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By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

began in sundre last september

RDP & AHS sign accord so nurses can serve as temporary instructors

Mar 22, 2024 | 10:37 AM

Alberta Health Services (AHS) and Red Deer Polytechnic (RDP) have signed a reciprocal agreement which will allow AHS nurses to take on temporary RDP clinical instructor placements if the polytechnic is unable to recruit a qualified instructor.

AHS says the agreement will benefit nursing students, nursing staff and health care as a whole.

Sundre’s Myron Thompson Health Centre is the first site to host the agreement, beginning last September. Students in their third-year of a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree took a three-month clinical placement in Sundre under the instruction of an AHS registered nurse recruited by RDP.

One nurse instructor is assigned per site to a group of students who are engaged in hands-on learning related to rural healthcare, it’s explained.

“When we are deciding which rural healthcare sites can accommodate nursing students’ clinical placements, it hinges on providing a qualified instructor to guide these registered nurses in-the-making,” says Carolyn Trumper, AHS Executive Director of Integrated Quality Management, Professional Practice & Education, Planning & Performance and Clinical Information Systems.

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Daphne Kennedy, Associate Dean, School of Health and Wellness at Red Deer Polytechnic, says the agreement “reduces barriers for practising registered nurses to instruct nursing students and prepare them for rewarding careers in healthcare.”

“Through this agreement, AHS, along with our faculty and staff, will continue to effectively contribute to RDP’s nationally recognized nursing program, helping to address labour market demand, and enhancing the health and wellness of communities across Alberta,” Kennedy says.

The province’s previous budgets have allowed RDP to create 192 spaces in its nursing program for the period of 2022-2025.

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