Master’s in Medical-Surgical Nursing – Chronic Illness Care

The study program’s generic objectives:

• Promote autonomy and responsibility for lifelong learning, developing knowledge and skills to deepen and understand new and / or complex situations;
• Promote a reflective and innovative professional practice in the field of medical-surgical nursing - a person in a chronic situation, in accordance with legal norms, human rights, ethical principles and professional responsibility;
• Train to manage nursing care, optimizing response and articulation with the multidisciplinary team;
• Qualify for team leadership in broad and multidisciplinary contexts, aiming at the continuous improvement of the quality of care in a therapeutic and safe environment;
• Train for the use and production of scientific knowledge and its communication and dissemination, in a clear and unambiguous way;
• Promote professional development, discipline in the field of nursing knowledge for people in chronic situations and the appreciation of the profession.

Intended learning outcomes (knowledge, skills and competences) to be developed by the students:

• Adopt a scientific, human and ethical conduct that promotes care centered on the person with a chronic situation;
• Integrate knowledge of medical-surgical nursing and other disciplines, in decision-making and providing care to people with a chronic situation;
• Identify the needs of the person, family and caregivers, ensuring prevention, early detection, stabilization, maintenance and adaptation to chronic disease;
• Facilitate the health-disease transition process in the person, family / caregiver;
• Evaluate the results based on the responses of the person, family and caregivers experiencing chronic illness;
• Collaborate in the production and use of scientific evidence available in the field of medical-surgical nursing, in terms of the person with a chronic situation;
• Lead care, change and innovation management processes with a view to improving results in nursing and health and interprofessional teams;
• Promote your development, peers and other professionals.

Insertion of the study program in the institutional educational offer strategy, in light of the mission of the institution and its educational, scientific and cultural project:
ESEL's mission is to be a “center for the creation, development, transmission and diffusion of nursing culture and science, which aims at excellence and innovation”. In this context, the training component is its center of activity, so in its educational project the provision of Courses at the level of the 3 study cycles is enshrined: undergraduate, master's and doctorate (in collaboration with the University of Lisbon) thus responding to the expectations of a growing number of candidates for ESEL pre- and post-graduate training, particularly in recent years. This fact demonstrates the interest of nurses and the need for more human resources that demonstrate knowledge and skills of understanding and intervention at the level of areas of specialty in nursing. The recent reflection on the offer of master’s degrees, already existing at ESEL, identified the usefulness of further deepening and scientific autonomy of the various areas of specialization for which ESEL has its own, qualified and specialized faculty that will allow the development of these teams and its competencies and the reinforcement of research within the nursing discipline.
Responding to the country's needs, taking into account the aging of the population, the problems arising from the introduction of new technologies, the significant increase in chronic diseases, the difficulties in accessing care, the lack of professional resources and the challenges of cost growth in the health area, inevitably require specialized nursing care, framed in health policies that privilege the integrated approach to chronic diseases, ensuring quality and sustainable care that takes into account the relationship between the values of effectiveness / efficiency and quality of life. In this context, the person must be seen in a holistic way, and it is essential to understand the behaviors and lifestyles of individuals, psychosocial, socioeconomic, political, cultural and environmental aspects to promote their functionality in the context of the community. All of this implies greater proximity and humanization, promoting culturally sensitive and quality care at people's homes (Ministério da Saúde, 2018). It is essential to develop an advanced nursing practice that, in partnership with the person with chronic illness, family caregiver and family, is able to create the conditions to help the person to promote their health and life potential in the cultural context of their existence (Gomes, 2019).
Thus, with the master's degree in Medical-Surgical Nursing for People in Chronic Situations, it is intended to promote a training process whose purpose is the broad understanding of the problems of people / family and caregivers arising from chronic illness in order to satisfy their needs and facilitate their health disease transition processes.