To tackle the growing demand for nurses who can provide healthcare in South Los Angeles and similar communities across the nation and throughout the world, Charles R. Drew University opened the Mervyn M. Dymally College of Nursing in the Fall of 2010.
The institution aims to improve the diversity and cultural sensitivity in the nursing workforce and develop nursing leaders and educators who will achieve excellence in patient care in the often-challenging urban healthcare settings.
Accreditation
The baccalaureate degree program in nursing (BSN), master’s degree program in nursing (MSN), Doctor of Nursing Practice program (DNP), and post-graduate APRN certificate programs (PMC) at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.
The baccalaureate degree program in nursing (BSN), master’s degree program in nursing (MSN), and post-graduate APRN certificate programs (PMC) at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science are regulated and approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing.
Examinations
Graduates who complete the Pre-licensure BSN track and the ELM program are eligible to sit for the NCLEX-RN exam and apply for the Public Health Certificate issued by the California Board of Registered Nursing. In addition, ELM graduates are eligible to sit for the CNL certification examination with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). Graduates who complete the BSN and ELM program are eligible to apply for the Public Health Nurse (PHN) Certificate issued by the State of California.
Graduates of the FNP specialty are eligible to take a certification exam from either the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to earn the FNP-BC credential; or take a certification exam through the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) to earn the NP-C credential. Graduates of the PMHNP specialty are eligible to take a certification exam from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to earn the PMHNP-BC credential.
MMDCON Mission
The mission of the Charles R. Drew University College of Nursing is to prepare diverse and qualified nurse leaders who are committed to social justice and health equity for underserved populations to foster a world without health disparities. The Mervyn M. Dymally College of Nursing is committed to preparing highly qualified nurses to provide quality, compassionate, evidence-based nursing care to under-resourced populations without healthcare disparities.
MMDCON Vision
To provide transformative, evidence-based, equitable, and compassionate nurses to diverse populations in a socially just world fostered by community engagement and translational research.
MMDCON Conceptual Framework
Health care is a human right delivered equitably to all individuals who, regardless of their circumstances, need health care. The Bachelor, Master, and Post Master of Science in Nursing programs at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) are guided by the philosophy embodying the mission statement and goals of the parent institution. The philosophy captures 1) Nursing as an art of caring, 2) Clients of nursing, 3) Nursing students, and 4) Nursing faculty who teach in the program. The art of nursing operates in an interdisciplinary environment and the CDU Nursing program embraces interdisciplinary learning.
Nursing captures clinical practice, education, research, consultation, leadership, management, and service to the profession in local, national, and global environments. Nursing involves individuals and groups like families, organizations, and communities as its clients. From a holistic perspective, the profession of nursing considers the human being and the interaction that the physical environment has with the human being in health and illness states. Nursing actions must therefore include health promotion, maintenance, intervention, treatment, rehabilitation, and restorative and palliative care. A bachelor, master, post master’s level prepared nurse provides comprehensive care of the patient that encompasses the responsibility and accountability for continuity of care across the health and illness continuum.
Nursing research is both an applied and basic science. In the development of nursing science, nursing research has actual or potential human responses to illness as its core goal. Guided by ethical/moral standards that consider the perspectives of the nursing client, health care provider, and health care system within the larger society, nursing has a social mission that captures the right and responsibility to provide health care to all clients regardless of disease status, gender/sex, race, socioeconomic status, religion, or culture. Using findings of nursing research, nurses provide leadership in health policy through advocacy for clients, families, and communities.
Providing client-centered nursing care involves working with complex individuals who exist in relationships with others in their families and communities. The complexity of the individual involves biological, behavioral, emotional, social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions. Each client reflects a unique combination of these dimensions that interacts actively with the environment. Each nursing client is an autonomous decision-maker and has a set of values and knowledge about themselves that are relevant and essential to successful healthcare outcomes. Therefore, each nursing client has a right and a responsibility to participate collaboratively with the nurse and other healthcare professionals in their care. Each person’s set of values and knowledge must be taken into consideration when working with a nursing client.
Successful nursing students are active learners who bring unique traits to the professional practice of nursing such as gender differences, cultural diversity, and various ethnic background experiences. Student nurses learn relevant theories, acquire necessary practice skills/competencies, and are socialized into the profession of nursing. There is increasing complexity and sophistication in the learning and socialization of the student as they advance in their course of study. The nursing student learns to apply acquired knowledge, skills, and professional attitudes in their practice at all levels as a student or a professional nurse and that may involve education, administration, and research.
Although students have the right and responsibility to participate in their learning, faculty members have the right and responsibility to structure the teaching/learning environment to facilitate student learning. In addition to individual academic counseling, faculty use one-on-one, small-group formats, and internet technology to assist students in meeting individual and programmatic learning goals.