Nursing - Bachelor of Science
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With all four years of classes held at Selkirk College, you will get to study in one of BC’s most beautiful regions and graduate with a University of Victoria Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree.
Our location supports you to live in a community where the cost of living is lower than most urban centres. You will experience small class sizes, simulation technology, a variety of rural practice placements, and may have international learning opportunities.
Our program is nationally accredited by the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) and provincially recognized by the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM).
Nursing careers are diverse and include practice, education, administration and research.
After graduation, you will be prepared for entry level practice in a variety of settings and eligible for post-basic nursing specialty programs, including medical/surgical, critical care, gerontology, maternal child health, mental health, rural and remote, and community health.
Consider nursing if you are:
- Caring and compassionate
- A creative and critical thinker
- Professional in demeanor and behaviour
- Able to manage time, stress and uncertainty
- Committed to learning
- Comfortable with new technology
Please note that you must be 18 years of age or older by the time the program starts, in order to meet regulatory requirements for in-program activities. Graduates are eligible to write the National Council Licensure Examinations, Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN) and qualified to pursue graduate education.
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Graduates of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program are prepared to meet the entry-level professional practice requirements as identified by the BC College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) and undertake the NCLEX-RN exam. As practicing registered nurses, graduates will:
- Practice nursing within a framework of promoting health and healing through the integration of the art and science of nursing within a variety of contexts and with diverse client populations
- Be accountable practitioners providing care and making decisions based on relationships with others, nursing knowledge and different ways of knowing
- Influence the current reality and future of nursing practice and health care at the economic, political, social, environmental and professional levels by anticipating and responding to the changing needs of society
- Be critically reflective, independent and motivated practitioners with an inquiry approach to lifelong learning
- Contribute registered nurse knowledge and voice to interprofessional and team-based collaborations to optimize health outcomes and strengthen health services and systems
Hide Admission Requirements
BC high school graduation and completion of the following BC Provincial Curriculum courses (or equivalents) with minimum marks as indicated:
- English Studies 12 or equivalent (73%)
- Biology 12 (73%)
- Chemistry 11 (67%)
- Foundations of Math 12 or Pre-Calculus 11 (67%)
Individuals applying for admission to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program must apply during the application period; exact dates are posted on the Nursing webpage. To be considered for the program, applicants must meet all prerequisites and submit their completed application and supporting documents by the end of the application period.
Before an application is considered complete, the following must be received by the Admissions Office:
- Selkirk College application form
- Official transcripts of high school grades (an interim statement of grades is acceptable if applicant is still attending school)
- Official transcripts for all post-secondary education studies in which the applicant has enrolled
- BC Ministry of Justice criminal record check
- Applicant personal resumé
- College Readiness Tool (CRT) assessment
- Computer-based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics (CASPer Test)
Applicants are responsible for registering for the CASPer Test. A limited number of testing dates and times are available. Results are sent directly to the College Admissions Office.
Admission to the BSN Program is through a selective admission process. Successful applicants are identified through the combined evaluation of GPA (based on program prerequisites) and a portfolio. The portfolio includes the CASPer screening tool designed to assess non-cognitive personal characteristics. Applicants will be ranked using a metric that incorporates academic and non-academic portfolio information.
Written offers will be sent to the highest ranked applicants. Receipt of a $500.00 non-refundable seat deposit by the offer-acceptance deadline is required otherwise the offer will be considered declined.
Once the seats have been filled, a waitlist will be created for the current intake. Applicants on the waitlist will be offered seats that remain or become vacant after the offer-acceptance deadline.
Applicants who are not accepted into the program will receive notification. Applicants who are not admitted or do not take a seat in a given year are required to reapply to be considered in a subsequent year; waitlists are not carried over.
1. In order to progress from one semester to the next, the following requirements must be met:
Satisfactory completion of all nursing and non-nursing core courses with a minimum grade of 60% and a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.33 per semester.
The University of Victoria will convert the cumulative GPAs of Selkirk College students to the University of Victoria’s 9-point scale during the application process in semester five; failed required courses are included in the GPA.
Credentials: In order to qualify for graduation with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), a student must meet the requirements as determined by the University of Victoria.
