Internationally and domestically educated nurses play an essential role in supporting health care across Canada. The Advancing IENs Care Pathways program is designed to help you strengthen your skills, build confidence in specialized areas, and advance your practice through focused, employer-informed micro-credentials. With flexible online learning and competency-based assessments, you can choose the pathway that best supports your goals, whether in rural acute care or continuing care, and earn digital recognition of your expertise.

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Rural Acute Care

Critical Care in Rural Settings: This course equips healthcare professionals to deliver critical care in rural and remote settings. You'll learn to assess and stabilize critically ill patients, make sound clinical decisions, and work effectively with limited resources and staffing. With a focus on virtual health, teamwork, and culturally safe care, especially for Indigenous communities, you’ll gain practical skills and confidence through scenario-based learning to improve emergency outcomes in rural environments.

‍Mental Health in Rural Settings: In rural acute care, nurses are often the first responders to mental health crises. This course trains nursing students to recognize signs of distress, use trauma-informed care, and apply sound clinical judgment. You'll learn how to create safe environments and connect patients with local, or telehealth supports to ensure timely, culturally appropriate care.

‍Maternity Care in Rural Settings: Maternal health in rural settings comes with unique challenges. This course prepares nursing students to assess and manage maternal conditions where resources and specialist access are limited. You'll learn to identify risks, apply evidence-based care, and adapt strategies to support safe, equitable outcomes for mothers in rural communities.

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Continuing Care

Dementia, Delirium, and Depression: This course helps you confidently identify and differentiate between dementia, delirium, and depression. You’ll learn how to assess patients thoroughly, create personalized care plans, and work closely with families to provide compassionate, holistic care. Gain the skills to make a real difference in patients’ lives and improve the quality of care they receive.

‍Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment: Older adults in continuing care often have complex needs that require a holistic, person-centered approach. This course teaches you how to use Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) to identify health concerns and support collaborative care planning. Through interactive modules and real-life scenarios, you’ll build practical skills to assess multiple areas of an older adult’s life and contribute effectively to interdisciplinary care teams.

‍Leadership and Case Management: Effective leadership in continuing care means coordinating patient care and supporting teamwork across disciplines. Registered Nurses play a key role, balancing direct care with clinical coordination, advocating for patients while guiding teams, and helping bridge the gap between hands-on care and administration.

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All students are expected to follow Bow Valley College’s Academic Integrity Policy (500-1-7). Academic misconduct, including plagiarism, cheating, collusion, contract cheating, or misuse of sources, is taken seriously and may result in disciplinary action, up to and including removal from the course without refund.

‍Disclaimer:  These courses are for educational purposes only and do not replace formal licensure, certification, or professional medical/legal advice.

What is a micro-credential?

‍A micro-credential validates that you have the desired skills needed for today’s workforce and your competence through a secure digital badge - visual, digital representation of an individual’s achievement in a specific skill or area of knowledge. This can be shared on social media such as LinkedIn.

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Assessment First‍

Take an initial competency assessment to determine the areas that you are already competent in and gain a customized learning pathway. You do not need to spend time re-learning material you already know.

Competency-based

Competency-Based Education (CBE) is a model for progressive learning and development. CBE centers on authentic learning and assessment. Competencies at Bow Valley College are based on the application of knowledge (technical tasks) and soft skills.

Employer-driven

Pivot-Ed micro-credentials are designed with employers and focus on job-specific skills. This enables success in an increasingly competitive job market.

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