Rural Education and Advanced Learning (REAL)

Eligibility

To be eligible, the following conditions must be met: 

• Work in rural Alberta in one of the following contexts for at least six (6) consecutive months: a primary care network, an out-of-scope or non-union position, in independent or private practice, or as a clinical nurse educator.
• Hold an active practice license, and be in good standing, in Alberta through their applicable professional regulatory body.
• Currently live and practise and do the majority of their work (must be at least 10 hours per week) in a rural Alberta community located outside the Census Metropolitan Area boundaries of Calgary or Edmonton, with a population of fewer than 15,000 people, or fall within Alberta’s North Zone

Training must meet the following criteria:

• Applicants may only apply for one course, semester of courses, or other training opportunity per application cycle.
• Course or training opportunity must support your clinical area of practice, be relevant to your current position and scope of practice.
• Course or training opportunity must benefit patients within your community as well as your personal practice or skill competency.
• Training must have started within 90 days of the funding application submission, be ongoing at time of submission, or start within six months of the submission. Exceptions to this criterion may be made if a majority of the training took place within 90 days of the application submission.
• Course or training opportunity must not have already received funding from or subsidy through REAL or another source.

Applicants must be willing to agree to the following terms and conditions:

• a return-of-service term
• repayment of REAL funding in the event that the course is not successfully completed or the return-of-service commitment is not fulfilled
• participation in the evaluation of the REAL Program and provision of feedback as requested
• other terms and conditions that may apply

1. the remoteness/ need of the community from which the applicant is applying as determined by Alberta Health’s Rural & Remote Program Isolation Scores.
2. the benefit of the type of course/ training/ program to the community (Considerations include the following: what kind of value would local patients/clients receive from this training?; does another provider in the community already offer the services that this training would facilitate?, etc.)
3. amount of REAL funding previously provided to applicant

If you have questions, please email REAL@rhpap.ca.

Click here to learn more about the REAL Application Process