Educational institutions should request placements through the national web-enabled database, Health Sciences Placement Network (HSPnet). This is the preferred method of for placement application so the process is streamlined and sites/programs consider requests from one source. Students who wish to request placements at VCH are required to have a school email address.
We ask our partner institutions and their students not to contact our sites directly with placement requests. All requests are to be submitted through HSPnet.
Out-of-Province Institutions and Students: Prior to entering your request in the system, we will need to know which site(s) the student is interested in. Our VCH Locations and Services is where our students and schools can look up our sites. Once the student has found a site they wish to be considered, they can let their Placing Coordinator know and then the Coordinator can reach out to VCH Placements to request a guest access to enter the formal request into the HSPnet database.
We require an affiliation agreement to be in place prior to submitting a request.
If you are an institution inquiring about a potential partnership with our health authority, please contact us at Placements@vch.ca. Once the agreement is signed, the educational institution may proceed with entering the placement in HSPnet and ensuring the student completes all the necessary training and requirements outlined on this website. Students are to refer to the Student Practice Education Core Orientation (SPECO) checklist for the complete list of pre-placement requirements.
To ensure our sites have enough time to consider placement requests and IT services can timely arrange for an account and system access, we follow a set timeline for request submission and processing for the majority of disciplines. Please note the following deadlines to enter requests into HSPnet for each term:
Term
| HSPnet requests released to our sites for consideration
|
Winter (January to April)
| August 31
|
Spring/Summer (May to August)
| January 15
|
Fall (September to December)
| March 31
|
We require students to complete a list of placement prerequisites prior to their placement. The prerequisites include:
Student Practice Education Core Orientation (SPECO), and
Any applicable prerequisites under Discipline-specific requirements.
Please note that this is the school’s responsibility to ensure their student completes all the necessary prerequisites. Failure to complete the requirements may result in a delay or cancellation of the placement.
NEW! We also offer the following supplementary step-by-step worksheets available for both Placing Coordinators and Students to help prepare for the upcoming practicum and ensure all VCH requirements are complete. Please note that these worksheets are for your reference only and do not need to be submitted.