Red Deer Polytechnic is here to make a difference – to nurture, to enrich and to grow. Our innovative campus and diverse programming, along with local and global connections and perspectives, will help you transform your future and your community. With more than 80 industry-relevant programs, including apprenticeships, certificates, diplomas, degrees and micro-credentials, our practical learning approach is designed with your future in mind.
Red Deer Polytechnic is a leader in Health Sciences in Alberta. Learn in our high-fidelity simulation lab facilities that replicate real work environments and in the community with practicum and learning experiences. Graduate ready for a career that will truly make a difference in the lives of others.
Bachelor of Science in Nursing – collaboration with University of Alberta
In this program, you will focus on concept-based and intentional clinical learning to give you foundational knowledge and skills to provide safe quality patient care in today’s complex health settings. You will build your competency with clinical practice experiences in various healthcare settings across central Alberta in practicum settings that can include medicine, surgery, continuing care, community health, rural hospitals, and obstetrics.
You will also benefit from hands-on, experiential learning in specialized clinical and simulation labs. Begin to develop your own professional nursing identity by using evidence-based practices while you study for this meaningful career path.
For the first three years, you are registered as a Red Deer Polytechnic student and attend classes at RDP. During year three you apply for official admission to the University of Alberta for your fourth year. If you meet the criteria (see below), you continue at Red Deer Polytechnic to complete your fourth year. After completing year four, you will convocate from the U of A with a BScN. As a graduate, you can write the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) required for a license to practice in Alberta as a registered nurse (RN).
The Practical Nurse Diploma program will prepare you to be an integral part of the health care system, providing high quality nursing care across the lifespan of patients. Our graduates are highly sought after and find employment in hospitals, continuing care agencies, community settings and other health-related areas. Inside the classroom, you will enjoy learning in high-fidelity simulation lab facilities that replicate real work environments. Outside the classroom, you will benefit from partnerships that promote enhanced practicum and learning experiences. Graduate ready for a career that will allow you to truly make a difference in the lives of others.
In partnership with Campus Alberta Central (CAC), we offer the Practical Nurse program in several communities across Central Alberta utilizing HyFlex, online and face-to-face delivery methods. Please see the admissions tab for details regarding the next available community intake. Additionally, there is an option to attend the Practical Nurse program in Three Hills while obtaining a diploma in Ministry through a partnership with Prairie College. If you choose this path, please apply through Prairie College.
School of Health and Wellness Commitment to Truth and Reconciliation
The School of Health and Wellness works closely with the Indigenous Initiatives Department to address Call to Action 24. Although not explicitly expressed on the RDP website, we have worked to ensure that each student going through all of our Health and Wellness based programs learns about each element of Call to Action # 24.
All of this work is included and reflected in our institutional Reconcili-Action Plan. As a collective, RDP has taken Truth and Reconciliation seriously over the last 8-9 years and has worked hard to build foundations for change.
Red Deer Polytechnic
Reconcili-Action Plan 2023-2028:
Reconcili-Action 1: Open Hearts – Relationship Building
We are intent on building meaningful reciprocal relationships between RDP and Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island, which involves resourcing engagement for long-term, long-lasting relationships.
Reconcili-Action 2: Open Doors – Accessible Education
We are committed to utilizing the RDP resources and network to create more pathways for Indigenous learners, which is about identifying and addressing barriers to post-secondary participation and learning.
Reconcili-Action 3: Open Eyes – Our Role in Two-Eyed Seeing
We honour and hold space for Indigenous Peoples, recognizing we are not observers of the relationship, but co-authors, participants, and students acting with critical intentionality.
Reconcili-Action 4: Open Voices – Feedback for Continuous Improvement
We welcome discourse and the sharing of perspectives on our efforts to engage education and reconciliation as it is not just our path forward alone, which means we are invested in listening, growing and co-creating together.
Call to Action # 24
We call upon medical and nursing schools in Canada to require all students to take a course dealing with Aboriginal health issues, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, and Indigenous teachings and practices. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.
