Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety (Co-op)

at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) Canada

The NAIT Advanced Care Paramedic program prepares graduates for a rewarding and challenging career in providing emergency medical services to the sick and injured. Advanced Care Paramedics are members of the inter-professional health care team, working collaboratively with other emergency medical personnel, physicians, nurses, and other health professionals. They primarily provide care of patients at emergency scenes in the pre hospital care setting, but can also have roles in emergency departments and other settings within an acute care hospital setting. They are responsible for assessing a patient’s condition to determine the extent of his or her injury or illness and immediate care needs, and providing treatment that includes advanced life support procedures, airway management, medication administration, tending to traumatic injuries, intravenous catheterization, bandaging, splinting, suturing child birth, mental health crisis interventions, and more. Patient care often includes initial stabilization of the patient and transport via ambulance to health care facilities for further treatment.

Demands of the job and practicum training as a student include standing, reaching, walking, crouching, bending, and lifting of heavy equipment, as well as exposure to stressful emergency situations where patients are critically ill or injured, and quick decisions must be made in managing the patient and delegating roles to first responders. There are also risks for exposure to chemicals, bodily fluids, needle sticks, moving traffic, weather conditions.

The NAIT Advanced Care Paramedic program utilizes facilities at NAIT, active treatment hospitals, and ambulance services to train and prepare students for graduation and employment.

 What You Will Learn
Hands-on, industry-relevant training

In this 2 year diploma program you will build on your prior learning as a primary care paramedic and learn about providing advanced emergency care, including assessment and treatment of patients with a variety of medical disorders and injuries. Your learning environment will consist of lectures, labs, clinical simulations and practicum. Areas of learning will be focused on but are not excluded to:

• Human anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology
• Advanced life support skills including medical and trauma management
• Pharmacology
• Child birth and neonatal care
• Pediatric patient care
• Diverse patient populations
• Professionalism, inter professionalism, and medical legal aspects

You will also be trained in physical and mental health self-care, to ensure you are prepared for a demanding patient care environment.

Practicum will consist of placement with ambulance services and a variety of acute care hospitals. You will be expected to work shifts including evenings, nights and weekends, and you may be required to travel outside of Edmonton for your practicum placement.

The first year of the program consists of lectures, labs and clinical simulations. The second year of the program consists of some lectures, labs and clinical simulation in advanced courses, as well as approximately 1200 hours of practicum.

You can expect to spend, on average:

• 28 hours per week attending classes over the course of a semester
• 15 to 20 hours per week studying and completing class assignments
• 40 hours per week on practicum

Chemical Engineering Technology is a two-year diploma program that prepares the graduate for employment in the hydrocarbon and chemical processing industry (downstream petroleum industry). The program deals with the processing of oil, natural gas and bitumen into final products such as motor gasoline, diesel or jet fuel, propane, butane, utility gas and others. The program includes the study of the production of secondary petrochemicals such as ethylene, vinyl chloride, methanol and others.

The Court Transcription certificate provides students with the knowledge and skills to produce accurate transcripts by applying rules of grammar and punctuation to the spoken word of pre-recorded proceedings using machine shorthand and computer-aided transcription software. In addition to court transcript production, graduates may be hired as scopists and proofreaders to aid in court transcript production. Graduates will also have opportunities to produce transcripts and verbatim captions in support of disciplinary proceedings, arbitration hearings, 9-1-1 calls, interviews, investigations, shareholders’ and other meetings, and prerecorded television and Internet videos.

Because Court Transcriptionists work with recordings, their hours and location are often very flexible. Court Transcriptionists are often able to work from a home office and can accept work from across the province and country.

NAIT's Construction Engineering Technology program will provide you with a broad knowledge of the management, estimating and technical aspects of construction, with a primary focus on commercial and residential buildings and related support industries.

You'll develop your drawing interpretation, detail sketching and site surveying skills. You'll also be shown the ins and outs of project planning, contract administration and sub-trade coordination so you can advance your career into site leadership and project management.

The Construction Engineering Technology program works with a program advisory committee made up of industry experts who ensure the program provides students with the knowledge and skills currently required by employers. The program is also accredited by the Canadian Construction Association Gold Seal Certification program and by the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta (ASET).

NAIT’s Materials Engineering Technology Program prepares students for a diverse and rewarding career in their profession. Our graduates have employment opportunities in a wide variety of industrial settings including oil and gas, chemical processing, mining, construction, pulp and paper and research and development.

A Materials Engineering Technologist is an important member of the engineering team. Our curriculum has been developed in close co-operation with industry leaders ensuring our students have relevant hands on experience and theoretical instruction. They will have a working knowledge of the properties and behavior of engineering materials in a range of environments.

A Materials Engineering Technologist’s expertise is sought after by industry for their understanding of metals, polymers, ceramics and composites. Technologists give advice in material selection, asset and integrity inspections, weld inspections and fabrication. In laboratory settings they are involved in research and development, failure analysis and material testing. Many of our Alumni have gone on to start their own successful businesses and employ our graduates.

