Dalhousie University increasing enrolment in accelerated nursing program

Halifax’s Dalhousie University has decided to increase enrolment in one of its nursing programs, which will benefit nursing students with prior education.

“Fifty per cent of our nurses for instance come directly from high school, and the other 50 per cent actually have university degrees, some master degrees, and some PhD degrees, so it’s important for us at Dalhousie to recognize the learning that they bring,” says Gail Tomblin-Murphy of Dalhousie’s School of Nursing.

The accelerated program gives students with prior education a chance to complete the four-year degree in just two years.

Dalhousie University accepts 185 students in its four-year program each year, but only eight students are accepted into its accelerated course. The university will accept 50 students into the accelerated program this September.

“It’s really good news for students…because Nova Scotia is very interested in keeping students,” says Tomblin-Murphy.

Dalhousie’s decision to increase enrolment is also good news for the province of Nova Scotia, where the average age of nurses is 47. About 800 nurses are set to retire in the next few years, and the Nova Scotia Nurses Union says there is a real need for young nurses.

“Currently, now as reported last week in a national survey, we have the oldest registered nurse population in the country,” says Janet Hazelton, president of the Nova Scotia Nurses Union.

Hazelton says 85 per cent of this year’s nursing graduates were able to find work in the province, but that more needs to be done to address the possibility of a major nursing shortage in the future.

“We need to be able to attract new nurses, which we don’t have any difficulty with, but we are not graduating enough registered nurses to fill the holes and vacancies within our system,” says Hazelton.

The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union says the enrolment increase is a start, but it’s still not enough to address the issue.

“It’s a positive step forward, but 42 seats a year is not going to solve the problem, absolutely not,” says Robert Chisholm of the NSGEU.

Dalhousie University maintains that a nursing shortage is not the reason behind the increase in enrolment, but acknowledges the increase will help an aging workforce.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Matt Woodman