U of S nursing program to be offered at Northlands College

Dean Lorna Butler, University of Saskatchewan College of Nursing
The four-year nursing program will allow students to study through Northlands College, which serves the northern half of Saskatchewan, by a distributed learning model. The partnership provides the first northern locations for students to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
"Thanks to our partnership with Northlands College, this new option allows students to learn where they live, most notably Aboriginal students, and opens doors for future health practitioners in Saskatchewan," said U of S Council of Health Science Deans Chair and College of Nursing Dean Lorna Butler. "Emphasis will be placed on interprofessional education - meaning graduates will be prepared to work in teams with other health professionals and education will focus on community engagement principles."
Northlands College will offer the first year of programming starting in September 2011.
"Partnering with the U of S allows us not only to better serve the needs of students in northern Saskatchewan but also to address a critical human resource need of northern health sector employers," said Northlands College Chief Executive Officer Bill McLaughlin. "The availability of a nursing degree in northern Saskatchewan will directly contribute to the implementation of the Northern Health Human Resource Strategy and facilitate a higher degree of northern, primarily Aboriginal, trained professionals providing northern health care."
This partnership also signifies the intent of the U of S Council of Health Science Deans and Northlands College to work together to identify further opportunities for distributed and interprofessional learning in medicine and other areas of health sciences. As Saskatchewan's only medical-doctoral university, and with the recent formation of the Council of Health Sciences Deans, the U of S is uniquely positioned to offer opportunities for students to learn and interact between health sciences disciplines in communities around the province.
-30-
For more information, contact:
Mark Ferguson
Media Relations Co-ordinator
University of Saskatchewan
Phone: (306) 966-1851