Architectural technologists assist in translating design concepts into graphic images, and then converting those images into technical drawings and specifications that result in creation of the built environment. Students in the Architectural Technology program learn freehand sketching techniques, but the program's main emphasis is on manual and computer-aided drawing skills.

What You Will Learn
Hands-on, industry-relevant skills

Throughout the program, you will study theoretical concepts and learn how to:

• Create and coordinate a full set of working drawings to industry standards
• Participate in all aspects of the design process, including the presentation of design solutions
• Research and apply various codes, standards and systems used in design and construction
• Visualize and communicate design in both 2 and 3 dimensions
• Use current architectural tools and software common
• Contribute individually and as part of a team in a professional architectural environment

Architectural technologists must possess superior presentation and communication skills in order to present drawings and plans to clients, workers and management teams. Throughout the program, you will develop your word processing, visual presentation and business communication skills.

The Digital Media and IT (DMIT) program is multi-disciplinary in its approach. Spanning a range of career opportunities from business analyst to visual designer, this innovative program allows you the ability to meet industry demand while developing skills aligned with your individual talents and inclinations.

In the Computer Software Development emphasis, you will learn how to design and implement scalable software application solutions, including how to develop, test, document, deploy and support your software.

What You Will Learn
Hands-on, industry-relevant skills
The Computer Software Development area of emphasis (formerly Application Development) teaches you to design and implement scalable application solutions, including developing, testing, documentation, deployment and support. You will also learn how to design, create and maintain databases for use in various applications.

The courses in this area of emphasis include instruction in various programming languages and tools to support software development, including Oracle, C#, Java, SQL, .NET, JavaScript and PHP.

These courses will show you how to:

• Write, test, debug, implement and maintain computer software programs
• Design, create, and maintain databases utilizing industry best practices, including Structured Query Language (SQL)
• Develop web applications
• Generate system deliverables using various System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodologies
• Develop native iOS applications
• Develop native Android applications

Co-op Opportunities
As a result of DMIT's close connection with industry, various co-op opportunities exist for students in the DMIT program. Many companies offer our students paid co-op positions that provide direct experience in specific areas of study. Co-op is also seen as a staffing strategy for many organizations.

Diagnostic Medical Sonographers are highly trained, in-demand professionals who use ultrasounds to produce and record images of important organs, masses and fetal images. This hands-on accredited program will allow you the opportunity to participate in clinical rotations in major Alberta hospitals. You’ll receive training on industry-standard equipment and get the opportunity to learn on the same technology you’ll use in your practicum placement – and career.

The healthcare industry continues to see a rapid increase in the usage of advanced medical diagnostic and therapeutic equipment to provide the highest level of patient care possible. As our dependence on high-tech equipment and technical expertise required by medical professionals increases, so have the technology-related risks to patients and clinical staff.

Biomedical engineering technologist careers have evolved to help manage technology-related risks in the health-care industry through the entire lifecycle of medical devices, including specification, inspection, calibration, repair and maintenance, and technical troubleshooting.

The Biomedical Engineering Technology program will provide you with fundamental knowledge and hands-on experience with electronics, microcontroller applications, computer network systems and medical imaging systems. You'll also become familiar with medical laboratory practices, anatomy, physiology and health technology management.

What You Will Learn
Hands-on, industry-relevant training
The Biomedical Engineering Technology program will provide you with the skills of an electronic technologist with a specialized focus on biomedical equipment technology.
In your first year of study you will learn about electronics, microcontroller programming, math and computer systems. 

• Biomedical instrumentation
• X-ray and diagnostic imaging equipment
• Medical laboratory instrumentation

Supplementary courses in anatomy and physiology and medical equipment management complete the medical specialization.

Co-op
Students may be eligible to participate in a one semester co-op placement between their first and second year of training. Successful co-op students work in a program related, industry position and gain advanced job-readiness skills. Acceptance into co-op requires successful completion of first term coursework with a GPA of 2.3. 

Technology like computers, robots, lasers, fibre optics, artificial intelligence and satellite communications all use microelectronic technology.

In this program, you will gain the ability to solve technical and scientific problems with these and other technologies, while learning principles of electricity, embedded systems, communications, industrial electronics and problem solving skills. You'll also learn fault and failure isolation (troubleshooting) skills that are applicable to the immediate needs of employers.

The program emphasizes practical skills and state-of-the-art applications to ensure immediate applicability to the needs of industry.

Hands-on, industry relevant skills:-
Through an emphasis on practical skills that you can take straight to industry, the Electronics Engineering Technology will help you gain a comprehensive understanding of the principles of electricity, microcontrollers, communications, control systems and industrial electronics. You'll be given the opportunity to design and develop complex electronic systems and find solutions to real-world problems.