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Health Programs

Health Programs

VIU’s Health programs consist of certificates, diplomas and a degree that prepare students for a range of career opportunities in the health care field. Graduates have been successful in finding employment in a variety of institutional and community settings.

Criminal Record Check

Health programs include clinical or practicum experiences in a variety of settings. Agencies require that employees and/or students submit to a criminal record check.

Students are advised that should a criminal record check be required, they have two options:

  • To submit to and pay for the search; or
  • To refuse to submit to the search and, therefore, forfeit the experience in that agency. A similar practicum/clinical experience may not be found in another agency; consequently, students may not be able to complete the program.

There are two types of criminal record checks: (a) a “standard” check obtained through your local RCMP detachment; and (b) an “expanded” check that opens all files, including juvenile records. The “expanded” version is required for anyone whose clinical placement is “anywhere where children might reasonably expect to be present on the premises.” Criminal Record Check forms may be obtained from the RCMP.

Students should submit their criminal record check in a sealed envelope, clearly marked with their name and the program in which they are registered, to the Health Programs secretary.

Note

  • Different agencies have different interpretations of “a relevant offense” and may refuse to accept a student into their practicum/clinical setting.
  • The Registered Nurses Association of British Columbia (RNABC) now requires criminal record checks as a condition of student membership.
  • Processes subject to change without prior notice.

General Program Note

  • Students are expected to have the appropriate current CPR certificate level prior to their first clinical placement (except for Dental programs).

Access Options

The Faculty of Health and Human Services is committed to improving access and recognizing prior learning; therefore, prior learning assessment (PLA) options are available for most programs. Please contact the Program Coordinator for further information.

Guidelines for Professional Conduct

Students in Health programs are expected to develop and adhere to a professional code of conduct based on the following guidelines.

  • Submission of oneself to a professional code of ethics.
  • The exercise of personal discipline, accountability and judgement.
  • Acceptance of personal responsibility for continued competency and learning.
  • The ability to recognize the dignity and worth of all persons in any level of society.
  • A willingness to assist others in learning.
  • The ability to recognize one’s own limitations.
  • The maintenance of confidentiality of information appropriate to the purposes and trust given when that information was acquired.
  • Acceptance that one’s professional abilities, personal integrity and the attitudes one demonstrates in relationships with other persons is the measure of professional conduct.

Adapted from University of Victoria:
Faculty of Human and Social Development, 1994.
Used by permission.

Updated June 5, 2008