Hide Courses
Show BIOL164 - Human Anatomy and Physiology I
BIOL 164 Human Anatomy and Physiology I. This course provides an integrative approach to the normal structure and function of the human body. Repair and replication, structural support, nervous integration, movement and metabolism are examined at the cellular, tissue and system levels. Recent scientific discoveries are presented as a means of relating the systems studied to various applied disciplines including health care and Kinesiology.
Show ENGL110 - College Composition
ENGL 110 introduces students to the world of scholarly writing -- reading it, thinking about it, and producing it as academic researchers. Students will explore how professional and/or academic writers across disciplines communicate to a variety of audiences. Students will practice active reading, writing and critical thinking skills by conducting scholarly research on a topic. This course aims to equip students with the skills and knowledge they need to write effectively within academic contexts.
Show NURS112 - Professional Practice I: Introduction to the Profession of Nursing
NURS 112 Professional Practice I: Introduction to the Profession of Nursing is an introduction to the profession of nursing. Participants examine the foundational concepts of the curriculum and how the concepts relate to nursing practice. Participants also explore the history of the profession of nursing and have the opportunity to explore and critically reflect upon the political and socioeconomic forces that have shaped the status of women in society and the evolution of the nursing profession. Standards of nursing practice and responsibility for safe and ethical nursing practice are also explored.
Show NURS116 - Health and Healing I: Living Health
NURS 116 Health and Healing I: Living Health is an introduction to the meaning of health including personal health, family health, community health and societal health. Participants examine significant theoretical and conceptual frameworks of health including health promotion, primary health care, prevention and determinants of health. By reflecting on personal experiences, participants will have the opportunity to identify personal resources and/or challenges that impact health as well as recognize the diversity of beliefs, values and perceptions of health held by others. Opportunities to learn basic health assessment skills are included in this course.
Show NURS117 - Relational Practice I: Self and Others
NURS 117 Relational Practice I: Self and Others. The premise underlying this course is that nursing is an experience lived between people (Paterson & Zderad, 1976). Students explore the multiple factors that influence their own capacity to be in caring relationships with others (individual, family, groups, populations, communities). They learn to question personal perspectives of experience; to uncover attitudes, beliefs and values; and to share and acknowledge differences. Emphasis is placed on a phenomenological attitude to view the structure and experiences that make up their own and other people's lives.
Show NURS119 - Nursing Practice I: Introduction to Nursing Practice
NURS 119 Nursing Practice I: Introduction to Nursing Practice. This course provides an introduction to nursing practices with opportunities to engage with healthy families in the community and with nurses in practice to explore the breath of nursing practice. Participants integrate their learning from other semester one courses with their beginning understanding of nursing practice.
Show BIOL165 - Human Anatomy and Physiology II
BIOL 165 Human Anatomy and Physiology II is a continuation of Biology 164. This course covers the cardiovascular, respiratory, lymphatic, urinary and digestive systems. Endocrinology is discussed throughout as a means of integrating the various systems to the function of the body as a whole. The focus remains on application of knowledge gained in this course.
Show NURS122 - Professional Practice II: Introduction to the Discipline of Nursing
NURS 122 Professional Practice II: Introduction to the Discipline of Nursing provides opportunities for the learner to explore the historical development of nursing knowledge and theory as well as the contemporary understandings of nursing as a discipline and the body of knowledge that defines it. Relationships between practice, theory and research are explored as the learner acquires a more comprehensive understanding of nursing as a knowledge-based profession. Learners will also gain an understanding of nursing scholarship and begin to read and critique research.
Show NURS126 - Health and Healing II: Health Indicators
NURS 126 Health and Healing II: Health Indicators. Building on Health and Healing I, this course focuses on individual, family, and community health assessment. Participants have opportunities to explore and critique theoretical and conceptual frameworks in relation to health assessment including early childhood development, family development, healthy aging, and community development. Assessment is explored within the context of decision-making. Opportunities to learn basic health assessment skills are continued.
Show NURS129 - Nursing Practice II: Coming to Know the Client
NURS 129 Nursing Practice II: Coming to Know the Client provides opportunities to develop caring relationships with groups, families and individuals across the lifespan. Emphasis will be placed on health assessment and coming to know how clients understand and promote their health, and the role of the nurse in partnering with the client in this process. Participants work with groups, families and individuals in the home and community, in agencies, and in care facilities to incorporate concepts and learning from all the courses in this semester into their nursing practice.
