The Trent Difference: Create Change
The Trent/Fleming School of Nursing is recognized as the leading Canadian change agent for applying nursing as a driver of social justice. Students in our program will help to improve the health and quality of life for marginalized populations by engaging in research, community partnerships, and clinical experience.
Our school is dedicated to:
- Raising the standards for practice-ready nurses;
- Providing a fully-integrated curriculum with collaborative research that focuses on advancing social justice learning and community transformation;
- Offering focused learning streams, teaching approaches, and technology that enable you to enter practice with clinical excellence, critical thinking, and advocacy skills; and
- Delivering opportunities that build strong community partnerships for health promotion, as well as access and equity for Indigenous communities, rural and aging populations, people with mental health issues, women, and gender diverse individuals.
The Trent/Fleming School of Nursing prepares skilled nursing professionals with strong scientific knowledge and compassion rooted in the values of professional and social responsibility. Graduates of the program are known as leaders committed to advocacy, diversity, social justice, and the pursuit of excellence. As part of our community of scholars, students will combine education, research, and clinical practice to innovate new and better ways to care for individuals, families, and communities.
Evidence-Based Curriculum
Accredited by the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) and the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO), the program weaves the most current faculty and evidence-based research into coursework and clinical practice placements. Students build a strong base of knowledge and skill over their academic career, preparing for meaningful professional practice in a range of nursing contexts after graduation. Students may choose to focus in one of five areas of interest: aging, mental health, Indigenous communities, rural health, and women’s health and gender.
Exceptional Faculty
The classroom experience is enriched by Trent/Fleming School of Nursing faculty, who bring a combination of professional and academic knowledge and expertise. Faculty are directly involved in clinical, pedagogical, and social justice research in areas such as aging, mental health, primary care, rural health, and women’s health. Students benefit from a climate of true mentorship and have the opportunity to get involved in research throughout their academic career.
Undergraduate Thesis
Nursing students who are interested in engaging in research can take a thesis course in their final two semesters alongside a faculty supervisor. This is a great way to develop expertise in a particular area that students are passionate about and contribute to developing new nursing knowledge. We’ve had many students conduct studies from the very beginning phase of developing a research question through to REB approval, data collection, analysis, and publishing their findings. Examples of student thesis topics include:
- Examining the effects of resettlement on the health of Newfoundlanders
- The lived experiences of partners of hospitalized high-risk pregnant women: An interpretive phenomenological study
- Stress and coping in Trent University BScN students
- Health outcomes of participants staying in a motel shelter in Northern Ontario
- Factors associated with implementation of complementary and alternative medicine by nurses in healthcare contexts: A scoping review
Leading-Edge Technology
Trent University's newly-expanded, state-of-the-art clinical learning centre is designed to replicate hospital and home settings. Featuring a number of low, medium, and high fidelity simulation mannequins, these labs give students the opportunity to practice their technical, critical thinking, and decision making skills. Our Trent Simulation Hub is Canada's only university nursing program with a fully internationally accredited simulation centre.
Theory Meets Practice
Students will explore current healthcare themes through theory, practice, and clinical simulation experiences. This integrated approach offers more experience with clinical learning beginning in first year. By the final year of study, students will have gained more than 1,300 hours of clinical experience through a variety of frameworks, including hospital and community settings.
Generous Financial Opportunities
The TFSON believes in rewarding nursing students for their academic excellence and supporting students who are in financial need. There are many scholarships, bursaries and awards the TFSON offers nursing students in every year of the nursing programs.
