MISSION
The Department of Nursing seeks to prepare professional nurses who are critical thinkers and knowledgeable and competent providers of health promotion, disease prevention, and care of sick and dying patients across the life span in regionally, nationally, and globally.

VISION
To accomplish its mission of preparing professional nurses for the promotion of health, prevention of disease, care of the sick, rehabilitation, and care of the dying throughout all the developmental phases of the human life span, and from the local to the global levels, we envision a marked expansion of the Rutgers-Camden Department of Nursing, not just through increased baccalaureate program enrollments, but through transit over time to an autonomous College of Nursing on the Camden Campus.

First, then, for its mission of preparing the future leadership in professional nursing clinical practice in community health settings and home care, in in-patient general and specialty practice, in the practice of nursing administration, the translation of nursing research to practice, and in nursing education, we envision the creation of master's level programs in targeted clinical specialties with functional minors most needed in this region. Second, in synchrony with master's-level program development, we envision the creation of a PhD program in nursing that will develop top-tier nurse researchers and college and university faculty educators

STATEMENT OF PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING
At the Rutgers-Camden Department of Nursing, the faculty believe that nursing is a discipline and a profession. As a discipline, nursing develops its own knowledge base and shares the knowledge of other disciplines. Because humans are holistic beings, nursing knowledge for professional practice involves but is not limited to the synthesis of empirics (or science), aesthetics, ethics and other branches of philosophy, personal knowledge of the self and others, spirituality, and history. Professional nursing in this multicultural and global society integrates the arts and humanities with the findings of nursing research, which are systematically translated into more highly developed, evidence-based practice.

Baccalaureate-prepared nurses are autonomous professionals who communicate with and collaborate with professionals from other disciplines as well as the recipients of care to promote optimal health and well being in individuals, families, groups, communities, and larger societies. Nursing care takes place across the continuum of health promotion, disease prevention, sickness and illness, recovery and rehabilitation, and end-of-life care throughout the life span. Each individual is unique, has personal dignity and worth, and is recognized as an active participant in health care decision-making. Access to care and decision-making regarding one's care are rights, not privileges, in a free society. Concomitantly, all rights come with responsibilities. Nurses, as professional leaders and advocates, act individually and disciplinarily to increase access to care and adequacy of care, especially for underserved populations.