Show NURS130 - Consolidated Practice Experience I
NURS 130 Consolidated Practice Experience I is designed to move participants forward with the health focus of year one towards the focus of health challenges in year two. Workshop topics focus on the foundations of providing care and interacting with clients who have dementia and clients who are palliative. In the long term care practice setting, students will consolidate their skills by providing personal care to residents, and further develop their relational practice, health assessment and health promotion skills.
Show INDG302 - Indigenous Health And Healing
INDG 302 Indigenous Health and Healing introduces students to the topic of Aboriginal health and healing from the time prior to first contact with European newcomers through to the present. We will also focus on cultural awareness and critical thinking on current Aboriginal health and healing issues. Aboriginal health and healing will be explored from within a variety of Aboriginal perspectives that are inclusive of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of health and well-being. Skill-based training in cultural safety and anti-racism based on the recommendations and information provided by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission results and the 'calls to action' will be emphasized. Aboriginal worldviews and 'ways of knowing' will be embedded in the course delivery as well as course content.
Show AHSC218 - Health Sciences III: Pathophysiology and Pharmacology
AHSC 218 Health Sciences III: Pathophysiology and Pharmacology. The major emphasis of this introductory course is to gain a foundational knowledge of concepts related to human pathophysiology. This course will examine the presentation and pathogenesis of health challenges across the life span including pharmacology, microbiology, diagnostics, epidemiology, genetics, and nutrition. Topics will be closely coordinated with practice, nursing learning centre and the health courses.
Show NURS216 - Health & Healing III: Health Challenges/Healing Initiatives
NURS 216 Health and Healing III: Health Challenges/Healing Initiatives builds on the learners' understanding of health, the focus of this course is on people's experience with healing for both chronic and episodic health challenges. Participants integrate theory and concepts of health as they relate to healing. Students will have opportunities to further apply this theory into practice of nursing skills within the nursing lab. This course is complementary to Health Sciences III and provides opportunities for learners to integrate pathophysiology with their understanding of health and healing and the nursing approaches that accompany this understanding.
Show NURS217 - Relational Practice II: Creating Health - Promoting Relationships
NURS 217 Building on Relational Practice I, in this course participants move beyond personal discovery to a focus on relational caring. The major emphasis of the course is relational practice with individuals, families, and groups from diverse backgrounds of age, culture, and experience. This is an experiential course designed to deepen the participants' understanding of caring and how the connection between caring and relationship provides the context for health and healing. Participants explore theories and processes of caring, relational identity development of self as nurse, and relational practice as enacted across a range of settings and contexts.
Show NURS219 - Nursing Practice III: Promoting Health & Healing
NURS 219 Nursing Practice III: Promoting Health & Healing. This nursing practice experience provides opportunities for learners to develop caring relationships with individuals and families for the purpose of health promotion while coming to understand their health and healing processes when experiencing more complex health challenges, both episodic and chronic. Participants will have opportunities to practice nursing approaches that accompany this understanding. Participants work with families and individuals in acute care medical settings to incorporate concepts and learning from all courses in this semester into their nursing practice. The community and society are considered as contextual influences on the promotion of health for the individual and the family.
Show AHSC228 - Health Sciences IV: Pathophysiology and Pharmacology
AHSC 228 Health Sciences IV: Pathophysiology and Pharmacology is a continuation of AHSC 218. The major emphasis is on the study of how homeodynamics is altered by physical, biochemical microbial, genetic, nutritional or immunologic factors. This course will examine the presentation and pathogenesis of disease, the impact of disease on homeodynamics, diagnostics, and the pharmacological management of selected health challenges. Where appropriate nutrition, genetics, and environmental impacts on health will be drawn through the major concepts of this course. Topics will be closely coordinated with the practice and the health and healing courses.
Show NURS222 - Professional Practice III: Nursing Ethics
NURS 222 Professional Practice III: Nursing Ethics builds on previous Relational Practice and Professional Practice courses, focusing on the growing body of knowledge related to nursing ethics. Beginning with an understanding of bio-medical ethics that have dominated nursing ethics in the past and moving to an understanding of developing ethical theory related to nursing and nursing issues, participants will have opportunities to explore nursing ethics in the context of their nursing practice.
