Bachelor's degree in Nursing’s objectives and professional skills

To train nurses who are able to identify, assess and act on health and treatment needs of the sick and the healthy, through work experience, incorporating professional values and paying attention to the most important health issues in the areas of medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, psychiatry and other clinical areas that enable nursing skills, knowledge and attitudes to be included in professional practice.

Professional skills:

• Be able, within the nursing field, to provide technical and professional healthcare appropriate to the health needs of the persons attended, in accordance with current scientific knowledge and with the quality and safety requirements of applicable legislation and ethical standards.
• Plan and provide nursing care for individuals, families or groups, focusing on health results and evaluating its impact, using guides to clinical practice and care that set out the processes involved in the diagnosis, treatment or care of a health problem.
• Know and be able to apply the theoretical and methodological fundamentals and principles of nursing.
• Understand the interactive behaviour of the person according to gender, group or community, within a social and multicultural context.
• Design care systems for individuals, families or groups, evaluating their impact and implementing appropriate changes.
• Base nursing practice on scientific evidence and the means available.
• Understand people without prejudice, assessing their physical, psychological and social characteristics as autonomous and independent individuals, ensuring their opinions, beliefs and values are respected and guaranteeing their right to privacy via professional confidentiality.
• Encourage and respect the patient's right to be involved, informed, independent and to give informed consent when decisions are taken, in accordance with their experience of the process of health and illness.
• Promote healthy lifestyles, encouraging continued preventive and therapeutic behaviours.
• Protect the health and welfare of the individuals, families or groups attended, guaranteeing their safety.
• Establish effective communication with patients, families, social groups and colleagues and promote education about health.
• Know how to apply the principle of social justice to professional practice, understanding the ethical implications of health in a changing world.
• Possess knowledge of the principles of healthcare and social healthcare financing and the appropriate use of available resources.
• Establish evaluation mechanisms, taking into consideration scientific, technical and quality issues.
• Work with teams of professionals as a basic unit in which professionals and other staff in healthcare organisations are structured along single- or multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary lines.
• Possess knowledge of healthcare information systems.
• Provide nursing care based on integrated healthcare principles, involving multi-professional cooperation, process integration and continuity of care.
• Possess knowledge of the strategies for making patients and their families comfortable and alleviating symptoms in the administration of palliative care in situations of advanced or terminal illness.

Career opportunities

Professional nursing in:

• Hospital Centres
• Medical Centres
• Primary Health Care Centres
• Mental Health Institutions
• Social care and geriatric Hospitals
• Educational Centres
• Workplaces, Safety, Health and Welfare at work
• Sport and Leisure Centres