July 9, 2008

More than 300 students from UNBC’s School of Nursing and 45 from theNorthern Medical Program are gaining clinical experiences incommunities throughout northern BC this spring and summer. The localclinical placements are integral to the curriculum and are vital topreparing students to work in rural and northern communities aftergraduation.

The following communities are hosting Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP),Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN), and Northern Medical Program(NMP) students:

Masset (FNP, BScN)
Queen Charlotte City (BScN, NMP)
Prince Rupert (BScN, NMP)
Terrace (BScN, NMP)
Kitimat (BScN, NMP)
Hazelton (BScN, FNP)
Smithers (NMP)
Burns Lake (BScN)
Fraser Lake (FNP)
Fort St. James (BScN)
Vanderhoof (BScN)
Fort St. John (BScN, FNP, NMP)
Dawson Creek (BScN, NMP)
Chetwynd (BScN)
Mackenzie (BScN)
Valemount (NMP, FNP)
McBride (BScN)
Williams Lake (BScN)
Quesnel (BScN)
Prince George (BScN, FNP, NMP)

“Rural and remote clinical placements really serve two purposes for ourstudents,” says Vince Salyers, Chair of the School of Nursing. “First,they expose students to what it’s like to work in health care settingsaround the province and the placements provide them with a breadth of clinicalexperiences that prepare them to practice as registered nurses in ruraland remote areas. Second, it’s the aspect of their education thatreally makes the profession come alive.”

“Giving students experiences in northern and rural communities is ahallmark of medical education in BC,” says David Snadden, Vice-Provostof Medicine at UNBC. “In addition to NMP students, many medicalstudents from Vancouver and Victoria are also spending time in northernBC this year, in such communities as Terrace, Fort St. John, FraserLake, Williams Lake, and Dease Lake.”

Both the medical program and the Nurse Practitioner program producedits first graduates this year. Together with the BSc in Nursing, thethree programs produced 98 grads in 2008.   
 
Contact:
David Snadden, Northern Medical Program, UNBC-UBC - 250.960.6731
Vincent Salyers, School of Nursing, UNBC - 250.960.5848
Rob van Adrichem, Director of Media and Public Relations, UNBC - 250.960.5622