Policies and Guidelines

Clinical Practice Grading

Professional nursing is committed to the provision of safe, competent, ethical care. Educational experiences occurring in a variety of practice contexts are designed to advance nursing competence in a deliberate manner; practice experiences promote nursing competence incrementally on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Clinical practice performance will be graded as:

Pass or Fail
dependent upon the student's ability to competently meet the course outcomes.

This policy is applied in all courses with a clinical practice component.

• Calculation of clinical practice hours does not include travel time, independent laboratory practice time or required time for preparation related to clinical experience.
• Nursing practice competence involves knowledge, skill, attitude, and judgment, and requires that students actively engage in all planned practice experiences throughout the program. 'Missed' practice time is not about lost hours - it is about lost opportunities to advance individual nursing competence.
• Students are required to attend all nursing practice and laboratory experiences. (See Missed Clinical Practice & Laboratory Experience Time policy).
• A Pass grade in the clinical practice component of a course is required. Should a student receive a Fail grade in the clinical practice component, both the practice AND the theory component of the course must be repeated in order to advance in the nursing program. An accumulated mark at the time of the failure will be entered on the student’s transcript. An ‘F’ grade will be displayed on the transcript.
• If a student withdraws from the course before the UBC withdrawal deadline, a ‘W’ for the course will normally appear on the student's transcript.
• Students will receive a copy of their completed clinical practice evaluation.

See related policies:

Missed Clinical Practice and Laboratory Experience Time

Progression and Advancement in Undergraduate Programs

Unsatisfactory Clinical Practice

Approved July 2002, Faculty Caucus, UBC School of Nursing

Revised and Approved by Undergraduate Programs Committee, May 29, 2006

Approved June 27, 2006 Faculty Caucus, UBC School of Nursing