Show NURS226 - Health and Healing IV: Health Challenges/Healing Initiatives
NURS 226 Health and Healing IV: Health Challenges/Healing Initiatives is about building on the learners' understanding of health, the focus of this course is on people's experience with healing for both chronic and episodic health challenges. Participants integrate theory and concepts of health as they relate to healing. This course is complementary to Health Sciences IV and provides opportunities for learners to integrate pathophysiology with their understanding of health and healing and the nursing approaches that accompany this understanding.
Show NURS229 - Nursing Practice IV: Promoting Health and Healing
NURS 229 Nursing Practice IV: Promoting Health and Healing. This nursing practice experience provides opportunities for learners to develop caring relationships with individuals and families for the purpose of health promotion while coming to understand their health and healing processes when experiencing more complex health challenges, both episodic and chronic. Participants will have opportunities to practice nursing approaches that accompany this understanding. Participants work with families and individuals in acute care medical settings to incorporate concepts and learning from all courses in this semester into their nursing practice. The community and society are considered as contextual influences on the promotion of health for the individual and the family.
Show NURS230 - Consolidated Practice Experience II
NURS 230 Consolidated Practice Experience II is a consolidated practice experience, opportunities are provided to develop caring relationships for the purpose of healing and health promotion with individuals and families experiencing increasingly complex chronic and episodic health challenges. The community and society are considered contextual influences on the promotion of health for the individual and family. They increase their understanding of the role of the professional nurse as a member of the health care team. Participants have opportunities to consolidate learning from first and second year of the program in a variety of settings. Practice advancement, within the context of this consolidated experience, focuses on enhancing learner knowledge, competence and confidence in the Domains of Practice.
Show NURS316 - Health and Healing V: Complex Health Challenges
NURS 316 Health and Healing V: Complex Health Challenges builds on Health and Healing I and II and Health Sciences III and IV and provides opportunities for participants to build on their nursing knowledge and understanding of health and healing in relation to complex episodic and chronic health challenges. This advanced course will focus on current topics and emerging knowledge related to a variety of health care contexts.
Show NURS317 - Relational Practice III: Connecting Across Differences
NURS 317 Relational Practice III: Connecting Across Differences builds on the concepts introduced in Relational Practice I and II and other previous courses, Relational Practice III provides a synthesis of knowledge that is the basis of critical relational analysis. This course focuses on enhancing participants' everyday relational practice with individuals, families, and groups. The emphasis is on engaging with the complexities of difference in everyday nursing practice and the challenges these complexities might pose for being in-relation with clients.
Show NURS319 - Nursing Practice V: Promoting Health and Healing
NURS 319 Nursing Practice V: Promoting Health and Healing. This nursing practice experience continues to provide opportunities for learners to develop caring relationships with individuals and families, while coming to understand their health and healing process within the context of complex health issues. Participants will have opportunities to practice nursing approaches that accompany this understanding. Participants work with families and individuals in the home and community, in agencies, and in care facilities to incorporate concepts and learning from all the courses in the semester into their nursing practice, with an emphasis on the complex health challenges.
one (1) 100-400 level General Elective course
See the UAS Courses by discipline page for course selections.
Show NURS341 - Professional Practice IV: Nursing Inquiry
NURS 341 Professional Practice IV: Nursing Inquiry builds upon concepts introduced in Professional Practice I, II, and III, in this course, participants will explore the historical and philosophical approaches to the development of nursing knowledge and inquiry. Relationships between practice, theory, and research are explored.
Show NURS342 - Health Healing VI: Global Health Issues
NURS 342 Health Healing VI: Global Health Issues. Participants in this course continue to develop an understanding of people's experience with health and healing related to a variety of increasingly complex chronic and episodic global health challenges and issues. Emphasis is placed on the role of the nurse as care provider, community organizer/facilitator, educator and advocate within the context of the global society and the changing health care environment. Participants examine a variety of emerging health issues and trends using these as a context for further developing their personal understanding of nursing practice that supports meaningful interactions with individuals, families, groups, communities and society.
