unicornpower

I find my smartphone to be super helpful for clinical. Our school suggested that we purchase a software bundle at the beginning of the program. It contains so much information and I use it almost everyday. I mostly use it to get information about drugs I am giving, but it also contains info about different conditions and nursing interventions. It is not absolutely crucial to have a smartphone but it makes your life a whole lot easier. Inevitably you will arrive to clinical at some point and your assigned patients will have changed. You'll then have to research everything you need during clinical time so you are prepared for your new patients. Most of my clinical sites do have computers that we can use for research but there aren't many of them (and other students, nurses, physicians, physio, etc may also use them). So it's just more efficient to use my phone. If there is wifi at the hospital then I guess you could use your laptop though!

I don't think age matters at all. However I think that it would be extremely difficult to leave a child for 3 years. Do you plan on working in Vancouver afterwards? I would think it would be simpler to do your education in the country you plan to work in. Otherwise it may take some time to transfer your credentials and you might need to take extra courses too.

Like the previous poster said, getting into the nursing program at BCIT isn't really a transfer. Once you have met their prerequisites, you can apply to start level 1. For volunteer experience, healthcare related is obviously preferred but I don't think it's required. When I applied I had to list 3 positions that I've held along with a description of the skills and responsibilities for these positions. They could be work or volunteer positions. Even retail or waitressing is good experience. However, the program is competitive so I would highly suggest volunteering in the hospital or a nursing home (most of the people in my cohort have some sort of healthcare related experience). Anything with children or seniors would look good. In terms of grades, BCIT does list the minimums they are looking for on the nursing program website, but aim higher... As I said, it's competitive. I had A/A- in the prerequisite courses. Also keep in mind that BCIT does not accept midterm grades for the prerequisite courses. You have to complete the course before you apply to the program. So if you're taking prerequisites in the Jan-April 2017 semester, the earliest you could start is January 2018. I don't know anything about UBCO so I can't help with that unfortunately. Let me know if you have any other questions about BCIT :)