Educating tomorrow’s nurses

Since 1998, a baccalaure- ate degree in nursing has been the entry-to-practice standard in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia. The same is true since 2005 in Ontario and since 2010 in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. In fact, all provinces in Canada require a degree as a minimum standard for entry to the nursing profession, except Quebec.

Bangladesh is even moving to baccalaureate nursing practice.

In Quebec, social workers must have a baccalaureate degree to practice; physical therapists and occupational therapists require a master’s degree to enter their professions; and medical curricula are being redesigned to improve the educational standard for doctors. When parents send their child to Grade 1, they expect that the teacher will have at least a baccalaureate degree in education (some would even argue the teacher should have a master’s degree!) — why would these parents not expect that the nurse looking after their child in the intensive care unit have the same level of preparation?

As the knowledge and complexities related to caring for people in health and illness increase, why shouldn’t the standard of nursing education? As nurses are pivotal members of the interprofessional health care team, why shouldn’t they “at least” have the same minimum level of preparation as their colleagues?

Increasing standards for the nurses of tomorrow is in no way meant to minimize the quality of education of nurses currently graduating without a degree — it is simply time that Quebec nursing catches up with the rest of the country and the world. Is Quebec really that different?

Madeleine Buck

Montreal