Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- Dalhousie University. Faculty of Health Professions. School of Nursing (1962-2017)
- Dalhousie University. School of Nursing (1949-1961)
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Dalhousie's School of Nursing was opened in 1949 in response to the need for post-graduate education for hospital-trained registered nurses as well as nurse educators and administrators across the Maritimes. A Red Cross-sponsored course in public health nursing for graduate nurses was initiated in 1920 (after the Halifax Explosion), but applicants and university support had waned by the middle of the decade. However, the Registered Nurses Association of Nova Scotia (RNANS) persisted in their attempts to persuade Dalhousie to establish a nursing program. They gained the support of the Dean of Medicine, H.C. Grant, and in 1946 the Senate endorsed the plan, but it wasn't until the federal health grant program came into being in 1948 that Dalhousie agreed to provide a course leading to a BSc in nursing in coordination with the hospitals, which would continue to provide clinical training.
Initially the school offered an entry level nursing degree, postgraduate certificates in public health, and nursing education and administration programs for nurses holding a diploma from a hospital-based program. In 1961 the School of Nursing and the College of Pharmacy were both folded into the new Faculty of Health Sciences. In response to a Royal Commission on Health Services in the early sixties, the School developed an Outpost Nursing program, designed to train nurses to work in remote areas, primarily in northern Canadian Aboriginal communities where they were no resident physicians.
A Masters program was established in the mid-seventies as diploma programs were beginning to be phased out and the program began a restructuring process. Currently the School offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN), a Masters of Nursing (MN), a Masters of Science in Nursing (MScN) and a Doctor of Nursing (PhD). Students can receive their degree at either the Halifax or Yarmouth site. The School has also teamed up with the Nunavut Arctic College, allowing residents of Nunavut to enrol in a BScN and receive their degree from Dal.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
The School of Nursing provides training and education to prepare nurses for work in patient care, research, public policy advocacy and education. The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) degree program prepares students to become Registered Nurses (RNs) locally, nationally and abroad. Residents of Nunavut can enroll in a BScN (Arctic Nursing) program, offered in collaboration with Nunavut Arctic College. Graduate programs include Master of Nursing (MN); Master of Science in Nursing (MScN); Doctor of Nursing (PhD); and Certificate in RN Prescribing.
Research at the School of Nursing is organized in three centres: Centre for Transformative Nursing and Health Research; WHO/PAHO Collaborating Centre; and JBI )Johann Briggs Institute) Excellence in Nursing Centre. The School also supports the CIHR Nursing Chair in Indigenous Health Research.