The UBC Midwifery Program offers four cohorts—Vancouver, Fraser, and (Vancouver) Island—as well as the DOME program for first-year students. All students offered a seat in the program will be allocated to 1 of 3 cohorts upon admission – Vancouver, Fraser Health or Vancouver Island.
Clinical Skills Intensives and exams (OSCEs) take place at designated times each year, in Vancouver, Surrey and Victoria, depending on cohort assignment. Students identified for the Vancouver Cohort will attend skills Intensives, OSCEs and classes held in Vancouver. Students identified for the (Vancouver) Island Cohort will attend Intensives, OSCEs and classes in Victoria, and students identified for the Fraser Health Cohort will attend Intensives, OSCEs and classes in Surrey. Once assigned to a cohort, students remain in it throughout the program to ensure continuity in clinical teaching and placements.
Students must be prepared to travel or relocate for clinical placements, as the program does not cover expenses for travel and relocation. All cohorts are integral to UBC’s commitment to providing comprehensive midwifery education that meets the diverse needs of communities throughout British Columbia.
Vancouver
16 seats with potential for DOME
Vancouver (Point Grey Campus) is the original location of the Midwifery Program and the site of Midwifery’s Program Offices. Offices are located on the 3rd floor of the David Strangway Building (Pt Grey Campus) and on the 4th floor of the Shaughnessy Building at BC Women’s Hospital. With rare exceptions, all Vancouver-based teaching occurs at BC Women’s Hospital.
Students admitted to the Vancouver cohort will complete classes Intensives and OSCEsin Vancouver from BC Women’s Hospital. Students will participate in multi-access classrooms where 12-16 students will be together in the room, along with a classroom of students joining from the Island (Victoria General Hospital) and Fraser (Surrey Memorial Hospital) cohorts, as well as individual students joining from their home (DOME cohort) in the first year. Occasionally, a course may be offered entirely or partially online.
Once students are in clinical placements (beginning of year 2), all courses will be offered online, and students will only be required to attend in person for Intensives and OSCEs.
(Vancouver) Island
8 seats
Upon admission, up to eight students will start their Midwifery education in Victoria as part of the Vancouver Island Cohort. Using UBC’s videoconferencing (Zoom) technology, these students participate in classes from Victoria General Hospital with their Vancouver and Fraser counterparts while building strong connections with the midwifery community on Vancouver Island. This cohort was established in 2014 to address the growing demand for midwifery services across British Columbia and to expose students to healthcare settings beyond the Lower Mainland.
UBC Midwifery Program launches new Island Cohort (Faculty of Medicine Communications, December 2014)
Left to right: Emilie Ouellette, Rayann Harris, Josie Duncan, Kim Daniels, Meredith Campbell, Grace Wicken, Negar Aghtouman (January 2022)
3rd year students practicing ‘Donning & Doffing for the OR’. L-R: Rayann Harris, Bryanne Isdahl, Kim Daniels, Meredith Campbell, Clare Mildenberger, Emilie Ouellette. (September 2022 Intensives)
Fraser
8 seats
Upon admission, up to eight students will start their Midwifery education in Surrey as part of the Fraser Health Cohort.
The newest of our cohorts, this cohort was started in September 2023, when six 1st year students started classes onsite at Surrey Memorial Hospital as part of UBC Midwifery’s inaugural Fraser Health cohort. In mid-December 2023, UBC officially took possession of the newly renovated 2nd-floor office and teaching space in the nearby Lark Building. A Clinical Site Coordinator, Administrative Operations Manager, Assistant Professor, and Lecturer are now based there, and there is study and locker space for students.
The Fraser Expansion added eight students per year to the Midwifery Program, for a total annual intake of 32 students. Fraser Health is the fastest growing Health Authority in British Columbia, with a reported +15,000 births each fiscal year between April 1, 2015, and March 31, 2020. It also has the greatest maternity provider shortage in the province. The Ministries of Post-Secondary Education and Health hope to address capacity issues and further develop midwifery services to benefit underserved communities from Burnaby to Hope.
DOME (Distributed Online Midwifery Education)
The UBC Midwifery Program offers first-year students, who live more than a 1-hour drive from a teaching site, the option of joining the Distributed Option for Midwifery Education (DOME) cohort. As a member of the DOME cohort, students are able attend first-year classes online from their home community. Students who qualify for DOME are not required to participate and may choose to move closer to the teaching site associated with their cohort for the first year of classes, particularly if they aren’t comfortable with online learning. Students in the DOME cohort may join weekly classes from their home communities using videoconferencing (Zoom) technology.
Students in the DOME cohort are required to come to Vancouver the first week of term for orientation to meet faculty and classmates. They will attend their first classes in person that week and complete other new student orientation requirements. Following this, DOME students will return to their homes and attend classes virtually. Textbooks and assigned readings are available online through the UBC Library. Toward the end of term 1 and term 2, in November and April, DOME students are required to return to Vancouver for a week of skills labs and in-person learning.
Students qualified for DOME will:
- Meet admissions requirements for the bachelor’s degree program and be admitted into the fall cohort
- Have a personal computer with Windows 10 or macOS
- Have internet access
- Be able to travel to Vancouver 1-2 times a term
Questions can be directed to the Student Services Manager & Advisor by emailing info@midwifery.ubc.ca.
