Ellen MacFarlane joined
the St. Francis Xavier University nursing team in 1979. She holds the rank of
Professor. She acquired Bachelor and Masters Degrees, and completed selected
graduate courses in nursing, after receiving a diploma in nursing. She
has served as Chair of the St. FXU School of Nursing for three terms.
She currently teaches in the 1st and 4th year of the program in both the
regular and accelerated option programs. Ellen has a wide variety of
experiences in nursing education, practice, and administration. Prior
to joining the ranks of academics, she practised nursing in Alberta, Ontario
and Nova Scotia. Ellen's past nursing practice experiences includes the
care of critically ill children and adults, emergency care, neurological, and
rehabilitation nursing. She has practiced nursing in urban and rural
areas and has served in supervisory positions in acute care settings.
Ellen is
considered a nursing curriculum expert, policy strategist, and change agent
within the nursing community. She served as Curriculum Coordinator for the
nursing program for many years. Her scholarly activities relate to the study
of independence in senior nursing students, cooperative programming,
curriculum evaluation, violence against women, clinical nursing practice, stress in women experiencing the discovery of breast
lumps, women's health issues, and health care reform. Her accomplishments
were honoured by the College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia in 2002,
when she received an Excellence in Nursing Practice Award. She is also
a co-recipient of the 2005 prestigious Dr.
Graham Branton Research Award. This national award
recognizes significant contributions by the Canadian Association for
Cooperative Education members to scholarly research in co-operative education
in Canada. In May 2009 Ellen also received a Centennial Award of Distinction,
a unique, once-in-a-lifetime award recognizing current/former registered nurses,
whose significant accomplishments have influenced the advancement of College
initiatives, nursing practice and/or the nursing profession. Most
recently, Ellen received the 2011 Canadian Association of Schools of
Nursing, Wendy McBride Excellence for Accreditation Reviewer Award, at a
ceremony held
in Gatineau, Quebec.
Ellen has
published in several professional journals and has presented numerous papers
throughout Canada as well as New Zealand. She is very active in
professional affairs and has served as Vice-President of the Canadian Nurses
Association, President of the College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia and
is a member on numerous boards, committees and task forces at local,
provincial and national levels. She was one of three persons appointed
by the Canadian Nurses Association to develop a position statement on Health
Care Reform in Canada, and served on a Canadian Nurses Association Task Force
on Social Policy in Health Care. She has been selected by
five provinces in Canada to review schools of nursing and has served as
team leader in three of these provinces. She served on the first
Regional Health Board in the Eastern region of Nova Scotia. Recently
Ellen received a Nursing Grant from the NS Department of Health in support of
a project to study the Feasibility of Establishing a Cooperative BScN Program in Nursing in Nova Scotia.
In the community
Ellen serves and has served on numerous health related boards &
committees such as the Board of the NAOMI Society, the Board and executive of
the local VON, and as the 1st female President of the Antigonish
Golf and Country Club.
