BScN Program Leads the Way with Innovative On‑Campus Clinical Placements

Written by SLC Communications

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) program has introduced an innovative solution to challenges in securing clinical placements by offering on‑campus clinical experiences—a model unique to SLC. These placements are also open to students from other institutions and a student from Algonquin College will be completing her placement on the Kingston campus. 

Working in SLC’s Healthcare labs, students gain hands‑on experience while partnering with both internal programs and community organizations. Current partnerships include Kingston Health Sciences Centre, Providence Care, SLC’s Police Foundations and Personal Support Worker programs. Nursing students recently performed medical checks for Police Foundations students ahead of their fitness testing and helped design and facilitate PSW’s clinical experiences in lab. 

Students are also contributing to health education in meaningful ways. In collaboration with the local public health unit and BSCN faculty, they developed and delivered a sexual health and contraception class for third‑year nursing students.  

They continue to support their peers by helping teach missed lab content due to absences and even creating new learning tools where gaps exist. This experience helps promote our way of knowing by students passing their experiential and relational knowledge to each other through these interactions.  

A key feature of the on‑campus placement is the integration of the Indigenous medicine wheel, prominently displayed in all nursing labs. It serves as a foundation for teaching and learning, guiding students in incorporating Indigenous Ways of Knowing Being into patient assessments, care planning, health promotion, and culturally safe communication. 

Reflecting on the program’s impact, Ashley Strutz, Manager of Clinical Nursing Education, shared: “We don’t just teach the students—they help us learn and improve our teaching. SLC is offering clinical placement options no other school is, and our students and community are benefitting.”