Shortened class semester strains Dalhousie nursing program

Students in Dalhousie University’s undergraduate nursing program say they’ve faced increased academic pressure from the condensed semester schedule caused by the faculty lockout.

Samantha Muray, a second-year nursing student, says the beginning of the semester was difficult for her and her classmates. 

“Not knowing if we were going back for a certain time, knowing that we weren’t even going to get a break in the middle, it made everybody so much more stressed,” she says. 

Dalhousie students missed the first three weeks of most fall semester classes after the university’s board of governors locked out nearly 1,000 Dalhousie Faculty Association members on Aug. 20. The university board and its faculty ratified a collective agreement ending the lockout on Sept. 17. Suspended classes resumed on Sept. 23.

As a result of schedule changes caused by the lockout, nursing students had to continue both clinicals and classes over reading week, resulting in a heavier workload than normal to complete all required material.

In order to be ready for class and finals, Murray says nursing students have to study immediately after finishing long eight to 12-hour shifts in their clinical practices, where students apply their nursing skills in professional health-care settings.

Clinical placements are required for students in the undergraduate nursing program.

“It’s very draining on the brain,” she says. “You’re learning so much throughout your clinicals. It’s not just work. Once you get back, you still have to learn more and more.

“I feel like they’re burning out their nurses before they even get into the field, which isn’t right.”

Nursing students also say they’re feeling the effects of the lack of preparation time Dalhousie gave professors when classes resumed.

After faculty members returned to work on Sept. 18, they had just three working days to prepare for the term, which began on Sept. 23. 

Kassandra Maatouk, a second-year nursing student, says some of her professors didn’t set up the syllabi and online Brightspace modules for her courses until well into the semester. 

“If you looked at the syllabuses in most of our classes, it was showing that our assessments were due, but they were all the wrong dates,” she says. “It took them two months to actually finish the syllabus, but that should be done before our classes even start.”

Sheri Roach, a nursing professor at Dalhousie, discussed the impact on professors.

“The really big loss for me was that two weeks of prep time in the summer where we got locked out before school came back,” she says.

On top of adapting classwork to the shortened term, Roach says nursing faculty and staff had to adjust labs and clinical placements for a later start than planned. 

“We had to ask our partners, ‘Can we come three weeks later and stay three weeks later?’” says Roach. “That doesn’t sound like a big request, but it really is when you think about our health-care system and how much pressure there is and how many other learning programs there are.”

Despite the challenges, Roach says students were able to learn all the necessary material in the fall semester.

“Our students, in each of our semesters, received the information and experience that will allow them to continue learning in the program.”