Simulation-based learning gives students the chance to practice in a
safe clinical environment and develop their confidence before they learn
to care for patients in real clinical settings.
In each year of
the nursing program, students learn specific skills and practices of
professional nursing, such as therapeutic communication, health
assessment, technical skill development and clinical reasoning.
Students
practice their skills with life-like mannequins capable of producing
various patient sounds and functions. They meet with standardized
patients, who are actors who play the role of patients. Both during and
after the simulation experience, students receive immediate and
objective feedback from their teachers in order to enhance future
performance.
The Centre for Simulation Based Learning, housed in the Health Sciences Centre on the main campus, provides state-of-the-art facilities for students in the Faculty of Health Sciences, including nursing students. The Centre is composed of two large labs. Each houses a number of clinical teaching rooms, high fidelity simulation teaching rooms, and simulation debriefing rooms.
Human cadavers: McMaster is one of the few Universities in Ontario that provides students with the opportunity to learn anatomy using professionally dissected human cadaveric specimens. All students in the combined McMaster-Mohawk-Conestoga BScN program are provided with access to these specimens through our partnership with the McMaster Program for Education in Anatomy. Our anatomy labs are run by a dedicated team of staff members from the Anatomical Educational Program as well as trained graduate students from the McMaster Health Sciences Graduate Program.
Clinical and community learning sites
Above: McMaster Children's Hospital
Our students enjoy access to a full teaching hospital on-campus (McMaster Children’s Hospital) and a wide range of other placement sites. These include other hospitals such as St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, and clinics and community based programmes.
Library
The Health Sciences Library contains 142,000 print volumes, 90 public computers, a two-storey reading pavilion, History of Health and Medicine room, e-classroom, and 15 group study rooms.