCCN that values caring for the patient, the nurse, and a healthy environment to promote the healing process.The aim is for all nursing courses to incorporate Caritas, using the 10 Caritas Processes for teaching-learning strategies and reliable academic assessment practices in the classroom and clinical settings. Interrelated concepts for Caritas include: Compassion (for Self & Others), Advocacy (for Self & Others), and Human Flourishing.