Nursing Education

The development and education of our nursing students is a key component of the Nursing Department. We value the opportunity to contribute to your growth as a nurse through clinical placements and working along side our outstanding staff.

We believe today’s academic health science environments must focus on advancing nursing within the domains of practice, education, research and leadership.

Our intent is to provide you with a meaningful and professional clinical placement, and to help you become the best nurse you can be.

Find more about:

• Quick Links:

• Policies and Guidelines
• Departments Supporting Clinical Placements
• How to Get Here

Mount Sinai offers a number of exciting opportunities to graduate students where they can learn and apply their knowledge in a supportive teaching environment. Some past opportunities for students have included practice in areas such as:

• Outpatient heart function clinic, cardiac care unit, and inpatient cardiology unit.
• Operational and professional leadership in nursing.
• Emergency nursing.
• Clinical support to several surgical teams.
• Critical care nursing.
• Intensive diabetes therapy.
• Adult and neonatal critical care nursing.
• Medical and surgical nursing.
• Obstetrical nursing including ambulatory clinics and Centre for Reproductive Health.
• Mental health nursing.
• Geriatric nursing.

If you are about to begin a Nursing clinical placement at Mount Sinai, there are a number of things that must be completed. Your school is aware of requirements that need to be fulfilled in order for clinical placements to commence. Please read the below information carefully and complete requested items.

WSIB

As per the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, streamlined insurance coverage program for students completing unpaid placements with employers provided through the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, Universities are required to provide a letter to Placement Employers. Please contact your program coordinator with any questions regarding WSIB.

Student Immunizations

Students and schools are responsible for ensuring students are have up to date vaccinations and a valid Fit Test Card prior to starting placement and arrangements, and maintaining these records.

Mount Sinai has moved towards a vaccinate or mask policy that is applicable to all staff, volunteer, and students. Schools of Nursing have received a copy of Mount Sinai Hospital Flu Vaccination FAQ. Students who receive their flu vaccine outside of Mounts Sinai are required to a) carry proof of their flu vaccine status at all times OR 2) receive a MSH flu sticker from MSH Occupational Health. Students are welcome to visit OCC Health, located at 60 Murray street, Lower Level, Room L1-028 (first floor), to receive their MSH flu vaccine sticker.

Computer Training

eLearning Courses

Please note that eLearning courses for students are different than Systems Education.  To ensure that our students have the most current & relevant information to guide their practice, all nursing students with a clinical placement at MSH are required to complete several eLearning courses within the first two weeks of placements.  Students can complete these courses prior to their start date.

Systems Education 

As in the past, schools are responsible for setting up in-class training, except for 4th year pre-grad and consolidation students who are to arrange for their own training. 

Please call 416-586-4800, x2100 to set up a time for your students’ computer training.  The module must be completed prior to coming to the hospital.

Nursing Student Handbook

Students are required to read and understand the Nursing Student Placement Handbook. Students are required to review the following in the handbook:

• Policy and procedures for Nursing students
• Patient Privacy policy
• Policy and Procedures for Use of Technology
• Confidentiality & Privacy guidelines

Handbook can be accessed on HSPnet

Student Goals and Objectives

Preceptored students are expected to develop written learning goals and objectives for their placement experience to be shared with their preceptor. 

Documents Students Must Complete and Sign

Confidentiality Forms

All nursing students completing a placement at Mount Sinai, must review and sign a confidentiality form. Contact your school program coordinator for a copy of Mount Sinai Hospital Confidentiality Agreement.

Students with instructors: Students must complete the confidentiality form and return it to their clinical instructor. Instructors are to deliver completed forms in an envelope to Nursing Administration, 19-219 .

Preceptored Students: Students must complete the confidentiality form and return to Nursing Administration, 19-219 .

Health & Safety Checklist for Students

This checklist provides a health and safety orientation to the unit. This checklist must be completed on the student's first day on the unit. 

Completed checklists are to be returned to  Occupational Health and Safety for record keeping.  

The development and education of our nursing students is a key component of the Nursing Department. Below are some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that our students have asked during their clinical placements.

Additional questions will be added as we receive more student feedback and suggestions.

When I complete my clinical placement at Mount Sinai Hospital, am I able to give feedback and provide suggestions about my experience?

Nursing student feedback is very important to us. The comments and suggestions received from our nursing students help us make revisions to future clinical placements to ensure a meaningful experience.

All our nursing students are asked to complete a “Student Evaluation of Clinical Placement” form at the end of their placements. These forms are collected and analyzed by the Nursing Education and Development Department.

You are also encouraged to give feedback about your clinical placement to your school of nursing. We work closely with your school to ensure that your clinical experience meets your learning needs.

When I am at the hospital as a student nurse, where can I change and store my personal items?

The male and female change rooms are located on the 2nd floor of the hospital. Students may use these rooms to change.

Your school of nursing will arrange lockers through our Human Resource (HR) office. When you arrive for your clinical placement, please check the availability of lockers with the HR office. There is a required $ 5.00 deposit for a locker padlock which is refunded upon return of the lock.

Your NUA and/or preceptor will assist in arranging alternate arrangements for locker space on the unit if needed.

As a nursing student, am I able to observe surgical procedures?

