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Celebrating 100 Years of Nursing Education and Research

Victoria Smye, RN, PhD
Director, Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing

Throughout 2020 we will celebrate 100 years of Nursing at Western and all that has gone into making us a research leader with the clear goal of transforming education, services, systems and policies that affect health. Our past has informed our present and will continue to influence our future over the next 100 years.

With early roots in public health and community health nursing a century ago, the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing at Western continues to unite students from across the country and around the world in the nurse’s way of being – of understanding and supporting the human condition.

Nursing is not one thing. It is many things. It incorporates the sciences, humanities, advocacy and ethics and enables nurses to understand life in a deeper way.

At Western, we care for our patients, our community and each other. Our school is small enough to offer personal mentoring and large enough to attract world-class researchers who secure highly competitive grants in the interest of creating innovations, shaping government policies and improving health care.

As the largest resource in health care, nurses are leading transformative practice and are developing strategies for better care and policies to improve health outcomes for all – from hospital to home, to our communities and from local to global.

In planning the future today, we are focusing on social justice and equity in the delivery of health care to all people, including those people marginalized by inequity, as well as harnessing technology to introduce our students to the fundamental skills they need in their daily practice. Virtual reality nursing technology teaching modules will be the first opportunity for students to learn practice skills and what it means to interact safely with patients experiencing health crises.

We take great pride in the calibre of students who choose to pursue their nursing degree at Western. We are committed to providing them with a quality education, the best student experience and the skills to become leaders for equity in health care.

Please join us in celebrating the 100 years that have made the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing what it is today, and in looking forward to what the next 100 has in store.