Core Competencies
There are three core competencies on the Alberta HCA Directory:
- Certified: HCAs who have successfully completed and received a Health Care Aide certificate in Alberta.
- Substantial Equivalence: Graduates of a Health Care Aide program outside of Alberta, internationally educated nurses; and individuals with education as a Health Care Aide, personal support worker, continuing care assistant, nurse, or other profession considered to provide direct patient care.
- Deemed Competent: HCAs who have no formal health care education and have been assessed using a completed competency assessment tool by a regulated nurse employed by an operator.
Certified
2013 Curriculum applicants requirements:
- Enrol on the Alberta HCA Directory
- Complete and submit the HCA Transcript Request form to their post-secondary institution (school).
- Students using MyCreds may send MyCreds link to the Directory at info@albertahcadirectory.com.
All official transcripts must be submitted by the institution directly to the Directory at: info@albertahcadirectory.com.
2019 Curriculum applicants requirements:
HCA students currently enrolled in the provincial HCA 2019 curriculum are required to pass the Provincial HCA Examination to graduate from the HCA Program and receive the Government of Alberta 2019 HCA Provincial Curriculum Certificate.
- 2019 Curriculum HCA students are not required to provide the Directory with transcripts to be granted access to the Provincial HCA Exam.
- To receive access to the Provincial HCA Exam students and programs must review the Access to the Provincial Exam webpage.
Substantial Equivalence
A Substantial Equivalence Assessment is a standardized, rigorous and transparent evaluation of the education of health care providers who did not graduate from an approved Alberta Health Care Aide (HCA) Program.
Eligible applicants include:
- Graduates of a health care program outside of the province of Alberta.
- Internationally Educated Nurses; and
- Individuals with education as a personal support worker, continuing care assistant, nurse or other profession considered to provide direct patient care.
Substantially Equivalent requirements:
- Substantial Equivalence Assessment Requirements can be found here.
Deemed Competent
Applicants who do not have formal health care education that would like to enrol on the Alberta HCA Directory must be assessed by their immediate Alberta supervisor using the Competency Assessment Profile (CAP) tool.
- The CAPs tool must be completed by an Alberta regulated nurse employed by an HCA operator.
- Employer verification is required on the Directory for Deemed Competent applicants.
- Retention of CAPs (Competency Assessment Profile) Tools are the responsibility of each organization and are not submitted to the Directory. An additional resource that outlines core competencies is the Alberta HCA Competency Profile (2018).
To confirm the completion of a CAPs on an employee on the Directory for the Deemed Competent status, employers are required to complete and submit the following confirmation form to info@albertahcadirectory.com: