Decision part of profession's ongoing evolution
The Brandon SunJan 26, 2021
The headline on Page A3 of Monday’s
This program was started in 1986, not, as incorrectly stated in the article in 1998. It was an interim measure to offer psychiatric nurses trained in one of three institutions in
It was established alongside a similar program for general registered nurses, who had trained in hospitals, to obtain a bachelor of science in nursing.
There were never a huge number of participants in the BScMH, although those who gained the degree did benefit from it as did their patients and the whole mental health system.
But over the years, participants have declined significantly and there is little need for it, as in fact, the article states. All psychiatric nurses in
The termination of this degree is not the disaster the headline suggests, and to say it was axed is not really as dire as it sounds. It simply outlived its value and it was a good decision. Programs come and go at universities all the time.
But it is interesting that psychiatric nursing is in a headline as last year, this year and next year are the 100th anniversaries of the beginning of psychiatric nursing in
This heritage of Brandon being a leader in the field of psychiatric nursing education continues to this day and the discontinued program is just one in the ongoing evolution of this distinct profession.
This is all documented in a recently published book, “Politics Personalities, and Persistence: One Hundred Years of Psychiatric Nursing Education in Manitoba.”