Show NURS350 - Health and Healing VII: Promoting Community and Societal Health
NURS 350 Health and Healing VII: Promoting Community and Societal Health focuses on the role of the nurse in the promotion of community and societal health. It is a companion course with Health and Healing VI and participants will continue to develop their competencies in relational practice with a focus on community and society as client. The political role of the nurse is explored as the emphasis is placed upon working with communities from a social justice and equity perspective. Community development and capacity building as a pattern of community health promotion practice, is explored. In addition students will further develop their understanding of teaching and learning focusing on transformative and emancipatory approaches.
Show NURS351 - Nursing Practice VI: Promoting Health of Communities and Society
NURS 351 Nursing Practice VI: Promoting Health of Communities and Society practice experience provides opportunities to develop caring relationships with families, groups, and communities and/or populations with emphasis on health promotion and community empowerment. Participants have opportunities to work with a community on an identified health issue.
Show NURS370 - Consolidated Practice Experience (CPE) III & IV
NURS 370 and 470 Consolidated Practice Experiences (CPE) III & IV are designed to provide opportunities for participants to integrate, consolidate and expand concepts from previous learning. Participants have opportunities to consolidate learning from the first, second and third years of the program in a variety of settings and with any of age or type of client.
Show NURS470 - Consolidated Practice Experience (CPE) III & IV
NURS 370 and 470 Consolidated Practice Experiences (CPE) III & IV are designed to provide opportunities for participants to integrate, consolidate and expand concepts from previous learning. Participants have opportunities to consolidate learning from the first, second and third years of the program in a variety of settings and with any of age or type of client.
one (1) 100- 400 level General Elective course
See the UAS Courses by discipline page for course selections.
Show NURS360 - Professional Practice VI: Nursing Research
NURS 360 Professional Practice VI: Nursing Research builds on Professional Practice II, III, and IV, the intent of this course is to enhance participants� understanding of nursing scholarship and enhance their abilities to comprehend, critique, and utilize nursing research. Participants critically reflect on various scholarly works and research methodologies. Participants experience ways to critically examine their practice in relation to nursing research and to pose research questions for evidence-informed practice.
Show NURS430 - Professional Practice V: Leadership in Nursing
NURS 430 Professional Practice V: Leadership in Nursing explores the ways nurses can provide leadership, influence, create and manage change for the promotion of health for individuals, families, groups and communities within the context of society and the world. Emphasis is placed on leadership roles of the nurse within practice contexts. The role of the nurse within the current and evolving Canadian health care system is explored including considerations of the impact of global trends and issues. Issues facing nurses in the current work environment will be discussed. Collaborative and ethical approaches for working within institutional philosophies and frameworks will be explored.
Show NURS431 - Nursing Practice VII: Engaging in Leadership
NURS 431 Nursing Practice VII: Engaging in Leadership. This nursing practice experience provides opportunities for participants to further develop their competencies in the areas of leadership, influencing and managing change, and the utilization of research for the purpose of promoting the health of individuals, families, communities and society, within the context of the Canadian health care system. This nursing practice experience focuses on participants� growth in their practice as professional nurses. They have opportunities to explore inter-professional practice and nursing leadership in the context of emerging Canadian and global health issues and trends.
one (1) 300 or 400 level Nursing course
Show NURS475 - Consolidated Practice Experience V
NURS 475 Consolidated Practice Experience V is designed to provide opportunities for participants to integrate learning from previous semesters, and to advance their professional nursing practice and assume the role of a BSN graduate. In a variety of settings, students have opportunities to consolidate learning and advance their decision-making for nursing practice skills.
Show NURS491 - Nursing Practice VIII
NURS 491 Nursing Practice VIII provides opportunities for participants to consolidate their learning and explore the transition to professional nursing as a BSN graduate. Participants also explore transitions in the health care system and the workplace that affect nurses. Participants develop their practice and enhance their knowledge within a specific area, for example, a particular setting of practice, a certain client population, or a specific health challenge.
Hide Tuition & Fees
All amounts are estimates and are subject to change. Tuition amounts are based on a full-time course load. Please note that many programs have additional costs beyond those listed here. For more information, please visit Tuition & Fees.
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