By Cheryl Jahn

UNBC’s School of Nursing gets kudos

Oct 19, 2023 | 3:40 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Once again, UNBC has fared well in Macleans Magazine’s rankings. Second amongst 20 Canadian universities in the primarily undergraduate category. But this year there’s an extra bonus. The School of Nursing got national recognition based on a survey of faculty and senior university administrators. UNBC’s nursing program was ranked 16th in Canada, including tied for 14th with the University of Saskatchewan in its research reputation. It’s a feather in UNBC’s cap.

“It is really great to recognize the efforts that they’re doing over there,” says President Dr. Geoff Payne. “And this isn’t just in our category of primarily undergrad. This is across all the institutions. So to recognize the nursing program, the quality, the academics, but as well as the impact of research we’re doing.”

So what kind of research does the School of Nursing undertake?

“We have many faculty members who are involved in research, particularly our PhD prepared nurses, but also we have a number of faculty members who are currently going through PhD programs,” says Catharine Schiller, Chair, School of Nursing. “And then we encourage all of our faculty to engage in research, regardless of whether they happen to be PhD prepared or not.”

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This year, UNBC had 151 grads from the undergraduate nursing program, 105 in Prince George, 17 in Quesnel, 9 in Terrace and nine in Fort St John. UNBC put out 17 graduates, 16 of whom are in the Family Nurse Practitioner program.

“So we absolutely have room to grow and we’re looking for any opportunity that we have to try and put more nurses that are qualified and want to stay in the north and was such a shortage of nurses, the classic case of training the north stay in the north will help with that crisis.”

“Traditionally, we’ve had an outstanding nursing program here, but with the programs in Prince George as well as in Fort Saint John, that’s opening up opportunities for students to stay in their home communities and get that training and then stay and practice in those communities,” notes Dr. Payne. “And additionally, then the research that’s making an impact in the health care system.”

There will be open houses around nursing on November 3rd in Fort St. John and November 23rd in Prince George.