The new Critical Care Nursing E-Learning Graduate Certificate program utilizes an online learning model, including web- and computer-based learning and virtual classrooms. Following completion of the theory courses, students participate in hands-on simulation training to gain practical experience.
Nursing students at Durham College and across the province will be benefiting from a $1-million donation to the college from the Honourable George Smitherman, Ontario's Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, to design an innovative critical care nursing e-learning solution for the province.
Announced on Friday, May 11 this initiative is part of the provincial government's Critical Care Strategy and will improve the quality of nursing care in Ontario's hospitals. Durham College will use an innovative training model to offer a Critical Care Nursing E-Learning Graduate Certificate program to current and future critical care nurses across the province.
"Durham College has been providing high-quality education to nurses for over 30 years," said Leah Myers, president of Durham College. "I am delighted that the Ontario government has recognized our commitment to excellence and innovation by awarding the college the provincial mandate for this best-in-class training initiative to meet this important health care priority."
The program features five theoretical courses available online, enabling students to learn at their own pace, regardless of their geographical locations. Upon completion of the theory courses, students will gain hands-on simulation training at Durham College's state-of-the-art, 5,700-square-foot simulation lab or at a simulation lab housed at one of the colleges and universities across the province that have partnered with the college. Finally, students will complete the program by gaining on-the-job experience in a critical care setting of their choice under the direct supervision of an experienced critical care nurse preceptor.
Durham College's fully operational high-tech and high-touch simulation lab features human-like simulators that realistically portray many ailments and serious health problems - giving students a virtual experience as they bridge the gap between normal and abnormal, and theory and practice.
Courses being offered include foundations of critical care such as fluid and electrolytes and hematology; advanced health assessment including clinical decision making; cardiopulmonary nursing such as arrhythmia interpretation and mechanical ventilation; gastrointestinal/neurological nursing including traumatic injuries and trends in research; and endocrine and renal nursing such as hypo and hyper disorders and pharmacology.
The program can be completed on a full-time basis in eight months or less, or in 20 months if completed on a part-time basis of one course per semester.
The first cohort of students will be accepted into the program beginning September 2007. For more details please visit www.durhamcollege.ca/criticalcare.