Rural Nursing Student
Practicum Fund

The mandatory fourth-year nursing clinical placements provide unique opportunities for students to integrate, consolidate, and expand on concepts from previous learning through invaluable community learning experiences. UBC Okanagan’s School of Nursing welcomes you to support an exceptional experiential-learning opportunity with a rural BC clinical placement program that will enhance and promote rural and remote health care in our own province.

By focussing on rural and remote communities, the newly proposed practicum will, most certainly, impact numerous Indigenous communities throughout BC. This initiative aims to build new relationships – and enhance existing ones – with rural and remote health-care partners. It will also encourage nursing graduates, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to consider returning to these communities as practising nurses.

Creating Enriched Educational Experiences for UBC Okanagan Students

Students have participated in rural and remote practicum placements and they have proven rewarding for students and communities alike.. However, funding is one of the biggest determinants of whether students can participate. The associated travel and accommodation costs are simply too high. Donor support would allow us to help offset some of these key costs, enabling hopeful students to more easily participate in rural and remote health-care training ensuring our nursing students gain enriched educational experiences and build lasting community relationships.

UBC believes it can have the greatest impact on students when teachers combine classroom knowledge with practical experience. In fact, when it comes to nursing, practical application of knowledge is fundamental to the profession. This valuable experiential-learning will:

• Provide opportunities for students to apply their learning of cultural safety knowledge
• Expand their perspectives, and gain unique cultural insights
• Maximize scope of practice
• Help develop hands-on skills and deepen technical abilities
• Advance students’ understanding of real-world issues in rural and remote settings

When learning is expanded outside of the classroom, our nursing students enhance their personal and professional development, as well as their critical-thinking and communication skills.

An added benefit of the program is the introduction into the community of a role model, particularly when the nursing student is Indigenous and works in an Indigenous community. As a result, other members of the community often develop an interest in going into nursing. Our research has shown that, in fact, this happens: having built relationships and enjoyed the experience, nursing students return to the communities in which they have practised. Likewise, the communities like to see our students return after graduation. Considering enrolment in the nursing program by Indigenous students has been steadily increasing, the potential impact of these students returning to their respective communities is quite high. Indigenous students would be a priority for acceptance into this practicum option.