Mandatory Course: Yes. Content embedded in multiple courses
The approach we have taken as an institution was to avoid one mandatory class, but rather embed and braid each of the five topics, as well as others (social determinants of health, Indian hospitals, Jordan’s Principle, 60’s Scoop, mental health, addictions, food security/sovereignty, access to clean drinking water, and many others) throughout our Health and Wellness programs into each year of the program curriculum. In braiding this content within the curriculum, students are continuously working towards meaningful dialogue around finding solutions, building advocacy skills, and working toward structural change in the healthcare system throughout their schooling. It is also fresh in their memory and not considered an afterthought that lived in their first year electives and forgotten in the upper years. We intentionally wanted to keep the information and knowledge fresh in their minds year after year.
We have on staff Indigenous scholars who work closely with faculty to do guest lectures, connections to Elders, knowledge keepers, community resources, and working professionals to come into our classrooms and share their knowledges and experiences with students. This we feel reflects the following statement in the PN program description “you will benefit from partnerships that promote enhanced practicum and learning experiences.” We have focused on experiential learning rooted in Indigenous pedagogies that place Indigenous truths and experiences at the heart of the learning.
Course description: Red Deer Polytechnic Course Guide
School of Nursing Commitment to Call to Action # 24: 5 out of 5 = 100%
| 1. Aboriginal health issues | |
| Yes. See mandatory course description. | |
| 2. The history and legacy of residential schools | |
| Yes. See mandatory course description. | |
| 3. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples | |
| Yes. See mandatory course description. | |
| 4. Treaties and Aboriginal rights | |
| Yes. See mandatory course description. | |
| 5. Indigenous teachings and Practice | Indigenous teachings and Practice |
| Yes. See mandatory course description. | |
Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing’s “Statement” of apology for colonial harms resulting from nursing education
Dec.11, 2023: CASN apologizes to Indigenous Peoples of Canada for Colonial harms resulting from nursing education…CASN is committed to a process of self-reflection, learning, and transformation. We will take the following steps to address the harms:
Anti-Racism, Cultural Safety, and Humility: Promote education, resources, and practices that address anti-Indigenous racism, supporting decolonization, cultural humility, and cultural safety for nursing faculty, staff, and students. Promote institutional policies and processes that address systemic racism to foster an inclusive and equitable learning environment.
Curriculum Revision: Promote a review of nursing education curricula to ensure a strengths-based focus and trauma-informed approach, the inclusion of content on the continued impact of colonialism and racism on Indigenous health, as well as Indigenous perspectives on health and well-being.
Community Engagement: Establish meaningful partnerships with Indigenous organizations and communities to ensure their voices are heard in shaping nursing education policies and practices.
Recruitment and Retention: Promote strategies that create culturally safe and supportive learning environments including pre-admission supports, in-program supports, and services that are developed in partnership with Indigenous communities.
Ongoing Accountability: In collaboration with Indigenous partners, establish mechanisms to monitor progress and address concerns raised by partners, Indigenous nursing students, and faculty.
Land Acknowledgement:
The School of Health and Wellness does not have its’ own specific Land Acknowledgement. However, we encourage staff and faculty to devise their own that contain actions that they can work towards advancing reconciliation beyond the institutional acknowledgment on the website. Personalizing their own makes it meaningful to them as individuals as they can see themselves actioning their words and being fully engaged in reconciliation work and advancing call to action 24.
Located on Red Deer Polytechnic Home Page
We learn and work on Treaty 7, Treaty 6 and Métis Ancestral Lands
Red Deer Polytechnic acknowledges that we learn and work on Treaty 7, Treaty 6 and Métis ancestral lands, the gathering place of many Indigenous peoples. This is where we will strive to honour and transform our relationships with one another.
Full Land Acknowledgement found in Reconcili-Action Plan 2023-2028:
Red Deer Polytechnic recognizes that our campus is situated on Treaty 7 land, the traditional territory of the Blackfoot, Tsuut’ina and Stoney Nakoda peoples, and that the central Alberta region we serve falls under Treaty 6, traditional Métis, Cree and Saulteaux territory. We honour the First Peoples who have lived here since time immemorial, and we give thanks for the land where RDP sits. This is where we will
| NOTE: All content has been submitted to the respective faculty for validation to ensure accuracy and currency as of the time of posting. The Red Deer Polytechnic School of Health and Wellness reviewed and approved the document. Managing Editor: Douglas Sinclair: Publisher, Indigenous Watchdog Research Assistant: Timothy Maton |