OUR PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING

The Jamaica Hospital, for over one hundred years, has been committed to the delivery of quality health care to the community. The Department of Nursing endeavors to conduct itself in a manner supportive of this commitment.

In the Department of Nursing we are committed to maintaining an environment which fosters creativity, innovation, openness, and mutual respect among staff members and leaders. We believe that a creative management framework for nursing practice encourages all participants in our department to think and share ideas with the expectation that their contributions will be respected.

We believe that the nurse is the primary therapeutic instrument of nursing.

We provide care and services for our patients regardless of their age, sex, race, religion or creed: physical, emotional or spiritual health, socio-economic condition or cultural background. This belief forms the cornerstone of our partnership with others and affords a foundation for mutual trust.

We serve the community in a compassionate and caring capacity witha commitment to improving health care. We strive to develop programs and projects that address the primary concerns of the community.

We treat our patients and significant others with dignity, recognize their uniqueness, and facilitate their active participation in their care.

We believe that this care is best achieved through utilization of the nursing process, patient education, and informed decision-making. We further believe that patient education is an integral part of caregiver-patient interaction, thereby promoting the patients' awareness, activating potentials, and restoring their capacity to attain wellness.

We believe that health is a continuous life process, and that each individual is responsible for the maintenance of his or her own health. As nurses, in our unique role as integrators of patient care services and patient advocates, our primary objective is a collaborative effort towards health restoration and promotion in order to maximize patient self-actualization. We help patients integrate chronic illness into life experiences in order to enhance their quality of life.

We accept responsibility and accountability for our practice, which is governed by professional standards and ethical codes. Our practice is enhanced by creating nursing excellence amidst the complexity of an ever-changing health care environment. We believe that continuing education and development at all levels is vital to the improvement and achievement of quality patient care. We believe that, through continuous quality improvement the Department of Nursing will collaborate with other disciplines to ensure that patient care is coordinated, comprehensive, cost-effective and efficient. We believe that research utilization should be the basis for clinical validation and improving nursing practice.