Requesting a practicum placement within Interior Health
The education institution designate (usually a practice placement coordinator) should be communicating with the student placement team about placement opportunities.
Please direct all student placement questions to the Student Placement Team by visiting the
Contact Us page, and selecting ‘Student Placement’ from the drop down menu.
Students are not permitted to arrange their own placements.
Affiliation Agreements
The Affiliation Agreement is the first step to coordinating a student practice experience. Without a signed (Fully-Executed) Agreement between IH and the Education Institution in place, practicum placement coordination cannot move forward.
An Affiliation Agreement is a legally binding contract entered into by the Health Authority and the Education Institution where the student is enrolled. This contract defines the roles & responsibilities of the parties involved and addresses the risks in the relationship for the Health Authority, Health Authority employees, patients & clients, and students.
For more information about Affiliation Agreements, refer to the
IH Policy | AU1100 - Student Practice Education. Executing an Agreement can take up to 6 months. If you have questions about the status of an Affiliation Agreement in process, please use the
Contact Us page and request an update.
Health Sciences Placement Network (HSPnet)
Interior Health uses HSPnet, an online practice education management system, to coordinate and manage student placement requests. Placement requests are coordinated based on geographic region. Local education institutions are provided priority of acceptance before out-of-region or out-of-province placement requests.
Placement coordinators may only have one active placement request per student at any given time. An automatic decline of a placement request will result if it is made known that multiple placement requests are made for one student at one time.
For specific information on making student placement requests,
click here.