Collectivité

Regina General Hospital School of Nursing

Nursing education in Regina commenced in 1902 at the Regina Victoria Hospital. Three students were accepted to the Training School for Nurses that first year, with one receiving her diploma in 1904. The first complete class was graduated in 1906. In 1907, the hospital was taken over by the City of Regina, and was renamed the Regina General Hospital. The nursing school continued under the new management as the Regina General Hospital School of Nursing. On 21 February 1916, the Teaching Council of the School of Nursing was founded. Consisting of the Medical Superintendent, Superintendent of Nurses, and Medical Staff and other staff of the hospital actively engaged in teaching the students, the Teaching Council regulated the instruction and examination of students and made recommendations on the granting of diplomas and awards. The 3-year program combining classroom instruction and practical work on the wards, where the students provided most of the nursing care, was conducted with only minor changes for almost fifty years. Under the regulation of the provincial Department of Health attempts were made to centralize nursing education during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1966 responsibility for nursing education was moved to the Department of Education and provincial technical institutes began to offer nursing as a 2-year program. In 1971, Regina General Hospital began to phase out its own nursing program, and nursing education was transferred to the Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences in Regina. The last class to graduate from the Regina General Hospital School of Nursing did so in July 1972. During the school's history, more than 2,700 nurses were graduated.

The following individuals have served as Superintendent or Director of Nursing: Elizabeth Chalmers (1903-1909), Elsie Clearihue (1910-1912), E.M. Turner (1913-1915), R.E. Wass (Acting 1916), J.R. Reckie (1917-1918), M.J. Fraser, (1919-1921) M.B. Garrow (1922), S.I. McKinnon (1923-1925), E.I. Smith (1926-1927), S. Sanderson (1928), K.M. Ross (1929), V. Pearson (1930-1931), Helen B. Smith (1932-1934), Annie F. Lawrie (1935-1943), B.C. Reierson (Acting, 1944), M.E. Thompson (1945-1959), J. Goodhind, (Associate Director, Nursing Education, 1960-1962), L.M. Scorer (1963-1965), M.E. Magdalin (1966), Eleanor Linnell (Director, Nursing Education, 1964-1967, 1968-1972), and Isobel Colvin (Administrator, Patient Care, 1967-1972).