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Increase your earning potential as a certified health care aide and work anywhere in Alberta. This apprenticeship-style program allows you to complete your coursework online while continuing to work and earn an income in your current role.
Funding is available
Fund your education and career advancement through the Alberta Health Care Aide Tuition Bursary. Receive up to $3200 to complete your coursework and gain your certificate.
Are you currently working as a health care aide, or in an equivalent caregiving position, and want to become certified? The Health Care Aide Workplace Education option is one of the only programs of its kind in Alberta and is offered in partnership with health-care employers. Ideal for both rural and urban students, this program includes:
At NorQuest College, we believe in providing a well-rounded, modern education that includes a combination of theory coursework and hands-on training.
In this program, you’ll graduate with 320 hours of work experience. The hours you complete while working onsite as a health care aide go towards this requirement. You’ll also complete a variety of labs and have your clinical skills assessed and evaluated by a worksite tutor.
You must be able to provide your own transportation to your practicum.
There are a few additional steps when applying to the Health Care Aide Workplace program, such as verifying your employment and confirming the availability of a workplace tutor. Follow all the steps in the How to Apply guide to complete your application.
A passing grade in the HCA Provincial Comprehensive Exam after all coursework is completed is a requirement for being awarded the HCA Certificate. This exam is administered by the HCA Directory and you will be required to pay the exam fees directly to the Directory.
There is currently a very high demand for certified health care aides in many urban and rural areas of Alberta.
Upon successful completion of the program, you will be prepared to work in continuing care institutions, home care agencies, group homes, assisted or supportive living facilities, day programs, specialized care centres and programs, acute care hospitals, and private care.
For more information on related careers see:
Career coaches are available in the NorQuest College Career Centre for in-person or virtual support.
Graduates of the HCA Workplace program who are interested in the Practical Nurse program at NorQuest can request prior learning assessment and recognition for the HEED 1000 and NCOM 1000 courses once they’ve been accepted into the Practical Nurse program.
Visit Prior learning assessment and recognition for more information
As a health care aide, you will be responsible for providing and supporting clients in continuing care settings, such as personal care, bathing, dressing, transferring, eating, and participating in recreational activities with clients. You will also help support nurses with medication administration.
If you attended a school outside of Canada, you will need to request your transcripts when applying. For more information, visit our transcripts page.
If you are not able to receive your transcripts immediately, you may request conditional admission by sending scanned versions of your original educational documents.
Once a student has passed the provincial exam, the HCA directory will notify NorQuest College and we will update your pass mark in the non-credit course HLTH 3000. This will trigger for a physical copy of the HCA certificate to be mailed to the address on your MyQuest account.
When you apply for a program at NorQuest College, you will receive an email to your personal email account with steps to login to your MyQuest and NorQuest email accounts.
For more information on logging into your MyQuest account, see this helpful guide. For more information on accessing your NorQuest email account, view this guide.
Your application will be closed because the winter term has passed. You will have to reapply to the next available term start date. Unfortunately, we will not be able to refund your application fee should this situation occur.
Students are unable to use PLAR for the Health Care Aide workplace program. A student would have to repeat the entire Health Care Aide workplace program.
We appreciate your interest in this program. However, this program is not available to international students at this time. For a full list of programs available to international students, please visit the programs and courses page.
If you're not sure which program is perfect for you, NorQuest's International Student Recruiters can help. Contact international.recruitment@norquest.ca or book a meeting.
Have a question about the Health Care Aide Workplace program?
Get all the information you need on applying for your program in one, easy-to-follow application guide. We’ll deliver it straight to your inbox.
Yes, send me the guideThe personal information requested on this form is collected under the authority of section 33(c) of Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and will be used to process your request for information, for internal statistical and enrolment management purposes and to provide ongoing information regarding our courses, programs or events. For information about the collection and use of this information, contact the Regulatory & Compliance Coordinator at 10215 108 Street NW, Edmonton, AB, T5J 1L6, Tel. 780.644.6000.
We appreciate your interest in NorQuest’s Program name! However, this program is not open to international students at this time. For a full list of programs available to international students, please visit the Programs and Courses page.
If you’re not sure which program is perfect for you, NorQuest’s International Student Recruiters can help. Contact international.recruitment@norquest.ca or book a meeting.
