L’Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec – Teaching
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The Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec has long been concerned about the training of its personnel. In 1915, Sister Saint-Calixte, who was then superior and director of the Hôpital Saint-Michel-Archange, founded the first school of nursing in the district of Quebec, which in 1924 became affiliated with Université Laval. In 1949, in response to a request from the health ministry and Université Laval, Sister Saint-Ferdinand founded the school of neuropsychiatry for graduate nurses. The school trained heads of care units for clinical teaching and prepared students to be assistants to psychiatric specialists in the general hospitals. At the request of the Quebec nurses’ association, Université Laval made a session in psychiatry mandatory for a diploma starting with the 1960 exams. Some years later, the nursing course was integrated into the CEGEP programs and courses in auxiliary patient care were provided at the comprehensive schools.1In 1952, the university’s rector asked the hospital to become a teaching hospital so that he could send his medical technology students there. One aspect of its mission was to “foster the emergence, maintenance and development of a teaching culture focused on knowledge of psychiatry and mental health.”2 The Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec joined as part of its mission at Université Laval. University students could then take internships in several fields – psychiatry, psychology, social services, nursing, and so forth.Today, the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec has a very well developed teaching component.The second half of the 20th century was therefore synonymous with changes in the way psychiatric care was organized in Quebec. With treatment in the community, people with mental illness could better integrate that community. Teaching and specialization made it possible for patients to receive care that was better suited to their needs. At the end of the 20th century, treatment of mental illnesses at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec had reached great heights, particularly with respect to research and creation of innovative programs.
- France Saint-Hilaire. “Hôpital Saint-Michel-Archange: Berceau de la profession infirmière à Québec”, Le P’tit Robert, no. 245, May 2005, p. 3.
- http://www.institutsmq.qc.ca/index.php?id=59
