DSON prides itself on both the quality and the quantity of its clinical practice experiences that are seen as the foundation for graduates' success in professional practice. Prior to graduating, students complete hundreds of hours of off-site clinical rotation experiences in acute care and community settings as part of course work. Furthermore, the Decker School also houses an Innovative Practice Center. The laboratory space and equipment significantly expanded in 2005 with a $500,000 gift from the Dr. G. Clifford and Florence B. Decker Foundation. The center is the home to a family of human patient simulators including five Vital Sims, two Sim Men and one Sim Baby. The Center has become an integral component of the education each student experiences at the Decker School of Nursing.The undergraduate and graduate nursing programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). Upon completion of the program, students are eligible to sit for the NCLEX-RN professional licensure examination.
I am very pleased to welcome you to the Decker School of Nursing at Binghamton University. The School is named in honor of Dr. G. Clifford and Florence B. Decker, long-time residents of Binghamton, NY. With great foresight, Dr. Decker established The Decker Foundation to support educational and health care activities in the region. We are proud to carry the Decker name as a legacy to the generosity and belief in the power of education of Dr. and Mrs. Decker.
The School provides excellence in nursing education, scholarship and practice. Now, more than ever, opportunities for nurses are expanding. The Decker School is committed to providing an outstanding educational program from the baccalaureate to the PhD level. Graduates of the School have assumed leadership roles in practice, education and administration throughout the nation.
The School is housed in the Academic Building B on the Binghamton campus. This modern facility offers classrooms, workspace for students, staff and faculty, and offices. Our newly dedicated Innovative Practice Center provides students with state-of-the-art equipment to assist their learning.
The masters and doctoral programs reflect a commitment to improving the health of rural communities through education of nurses to provide the highest quality care for rural individuals, families and communities. The PhD program is unique with its emphasis on rural health.
Thank you for visiting the Decker School. Should you have questions or want to know more about the School, you will find an abundance of information on this website. Our excellent faculty and staff can also respond to your inquiries through e-mail or telephone. I encourage you to visit the Decker School and see for yourself all that our nursing program has to offer.
The Decker School of Nursing at Binghamton University will continue its role as a leading institution in Nursing Education, and over the next five years will emerge as a major contributor to Nursing Research and health care advancement.
Our mission is to disseminate and advance knowledge about human health care, health promotion and the treatment of illness in individuals, families and communities, with an emphasis on underserved and rural populations. Students educated in our programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels will be able to practice Nursing from a research base; and consistent with its tradition as a public institution, the School will provide educational access and support to culturally and economically diverse students in an established culture of diversity, respect, and success with coursework and clinical experiences designed to promote socially just and competent care of all persons.
The ultimate goals of the School are to prepare future leaders in Nursing, healthcare, and healthcare research, and to promote the research and scholarship of its faculty and students, with a particular focus on solving the most challenging health problems in rural populations, consonant with the goals of a research-intensive University. Finally, using additional strategies, the School will continue to educate the public and other professionals about emerging and established healthcare regimens.
The philosophy of the Decker School of Nursing emphasizes the search for meaning, freedom of choice, integrity, personal responsibility, self-awareness, caring, and compassion for self and others. The Faculty is in accord with the stated mission of Binghamton University, a premier public institution, that is ". . . dedicated to enriching the lives of people in the region, nation, and world through discovery and education and to being enriched by its engagement in those communities."
The focus of nursing is on human systems that consist of individuals, families, and communities, each existing interdependently with their environments. These systems experience ever-changing and complex states of health and require nursing care at various times along the life cycle. Nursing promotes self-actualization through health promotion, prevention of disease, restoration of health, and a peaceful and dignified death.
The Faculty believes in the essential dignity and worth of every person, family, and community as a unique and dynamic system. Human systems have aspects that are physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual in nature, culminating in a greater whole. The Faculty views all human systems as evolving, on a purposeful journey through the wide dimensions of human experience.
The Faculty believes that human systems are ultimately responsible for their own growth, values, and search for fulfillment, while recognizing that self-actualization takes place in relationship with other human systems and the broader ecosystem. To this extent human systems interact with society at large and become stewards of their environment.
People exercise freedom of choice in determining and attaining their goals without interfering with the freedom and well-being of others. The Faculty values the promotion of social justice, whereby the necessary resources for growth, development, and actualization are available to all people and communities.
Health is a complex phenomenon characterized by dynamic interaction between the internal and external environments of every human system. Human systems experience health, illness, and death in unique and varying ways. The Faculty associates good health with the harmonious balance among all aspects of the human system throughout the continuum of life. Any human system functioning at a high level of health will also be maximizing that system's creative potential. Groups such as families, communities, and societies follow a similar pattern with the reflection of relationships, capacity for growth, respect for diversity, and balance needed for optimal health. The health of rural populations is of special interest to the students and Faculty of the DSON, whether caring for a rural client in an urban system or influencing the community or health care systems of rural areas.
The Faculty views nursing as an art and a science actuated by humanistic values. Nursing, as a science, is grounded in knowledge, generated through discovery, and implemented in evidence-based practice. Nursing, as an art, seeks to synthesize scientific, aesthetic and self-knowledge in providing direct care that promotes health, prevents illness, and maximizes the quality of life.
The health of human systems is nursing's greatest concern. Nurses respect the principles of social justice; realizing health care resources in some environments are limited and need to be distributed fairly. To provide comprehensive health care, nursing must be cognizant of health values, beliefs, and perceptions of human systems and their effect on well-being in the context of complex environments and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Caring, trust, compassion and mutual respect are fundamental to the nurse-client relationship. The nurse incorporates knowledge and self-awareness in the development of a therapeutic approach. Nursing has its own knowledge built on theory and discovery, and shares a knowledge base with other disciplines to generate and utilize the best evidence for effective care.
Within professional nursing there are multiple levels of practice. The nurse generalist, prepared at the baccalaureate level, applies theory and research from the physical, behavioral, and nursing sciences to the practice of nursing. The baccalaureate-prepared nurse becomes an intelligent consumer of research, uses research-based evidence to support clinical practice, and participates collaboratively to manage comprehensive health services for a diverse and multicultural population. Baccalaureate-prepared nurses demonstrate beginning leadership and management skills in the coordination of resources for client systems within a value system consistent with professional nursing. The nurse specialist prepared at the graduate level solves complex client care problems through a multiplicity of roles using theoretically driven strategies of advanced nursing practice. The master's-prepared nurse participates in research, uses evidence-based practice, assumes a leadership role in the planning, management, and improvement of health care, influences health policy, and promotes the continuing development of nursing as a profession. The terminal degree in nursing is at the doctoral level. The PhD graduate from the DSON is actively engaged in designing original research to generate and test theory to enhance rural nursing practice, and actively engages in the development of policy to enhance the health of rural populations. Together the nurse generalist and nurse specialist collaborate to advance the profession of nursing.
Nursing education is achieved through the active participation in discovery, practice and scholarship. The Faculty views education as a continuous lifelong process of becoming, aimed at the development of intellectual, aesthetic and professional interests that advance each learner towards personal and professional goals. The essence of learning and growth for both teacher and learner is the Faculty-student relationship. The Faculty prepare culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse nurses to strengthen the professions ability to meet the needs all people. The Faculty recognizes and supports the need for international collaboration and experiences for both students and Faculty, as we seek to generate a global vision in relation to health and nursing.
