Health Care Assistant (HCA), Access to Practical Nursing (APN), and Practical Nursing (PN) Curriculum Guides

The Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills initiates and oversees reviews of the Health Care Assistant (HCA), Access to Practical Nursing (APN), and Practical Nursing (PN) curriculum guides. BCcampus leads the project management of these reviews under the ministry’s direction.

Currently, BCcampus is project managing a major review of the HCA, APN, and PN provincial curricula. These reviews are scheduled to take place every five years to ensure the curricula remain in alignment with the standards of practice and competencies as determined by the British Columbia College of Nurses & Midwives (PN and APN curricula) and the B.C. Health Care Assistants Core Competency Profile (HCA curriculum).

As part of this revision cycle, the current HCA, APN, and PN curriculum guides and supplemental materials will be published with Pressbooks and findable in the B.C. Open Collection. The Health Care Assistant Program: Supplement to the Provincial Curriculum Guide was updated in 2021 and is now in Pressbooks.

Resources

HCA Provincial Curriculum

The Health Care Assistant Program Provincial Curriculum (2023) is now available in Pressbooks. 

• Health Care Assistant Program Provincial Curriculum 2023
  • The Health Care Assistant Program: Supplement to the Provincial Curriculum Guide (revised 2021) is now available in Pressbooks. Supplement materials, such as video resources, can be found through this link under “Supplementary materials.”
• The 2023 Recommendations and Rationale: Completed Revisions to the HCA Provincial Curriculum 2023 can be found in Appendix 2 of the HCA Provincial Curriculum 2023. 
• A detailed list of revisions made can be found in the Revisions Manual: 2023 Revisions to the HCA Provincial Curriculum, found in Appendix 3 of the HCA Provincial Curriculum 2023. 

PN Provincial Curriculum

The Practical Nursing Program Provincial Curriculum (2023) is currently being revised and will be published in Pressbooks upon completion.

• Current 2011 Practical Nursing Program Provincial Curriculum Guide 2nd Edition Revised 2017
  • 2011 Practical Nursing Program Provincial Curriculum Guide Supplement: Program Core Standards, and Teaching and Learning Resources, 2017
• 2020 PN Program Provincial Curriculum Supplement Bulletin
• The 2023 Proposed Changes to the 2011 Practical Nursing and the 2012 Access to Practical Nursing Curriculum Guides summary report is now available. 

APN Provincial Curriculum

The Access to Practical Nursing Program Provincial Curriculum (2023) is currently being revised and will be published in Pressbooks upon completion.

• Current 2012 Access to Practical Nursing Program Provincial Curriculum Guide 2nd Edition Revised 2017
  • 2012 Access to Practical Nursing Program Provincial Curriculum Guide Supplement: Program Core Standards, and Teaching and Learning Resources, 2017
• The 2023 Proposed Changes to the 2011 Practical Nursing and the 2012 Access to Practical Nursing Curriculum Guides summary report is now available.

This graphic provides a high-level description of the process for the HCA, APN, and PN curricula revisions. 

Recommendations Collected Steering committees share recommendations from the sector. Gap analysis survey circulated (HCA only). Subject-matter experts consult with key stakeholders in the sector (PN & APN only). Subject-matter experts and instructional designer write recommendation reports. Recommendation reports shared with the sector.

Revision Work Begins Subject-matter experts and instructional designer update the PN competency map (PN & APN only). Subject-matter experts and instructional designer revise the curricula based on recommendations and reach out to stakeholders as needed to answer specific questions. All changes are tracked and documented in the revision manuals.

Review and Copyediting Competency map is shared with educators to review (PN & APN only). Draft curricula and revision manuals are shared with the steering committees to provide feedback. Subject-matter experts incorporate feedback. Draft curricula are sent for copyediting and then to the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills and steering committees for final review.

Publication and Sharing Copyeditor, subject-matter experts, and BCcampus Open Education team publish the curricula and revision manuals to Pressbooks. Published curricula and revision manuals are shared with steering committees and communicated to the sector.