Our Perioperative Services team provides orientation and teaching to our students as part of a larger teaching community in Mount Sinai Hospital. At the same time patient safety and well-being remain our main priority.

At present, O.R. observations are available to nursing students in their pre grad year, and to medical students who are in the advanced stages of their education and when their program objectives are directly related to the O.R. If you meet this criterion, please express your interest to your preceptor and the unit NUA.

As well, you will be required to complete a “Student/Volunteer Application for Observation Experience” document that can be found on the hospital’s Perioperative Services intranet site, which can be accessed on any computer within Mount Sinai Hospital.

Am I able to attend courses offered to staff nurses during my clinical placement?

Mount Sinai Hospital is dedicated to helping health-care professionals expand their knowledge and skills throughout their careers. Education for nursing staff is encouraged and supported, and many programs are available to all nurses at Mount Sinai to support their discovery of new knowledge in nursing practice.

Nursing students completing their clinical placement at the hospital are encouraged to express interest in our education programs for nursing staff. Student participation in nursing staff education is determined by several factors, including whether the educational opportunity is directly related to the student’s goals and objectives.

Please inform your preceptor and your unit NUA of your interest and if appropriate, we will make every effort to ensure your participation.

Patient and Family-Centred Care (PFCC) is an approach to the planning, delivery and evaluation of healthcare that is grounded in mutually beneficial partnerships among patients, families and healthcare providers (Institute for Patient and Family Centered Care).

At Mount Sinai Hospital, patients and their families are at the core of everything we do. There is a genuine partnership between our health-care professionals and our patients and families. Our nurses are fully committed to the values of PFCC and they demonstrate this every day.

Nursing students completing their clinical placements at MSH will experience this commitment through many different learning opportunities, and will learn to apply the values and guiding principles of PFCC when providing care to patients and families.

These values and guiding principles are:

Dignity and Respect

As an interprofessional healthcare team, we listen to and honour the perspective, wishes and choices of our patients and their families. The knowledge, values, beliefs and culture of our patients and their family members are incorporated into their plan and delivery of care.

Information Sharing

We openly communicate and share timely, complete and accurate information with our patients to help them understand, and we encourage them to participate in decisions about their care.

Participation

We encourage and support patients and their families to participate in and make decisions about their care.

Collaboration

We work together with patients and families to design, implement and deliver the best care possible. This philosophy goes into everything we do, from providing care to program planning.

With the support of nursing preceptors and interprofessional teams, nursing students will see how PFCC influences every nursing domain including education, practice, research and leadership. During their placements, students will experience first hand the impact that PFCC has on patient outcomes and its influence on providing the best possible nursing care.

Nursing Students at Mount Sinai share their impressions and opinions

"My last nursing placement (consolidation) was in the Emergency Department and I really, really enjoyed it! I was amazed at the efficiency of the teamwork that I saw and was part of. I really enjoyed the busy, fast-paced, often unpredictable environment of the Emergency Department, seeing a variety of clients with different conditions. I learned so much in the last three months and this has increased my confidence in nursing assessment, communication and practice skills immensely and challenged my critical thinking skills. I enjoyed my placement in the ED so much, that I decided to pursue emergency nursing as my first employment as a new graduating nurse. I would like to thank everyone in the ED for their effort, help, support and guidance and for making my placement a wonderful and interesting learning experience. Thanks to all the fantastic nurses and physicians, service assistants, unit clerks, registration clerks, therapists and social workers! I'll miss them all! :) "

-- 4th year nursing student

"I had a great time during my clinical placement in labor and delivery. Our preceptor was extremely knowledgeable! She worked very hard to make our experiences interesting and was always finding new ways to teach us topics and encouraged us to be part of every learning opportunity on the floor. The nurses on this floor are extremely talented! I felt privileged to be able to have a placement on this floor and I would like to thank everyone for their time, knowledge and care they took when teaching us each day. I look forward to a career in labor and delivery one day and that is because of what I have experienced on this floor. "
-- 2nd year U of T nursing student

"I enjoyed the experience from Mount Sinai Hospital. The nursing staff was very helpful towards the nursing students. They were also easily accessible on the floor. They were very informative with the work they did and explained the patient's diagnosis and interventions to us. This semester was a lot of work compared to first year and was a great success. "
-- 2nd year nursing student

"I was extremely impressed by the cohesiveness and professionalism of 12 South and the staff, especially the nursing staff. You have an incredible nursing team working on 12 South, a team who not only cares for the health and well-being of each and every patient, but care for one another, as professional nurses. In comparison to my previous clinical placements, Mount Sinai has set the bar high for my future career choices in terms of where I would love to work! I am proud to say that I had a chance to work with the professionals at Mount Sinai, one of the best hospitals in Toronto, and probably in Canada. I worked closely with (two of the) nurses, they are what I hope to strive to become in my profession. They are great teachers and mentors! Again, thank you so very much for having me on the unit as a nursing student! It was a short, but amazing learning experience with many opportunities. "
-- Olivia Gerardi, McMaster nursing student (Accelerated Stream)

Student Placements

Are you interested in a student placement? Contact your school for your school’s specific processes for confirming clinical placements.

General questions about nursing clinical placements at Mount Sinai? Please contact [email protected].