For the past 20 months, Joy Fadase has begun each morning looking at a note pinned to her wall encouraging her that she will soon become a nurse.

The Brock University Bachelor of Nursing/Master of Nursing (BN/MN) student and 17 of her classmates recently reached a milestone that has brought them closer to their collective goal.

On Friday, Dec. 15, the first class of Canada’s only concurrent BN/MN program celebrated the completion of the accelerated degree with a pinning ceremony — a rite of passage for graduating nurses that represents a commitment to nursing education and training. In receiving and wearing the pin, students accept the rights and responsibilities to provide excellent care to patients and their loved ones.

Fadase considers herself a caring person and has always envisioned working in a hospital. With her mother and sister both nurses, she felt Brock’s BN/MN program was a great fit that complemented her bachelor’s degree in public health, her work experience as a diabetes technician and her certificates in health system management, personal support worker and pharmacy assistant.

She was attracted to the program because it offered both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in just 20 months, and she had heard about Brock’s reputation for offering students practical experiences that build on the theory learned in the classroom.

Brock University celebrated Canada’s first graduating class of Bachelor of Nursing/Master of Nursing Friday, Dec. 15 with a traditional nursing pinning ceremony.

Brock’s BN/MN program places students in a variety of nursing specializations at health-care settings in Niagara and Hamilton. Fadase had clinical placements in critical care, mental health, cardiac care, labour and delivery, pediatrics and neonatal intensive care.

“The clinical placements enriched my education because I was able to apply evidence-based practices in real-life health-care settings,” she said. “I developed critical-thinking skills that enhanced my understanding of complex patient needs.”

In addition to clinical placements, BN/MN students have a practical component for the master’s portion of the program that focuses on developing their leadership skills. Students work alongside long-term care administrators and other health-care leaders to apply the knowledge they learned about strategic planning, team management, policy development, budgeting and more.

It was this leadership training that attracted Palak Chopra (BSc ’22) to the BN/MN. After finishing courses for Brock’s Bachelor of Science in Medical Sciences degree in April 2022, Chopra started the BN/MN program the following month.

“Other accelerated nursing programs are similar length, but they don’t offer a master’s, which is unique to Brock and was quite enticing for me,” she said. “I’m interested in the policy side of health care and would like to grow into a leadership role where I can influence bigger changes that we need in the current health-care environment.”

Chopra is also grateful for the knowledge and experience she learned across a variety of specialty areas.

Joy Fadase and Palak Chopra (BSc ’22) were two of 18 Brock University Bachelor of Nursing/Master of Nursing students who celebrated the completion of their degree program with a nursing pinning ceremony.

“I like the flexibility of starting my nursing career in one area and then switching down the line,” she said. “With Canada’s chronic nursing shortages, it’s important to be able to work in different specialties and take on new opportunities when needs arise.”

With the completion of the BN/MN program, Chopra, Fadase and their classmates are eligible to write the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) to become a registered nurse. Once they pass, the pair hope to enter the Ontario workforce, possibly joining one of the organizations where they did their placements, such as Niagara Health or St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.

“We are grateful to our community health-care partners for providing excellent clinical experiences to our students,” said Dawn Prentice, Brock’s BN/MN Graduate Program Director. “The attention and care they offered our students in their placements helped them build confidence in their clinical skills and prepared them to provide competent, safe and ethical care to patients.”