Fifty years of nursing at TRU: Past growth points to future direction

Photo: Contributed

Nursing at TRU is more than just training, says university president Bruce Fairbairn.

This past weekend marked 50 years of nursing education at Thompson Rivers University.

What began in 1975 with 54 students at Cariboo College has grown into a sophisticated School of Nursing that offers undergraduate and graduate programs, conducts applied research and partners with healthcare providers across British Columbia.

Fifty years is an impressive number but we can’t lose sight of the fact that it’s more than a milestone. It’s also a reminder that the work is critically important, timely and nowhere near complete. The province’s healthcare system is under tremendous pressure and TRU has a direct role in addressing it.

The need is clear. Across the Interior, B.C. and Canada, communities face shortages of nurses, respiratory therapists, lab technologists and healthcare assistants. Emergency departments are stretched and often forced to close for hours at a time, leaving people vulnerable. Long-term care providers are operating shorthanded.

The demand for skilled professionals outpaces the supply, especially in rural and remote areas.

At TRU, we see these pressures not as theoretical problems but as shared responsibilities. While our most immediate job is to educate students, we also know it’s crucial to prepare people to meet the evolving needs of care in close collaboration with those who deliver and fund services.

That’s why, in the recent years we’ve made deliberate choices to grow in ways that respond directly to public need. We’ve increased our Bachelor of Science in Nursing intake and committed to programming in rural areas such as Williams Lake.

We’ve also introduced mobile simulation labs so learners in distant communities can access high-quality clinical training closer to home.

Much of what our students learn happens in real clinical settings — hospitals, clinics and care homes across the region. These placements are vital, giving students hands-on experience and ensuring they graduate with ready-for-work skills.

We’ve also added graduate-level programming, including our Master of Nursing – Nurse Practitioner degree. Nurse practitioners are highly trained professionals who provide comprehensive primary care, including diagnosing conditions, ordering tests and prescribing medications. They fill an important gap, especially in communities where there are not enough doctors.

We’re also expanding opportunities for inter-professional learning, where students in different programs like nursing, respiratory therapy and healthcare assistance train together as teams. This reflects how care is actually delivered, in complex environments where communication and shared decision-making are essential.

These initiatives weren’t created for the sake of growth. They were developed because healthcare partners asked for them and we saw a clear opportunity to help fill the gap.

This idea— that education and health care are interdependent—is central to how we see our role. We educate health professionals. Others employ them. We conduct research. Others put it into practice. Those partnerships are already in motion and we want to strengthen them.

Earlier this year, in conversations with Interior Health, we heard that today’s challenge is about strategic training. We don’t just need more graduates, we need graduates with the right skills, in the right places and at the right time.

We believe that it starts with asking more complex questions. How can we ensure more of our graduates stay in this region? Where can we co-develop training pathways that support “upskilling” and mobility for existing workers? What would it take to launch new programs in response to hiring needs, not five years from now but sooner?

We need to explore those questions with action. This philosophy will inevitably drive future program growth at TRU in the same way it helped nursing grow from its roots in 1975.

Beyond nursing, TRU trains respiratory therapists, medical lab technologists, and healthcare assistants — all roles in high demand. We’re open to working with Interior Health and others to assess where gaps exist and how education can help close them.

Research is another area in which TRU is sharpening its focus. We know health outcomes are shaped by more than clinical interventions. Social determinants, climate threats, and access barriers require new ways of thinking and responding.

Our researchers are already engaged in projects focused on wildfire smoke exposure, culturally informed mental health care, and chronic disease management in Indigenous communities. These efforts are rooted in the realities of this region and aimed at practical change.

We’re not claiming to have all the answers. But we are ready to work differently. To be faster, to listen more closely and to align what we teach and study with what people in our region truly need.

None of that means abandoning what’s already strong. The values that shaped TRU’s School of Nursing — practical learning, ethical care and community connection — are foundational.

We also continue to learn from the teachings of this land. The Secwépemc concept of Kw’seltktnéws—that we are all related—reminds us that care is not transactional. It’s relational. It’s long-term. It includes a responsibility to act when the system is stretched.

TRU will celebrate this 50-year milestone with pride, but not with complacency. The healthcare system is changing. As a university, our work is to change with it, as we always have, and continue to provide vital service to students and the communities and people who rely on them.

Brett Fairbairn is the president and vice-chancellor at Thompson Rivers University. He can be reached by email at [email protected].