Nursing

Nursing practice involves promoting health and wellness, preventing illness, restoring health, and care of the dying. This may involve individuals, groups of people, or communities. Nursing practice draws attention to the full range of human experience and responses to health and illness.

The aim is to educate culturally competent registered nurses. Upon the completion of the programme the student will possess skills to deliver nursing and health care services to meet the needs of clients with various cultural backgrounds in Finland and abroad, in national and international, in governmental and non-governmental organizations. Furthermore, the graduates will be ready to work in multinational and multidisciplinary teams in various parts of the world.

The students are offered a chance to complete part of their studies abroad partly at their own cost.

Nursing as a profession

Nursing practice involves promoting health and wellness, preventing illness, restoring health, and care of the dying. This may involve individuals, groups of people, or communities.

Nursing practice draws attention to the full range of human experience and responses to health and illness. It is about the integration of objective data with knowledge gained from an understanding of the patient's subjective experience, application of scienfitic knowledge to the process of diagnosis and treatment, and provision of a caring relationship that facilitates health and healing.

Nurse's expertise is based on nursing science, as well as on a broad knowledge of bio-, social- and behavioral sciences. Nurses have traditionally placed high value on the worth and dignity of others. Therefore, nursing has developed its own codes of ethics.

The roles and functions of a nurse depend on the needs of the patient(s), and may involve having the role of a caregiver, teahcer, conselor, leader, research consumer, or a project worker, just to mention a few. In addition to working within the hospital setting, nurses work in community clinics, schools, ambulatory clinics, patient' / clients' homes, or health maintanance organisations.

Students and teachers

About half of the students in the Degree Program in Nursing (instruction in English) have an international background. The cultural diversity of the students creates a unique athmosphere of joy, challenge and tolerance in the classroom. Discussions are vivid, colourful and sometimes even loud, but always invigorating and educational.

There are three full time faculty members in the program - all with background in nursing - plus expert lecturers from other degree programs, schools or health care organizations.

International visitors, should they be students or teachers, is a familiar sight in our classrooms.

Theoretical studies

The structure and content of the program are, by and large, similar to those offered by the Finnish-speaking program. There is, however, more emphasis placed on learning to provide culturally sensitive care.

The core curriculum consists of study modules, which are further broken down to study units. The education lasts 3.5 years and cosists of 210 ECTS. Majority of the education concentrates on professional studies, whereby students learn how to care for patients with various types of health problems.

Practical training, 75 ECTS

When it comes to professional studies, each study module involves also a practical training period. The training in the clinical learning environments is regulated by the criteria laid down in Council Directives. It is noteworthy that the geographical location of Metropolia right in the centre of the country capital, offers the students excellent learning possibilites within the health care sector, ranging from primary health care units to highly specialised University Hospital clinics.

Final project and maturity test, 15 ECTS

According to the legislation regulating the content and structure of the polytechnic degrees, final project and maturity test are to be included in the core curriculum. Furthermore, the role of the polytechnics comprises, among other things, of close collaboration with the working life within the region. To fulfill this obligation, Metropolia has a plan for reasearch and development activities, which come to realisation through various types of collaboration projects.

Students are expected to complete their final project by participating in these projects. The Degree Program in Nursing, where instruction is given through English, has a particular framework for the projects.

"Professional interaction between the patient / client and the nurse is at the core of nursing. Empowerment in the interaction process involves enabling people to choose to take control over and make decisions about their lives. Empowerment is a dynamic process whereby human potential is enhanced. As recipients of health care services, individuals coming from minority ethnic and cultural backgrounds, have been found to be in a vulnerable position. This may be due to lack of understanding of their specific needs relating to health. There may other contributing factors such as language barriers, illiteracy, long distances, shortage of health services and poverty." (Rodwell 1996, Pelkonen & Hakulinen 2002)

Based on the factors described above the final projects in the Degree Programme in Nursing are recommended to fit this framework.

Application instructions