Nursing and Allied Health Sciences

The definition of nursing offered by the International Council of Nurses states, “Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people. Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment, research, participation in shaping health policy and in patient and health systems management, and education are also key nursing roles.”

Another current definition that reflects the evolution of professional nursing is found in the American Nurses Association of Nursing’s Social Policy Statement (2003) which states: “Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations.”

What defines nursing and sets it apart from other health care professions, particularly medicine is nurses’ focus – in theory and practice – on the response of the individual and the family to actual or potential health problems. Nurses are educated to be attuned to the whole person, not just the unique presenting health problem. While a medical diagnosis of an illness may be fairly circumscribed, the human response to a health problem may be much more fluid and variable and may have a great effect on the individual’s ability to overcome the initial medical problem. Nurses’ broad-based education and holistic focus positions them as the logical network of providers on which to build a true health care system for the future.

The SGU Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program replaces the associate degree nursing program and brings the University into compliance with regional English-speaking Caribbean Community (ES CARICOM) goals for professional nursing education at the baccalaureate level. Nurses comprise the largest group of health care professionals in the ES CARICOM region, the US, Canada, the UK, and worldwide. They play a critical role in strengthening health services in the face of the demographic and epidemiological transition in the region in which they practice.
SGU is committed to working collaboratively with the national and regional nursing community to help relieve the nursing shortage in the region by recruiting students, locally, regionally, and internationally to our undergraduate and, in the future, to our graduate nursing programs, by preparing the graduates to meet local as well as international standards for employment in nursing education and nursing practice arenas