BRITISH COLUMBIA – A total of 602 new nursing seats will be added to approximately 2,000 seats currently in nursing programs in BC’s public post-secondary institutions. The new seats include 362 registered nursing seats, 40 registered psychiatric nursing seats, 20 nurse practitioner seats and 180 licensed practical nurse seats at 17 public post-secondary institutions. As part of this expansion, new seats will support health-care assistants who want to train as a licensed practical nurse (LPN), and LPNs looking to move into a career as a registered nurse (RN).
Government provided $5 million to public post-secondary institutions in 2021-22 to begin the expansion of nursing seats throughout the province. The University of British Columbia (UBC), Thompson Rivers University and UBC Okanagan welcomed additional students in September 2021, with new and expanded intakes at more public post-secondary institutions opening up over the next year and a half.
This expansion builds on recent investments in growing health programs in the province. Government has also provided approximately $8.7 million in 2021-22 to support health educational training programs, including the expansion of specialty nursing and the launch of a new nursing program in the northeast.
Additionally, to help grow the next generation of nurse leaders who will teach, mentor and support these new nursing students, government is providing an initial $475,000 to support graduate nurse education at UBC, UVic and UNBC. The funding will provide for the development of faculty and nurse leaders, with a plan for ongoing faculty and leadership support being developed in partnership with education and health-sector experts.
There are approximately 40,000 registered nurses working in British Columbia. BC has 650 registered nurses per 100,000 population. Between 2017 and 2020, the number of registered nurses providing publicly funded health services increased by 2,259 or 6 per cent, while the number of licensed practical nurses increased by 1,141 or 12 per cent.
