For Professor Madeleine Buck, being nominated for the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) Award for Excellence in Nursing Education was an honour in and of itself. The nomination process was rigorous as was the competition, which made winning the award – and being the first person to do so at the Ingram School of Nursing– an achievement worthy of celebration.
Specifically, the award recognizes Professor Buck’s outstanding contributions to nursing education at the local, regional and national level over a period of three decades. These achievements include her 18-year tenure as Director of ISoN’s BScN program as well as her work as an accreditor, as former Chair of the CASN Accreditation Bureau and as an active participant in the development of the NP (nurse practitioner) accreditation program. Professor Buck also was lauded for her exceptional initiatives in the area of global health, such as the McGill Nurses for Highlands Hope, a partnership with nurses in Tanzania.
Passionate about nursing education, Professor Buck believes that the role of an educator is not just to teach individual courses but to have an understanding of the curriculum as a whole. “It’s all about planned and calculated sequencing and scaffolding of student learning experiences to achieve program outcomes,” she explains.
Professor Buck is grateful to the faculty at ISoN for embracing the many initiatives she has helped to introduce over the years. “McGill is known for its collaborative environment. I couldn’t have done what I did if not for the support I received here throughout my career,” she states.
She is particularly proud of her role as one of the architects of ISoN’s revised undergraduate curriculum which was introduced in 2019. Several years in the making, the revision involved literature reviews, extensive consultations, bench-marking and site visits to nursing schools at other universities. A key challenge was to integrate McGill’s philosophy of strengths-based nursing and health care, beginning with first-year courses. As Professor Buck explains, “When you design a new curriculum, you have to think about what today’s needs are and envision what they will be moving forward as we are educating for the future.”
Nursing education has evolved tremendously since Professor Buck first joined the ISoN faculty 35 years ago. Yet, she remains convinced that while the growth of nursing knowledge has been exponential, the underlying principles of nursing have stayed the same. “We continue to see the individuals, families, and communities that we work with as partners. Our role is to build trusting relationships that facilitate health.”
You can read about the CASN award at 2021 CASN Award Winners - Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing / Association canadienne des écoles de sciences infirmières (CASN / ACESI).
By Hena Kon, Communications Officer, Ingram School of Nursing