The Health Care Assistant Program Supplement to the Provincial Curriculum 2023 (referred to as the Supplement) is an educational resource that supports instructors in delivering the Health Care Assistant Program Provincial Curriculum 2023. The Supplement includes a variety of suggested learning activities, assessments, and resources that can be integrated into existing course lesson plans and syllabi or used to support the creation of new HCA programs.

The Supplement is organized into six sections. Section 1 aligns with the courses required by the HCA Provincial Curriculum. Each course has suggested learning activities divided into subsections based on the focus of the activity (caring, problem-solving, and professionalism). Many of the learning activities include printable student handouts to support students’ engagement with the activity. Section 1 also includes suggested course assessments (assignments and group presentations) and a resource section with an extensive list of text and video resources to support the delivery of curriculum content.

The remaining sections of the Supplement provide additional tools to support instructors in other key areas:

• Section 2 focuses on digital literacy skills, providing instructors with resources to support the assessment and enhancement of digital literacy skills.
• Section 3 is an instructor guide on the acute care content that was added to the curriculum in 2015.
• Section 4 includes a clinical instructor guide and a preceptor orientation guide to support practice educational placements in complex care.
• Section 5 has sample course assessment tools, such as assignments, group presentations, skill testing templates, and clinical performance criteria. Each assignment includes a sample rubric.

All materials in the Supplement have an open licence under Creative Commons. This means material may be revised, remixed, and shared as long as attribution is given to the copyright holder, the Province of British Columbia. Changes to the source material are noted and the adaptations are licensed with the same license. All student handouts have attribution statements.

Background

In 2023, the Health Care Assistant Program Provincial Curriculum was revised and updated to meet the changing demands of Health Care Assistants in British Columbia. Following the publication of the 2023 curriculum, the Health Care Assistant Program Supplement to the Provincial Curriculum 2023 was updated to assist educators in teaching the updated curriculum.

BCcampus was contracted by the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills to support both the revision of the HCA Program Provincial Curriculum 2023 and the Supplement. The goal of the Supplement revision was to ensure the use of current and quality resources, provide resources for additional skills added to the HCA Program Provincial Curriculum 2023, and address any gaps in resources. Additions and revisions were guided and reviewed by the project advisory committee, the working group members, and the project development team. Members of these groups are listed in the Acknowledgements section.