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Mount Saint Vincent University School of Nursing
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Mount Saint Vincent/Halifax Infirmary
Affiliation Programs
Basic Integrated Nursing Degree Program
Post Registered Nurses Degree Program
Dalhousie/Mount Saint Vincent Universities Joint
Program
The End of Nursing at Mount Saint Vincent University
Mount Saint Vincent/Halifax Infirmary
Affiliation Programs
In
1932, Mount Saint Vincent University, (which at that time was still a
college), established an affiliation program with the Halifax Infirmary
School of Nursing, where the college, which did not have a nursing program
of its own, taught credit and non credit courses
to the nursing students at the Halifax Infirmary School of Nursing. The
courses, which consisted of sociology, dietetics, physical education, and
public speaking where sometimes taught at the college, while other times
they were taught by the Mount’s faculty at the hospital. Both the college
and the hospital were unhappy with the results of the program
and so
in 1946, after fourteen years, they decided to discontinue the program.
Although their first attempt at an affiliation program had not worked out,
both the Mount Saint Vincent College and the Halifax Infirmary continued
to explore opportunities for collaboration. In 1949, Mount Saint Vincent
College established their own nursing program in affiliation with the
Halifax Infirmary School of Nursing. The college was
responsible for the academic portion of the nursing program while the
hospital was responsible for the nursing and clinical training portion of
the program.
 The
nursing program at Mount Saint Vincent College was four years in length
and led to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. The first year and
the last six months of the fourth year were taken at the college where
students attended various arts and science courses including, religion,
philosophy, English, history, sociology, biology, chemistry, home
economics, and education. In between the first and fourth years, the
students spent thirty months in training at the Halifax Infirmary
where they were taught professional nursing courses and spent time working
in the wards. In the first year of the program's operation two
students enrolled in the program, graduating in 1953. By July 1966 a
total of seventy seven students had enrolled in the program with forty
five receiving a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
Nursing Program
Outline, Before 1965
Nursing Program Calendar Description, 1953-1954
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Basic Integrated Nursing Degree Program
In
1964, the president of Mount Saint Vincent College was concerned about
the set up of the nursing program. In view of the fact that the
Halifax
Infirmary, and not the college, was
responsible for the professional nursing courses and the clinical training
portion of the degree program, the college was granting degrees in a
concentration that they were not actually teaching. As a result, a study
was done on nursing programs at major universities in Canada and the
United States, with the idea of implementing an integrated nursing degree
program at Mount Saint Vincent College. In
 view
of the study, Mount Saint Vincent College decided to introduce an
integrated nursing program in 1965, the first such program in Nova
Scotia. The main objective of the integrated nursing program was to
produce liberally educated and professionally competent nurses, capable of
providing leadership in nursing and health care with the college having
complete control over the contents of the program.
The new
integrated program was four years in length (including three summer
sessions), and incorporated arts and science courses with professional
nursing courses. The first and second years of the program focused on
basic sciences and medical/surgical nursing, the third year focused on
pediatrics and obstetrics, and the fourth year focused on community.
Although some of the clinical training continued to be done at the
Halifax
Infirmary, the college was now responsible for administering that portion
of the program and not the hospital.
 Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program Outline, ca. 1965
Nursing Program Course Descriptions, ca. 1965
Conditions
for Contracts with Hospitals, 1965
Freshman Nursing Course Syllabus, 1965-1966
Nursing Program Brochure, 1970s
Ode to the Freshman Nurse, 1970s
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Post Registered Nurses Degree Program
 While
the new integrated nursing program was being launched, registered nurses who had
graduated from the hospital based diploma programs, expressed an interest in
upgrading their credentials. In response, Mount Saint Vincent University
decided to design a program for registered nurses. This new program
would also help increase the number of degree nurses in the province,
which was a concern for the Registered Nurses’ Association of Nova Scotia.
The post
registered nurses degree program
was introduced in 1966, was only two years in length, and was expected to run for a
limited period of time. Prerequisites for the program included three
years of nursing experience, and a diploma in nursing education, nursing
administration, or public health nursing, as well as a Nova Scotia grade
11 high school pass or its equivalent. Students enrolled in the program
completed ten academic courses including, English, biology, sociology,
psychology, economics, political science, and 4 electives which were meant
to build on their previous nursing knowledge.
