I. Introduction
This department was established in 1999. We are recruiting both male and female students through various methods, such as the university entrance examination and recommendations from high schools. We offer a four-year bachelor’s degree program and a two-year program for on-the-job nurses. On successful completion of the required courses, graduates will be awarded the Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Our development directions are: (1) providing a high-quality learning environment; (2) forming an alliance among teaching, clinical practice and research; (3) sharing resources with communities (e.g. healthcare education); (4) establishing close collaborative relationships with healthcare institutions and universities in southern Taiwan; and (5) launching academic and educational collaboration and exchanges with overseas universities.
II. Teaching and Research
Four major teaching goals are: (1) Care— Students have professional medical and nursing knowledge and skills and are able to apply the nursing process to health issues; (2) Concern— Students are able to respect the uniqueness of each individual and learn how to care for life; (3) Creativity—Students have the ability of independence and creative thinking; and (4) Collaboration—Students have the ability to communicate and work with others. At present, the department has a teaching faculty of 16 full-time members, 15 of whom hold doctoral degrees. Moreover, 18 teachers hold professional nursing qualifications. Also, we have quite a few part-time experts/teachers from local medical centers,other departments and other universities to teach. We are continuously recruiting faculty members who possess a PhD degree and excellent experience in nursing. The specialty areas of our faculty, medical-surgical nursing, nursing administration, nursing education, community nursing, and psychiatric nursing, provide an extensive array of high-quality and innovative education. Research focuses are holistic nursing care, healthcare systems, nursing informatics, community health, preventive medicine, microbiology and immunization and pharmacy.
III. Curriculum and Facilities
The total credits for graduation are 128, including 18 for common courses, 90 for basic medicine and professional nursing courses, 10 for professional electives, and 10 for general education courses. Only two classes (120 students in total) for the four-year bachelor’s degree program are admitted each year. For the best learning quality of several professional courses, students will be divided into smaller groups. Clinical courses are taught in several medical centers, specialty hospitals, community health organizations, and long-term care agencies in southern Taiwan. There are ordinary classrooms, a large conference room and the following laboratories: several basic-medicine labs, nursing demonstration wards, a multi-functional nursing lab and a lab for gerontological nursing and long-term care. We have comprehensive collections of auxiliary equipment such as professional multimedia videos, models and set-ups.
IV. Career Development
Graduates will be equipped with sufficient professional nursing knowledge and technical skills. After obtaining the registered nurse license, our graduates can be employed as clinical, community, or school nurses, nurse teachers, etc. After several years of clinical experience, they can become a nursing specialist or an administrator. They can also choose to pursue a master’s or doctoral degree in nursing or devote themselves to other related fields, such as life science.