Although most of the Douglas earliest employees had no formal training, the situation didn’t last long. In 1891, the medical superintendent wrote, "It is our intention to organize a series of classes for…our attendants. [They will deal with] the human frame and its action in health and disease, hygiene, the treatment of minor surgical cases, and the best methods of caring for and improving the mental and physical conditions of the poor unfortunates placed in their charge….”

A School for Nurses
By 1896, the Hospital’s first nursing training school opened. Topics included anatomy, hygiene, insanity and minor surgery. Sixteen nurses were enrolled the first year. The school closed for a few years due to a lack of funds and to low enrolment—not surprising, given that the work days were long, and physically and mentally draining. In 1912, the training school for nurses reopened. This time it was a success. Classes were given by medical staff. Every year, five to fifteen students received their diplomas. In 1928, the training school for nurses was extended to three years. On completion of the course, students could write their R.N. examinations. Unfortunately, in 1931, the Quebec Nurses Association closed our school, along with other smaller training schools in the province.

Residents Take Psychiatric Training at Douglas
In 1900, eight McGill University medical students received fifty hours of lectures in the Douglas pathologist's laboratory. These were the first McGill medical students to be trained at the Douglas. During World War II, the Hospital provided psychiatric training to military medical officers. Before McGill University's Allan Memorial Institute opened in 1943, the hospital was one of only two facilities teaching psychiatry to McGill medical students. Starting in 1946, the Hospital welcomed residents in psychiatry. Many were so impressed with the training they received, they applied for staff positions upon graduation. This helped to build the Hospital’s medical staff from a meager 5 in 1946 to 65 by the early 1980s.

Psychiatric Training Offered at Douglas
Between 1951 and 1955, student nurses, who were enrolled in many Quebec schools of nursing, started to take their psychiatric nursing training at the Hospital. They came from various institutions, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Reddy Memorial Hospital, St. Mary's Hospital, Jewish General Hospital,  Montreal General Hospital, Sherbrooke Hospital, and Jeffery Hale Hospital in Quebec City. By 1967, over 250 student nurses had spent some of their training period at the Hospital. In 1958, the Hospital offered a hospital-wide course to ensure that all the staff who cared for patients had formal training. During the following ten years, many psychiatric nursing assistants graduated from this course, which attracted students from throughout the world. By the early 1960s, the Hospital was becoming renowned as a teaching centre for medical students, psychiatric nursing assistants, student nursing affiliates, postgraduate psychiatric nurses, and social work students, occupational therapy and psychology interns, as well as clergy and theological students taking clinical pastoral training.

Graduating Nursing Assistants
In 1972, the Douglas school for nursing assistants closed and a  new category of nursing personnel was added—the préposés-aux-malades (PAM)—who today are called préposés-aux-bénéficiares (PAB). The PAMs started as untrained staff and received in-house education. By the end of 1972, there were nearly 50 PAMs on staff. Today, we have 123 PABs, who have received training from various specialized schools within Quebec.