Press Release Announcing a Degree Program for Post Registered Nurses, 1966
Outline of the Post Registered Nurses Degree Program, 1966
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Dalhousie/Mount Saint Vincent Universities Joint
Program
 The
new nursing programs implemented by Mount Saint Vincent University
required highly
qualified faculty and mandated a lower faculty/student ratio than the old
affiliation program. This ultimately resulted in higher costs to the university. As a
result, it soon became evident that something needed to be done to try and
bring down the cost of the program. In 1969 the Mount Saint Vincent
University School of Nursing and the Dalhousie University School of
Nursing, which had also introduced an integrated nursing program decided
to carry out their programs in closer conjunction. By joining the
two programs together they felt they would still be able to maintain a strong program and
prevent unnecessary duplication, which would help to reduce the cost of
the programs.
Letter from Marguerite Hornby Regarding the Dalhousie - Mount Saint
Vincent Joint Program, 1969
 In
the early 1970s an agreement was signed between the two schools creating
the Dalhousie - Mount Saint Vincent Universities School of Nursing. As
part of the agreement it was decided that all of the nursing courses would
be taught at Dalhousie University, while the students from
Mount Saint Vincent would attend their other academic courses at
Mount Saint
Vincent
 University.
In the agreement it was also decided that although all of the
nursing courses would
be taught at Dalhousie University, Mount Saint Vincent University would
still be responsible for providing a portion of the nursing faculty, who
would teach at Dalhousie University.
The
joint nursing program had a number of positive and negative aspects for
both the students and faculty of Mount Saint Vincent University. On one
hand, the agreement allowed Mount Saint Vincent's students exposure to a greater
number of faculty and students and also gave them access to
facilities available at Dalhousie University. On the other hand, the
agreement meant that Mount Saint Vincent's students had to spend a great deal of
time travelling back and forth between the two universities in order to
 attend
all of their classes. In addition, the non-nursing courses taught at
Mount Saint Vincent University did not teach the same curriculum as the
non-nursing
courses
taught at Dalhousie University. Since Dalhousie was much
larger, they were
able to
provide non-nursing courses which were oriented towards the nursing
profession, leaving Mount Saint Vincent's students at a disadvantage when attending
the nursing courses taught at Dalhousie University.
Mount
Saint Vincent's
faculty also experienced some problems with the joint program. They
enjoyed the perks that came along with being Mount Saint Vincent
University faculty, but they often felt alienated from the university
since they spent almost all of their time on Dalhousie's campus.
Report on the
Dalhousie – Mount Saint Vincent Joint Program, ca. 1974
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The End of Nursing at Mount Saint Vincent University
 Throughout
the 1970s the Mount continued to experience problems with their nursing
programs which eventually forced the closure of the nursing school in
1979. In 1971 it was felt that there was no longer a need for the post registered nurses degree
program and it was announced that the program would be terminated with the last date for admission being
September 1973, with all students in the program required to complete all
the requirements by August 1975.
The decision to terminate the program was not fully supported by the
registered nurses who were enrolled in the program and they expressed
their dissatisfaction to the University’s Senate. The decision however,
was not overturned and the program was terminated in 1975 as originally
planned. During the last five years, nineteen to twenty nine students
graduated from the program each year.
Brief to the Senate Regarding the Post Registered Nurses Program, 1975
Memo from Marguerite Muise Regarding the Brief to the Senate Regarding the
Post Registered Nurses Program, 1975
The joint
Dalhousie – Mount Saint Vincent Universities program, which facilitated
the basic nursing degree program, also saw its demise in the 1970s. The
joint program ended up being more expensive than the separate
program had been
and there
were also
 scheduling
difficulties since many of the clinical experiences, as well
as the nursing courses, were scheduled away from the campus requiring both
the faculty and students to spend an excessive amount of time travelling. As a result,
the nursing faculty at Mount Saint Vincent recommended in 1973, and again
in 1975, to have the nursing
program at the university phased out. In December
1975 the Board of Governors finally decided to discontinue the nursing
program. The nursing program had been well suited to Mount Saint
Vincent University, which specialized in the professional education
of women, however, the rising costs of the program made it
impossible to keep it going. Mount Saint Vincent University stopped accepting applications
to the basic nursing degree program in 1975, and terminated the program
altogether in May 1979, closing once and for all the Mount Saint Vincent
University School of Nursing.
Memo from
Sister Mary Albertus Regarding a Report on the
Evaluation of the Nursing Program, 1975
Letter
from Sister Mary Albertus Regarding the Closing of the
School, 1975
Letter
from Marguerite Muise Regarding the Termination of the BaccalaureateNursing Program, 1978
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