Alumni Spotlight: Virginia Carlton

Virgina Carlton’s interest in advancing her skills as an educator and leader emerged from her work as an operating room nurse in cardiac surgery. “I remember when I started out in the OR and feeling like I didn’t belong and was unsure what was happening,” she says. “That’s why I took a different approach with students and new graduates. I always took the time to make them feel comfortable, intentionally explaining what was happening.”

With her clear aptitude for education, Virginia advanced into an educator position and then worked as a patient care manager within the perioperative area.

“Although I had mentors and people who guided me, I had not received formal training and skill development as a clinical educator,” she says. This was one of several motivating factors that led her to explore her options for a master’s degree. 

The Master of Health Leadership & Policy in Clinical Education stood out for its alignment with her understanding of the interconnection between leadership and clinical education: “My experience has shown me that education is an important retention and recruitment strategy – done well, education is a great way to keep people engaged in their work and build your team.”

Developing a multi-layered approach to clinical education

The MHLP in Clinical Education offers an interdisciplinary curriculum, with courses on clinical education and health-care leadership taught by UBC School of Nursing, and courses on business, leadership and strategy taught through UBC Sauder School of Business.

Virginia says the clinical education courses helped her understand why meaningful learning requires structure, repetition and intentional design. “It’s not just one and done. You have a two minute at the bedside, then a 30 minute in service, then once a year an education day. All the skills and theories are repeated and transformed.”

She also came away with a deeper appreciation for the importance of preparation and debriefing – elements that she says are chronically under-resourced in clinical environments.

“The pre-work and post-work pieces are crucially important, but they do not get the same priority or funding,” she says. “As a leader, the key piece for me is the follow-through – checking back with the learner and reflecting with them on how to be more effective.”

The organizational leadership course was another highlight. “Going into the program I had a good idea of the kind of leader I am and aspire to be. However, this course prompted me to recognize that in some situations, I need to adapt my approach – the context is not going to adapt to me.”

A practicum that revealed system gaps

MHLP students complete a 70-hour practicum, with positions and placements overseen by Program Director Ashley Scott. Virginia had specified that she was interested in a project that required a broad, systems approach outside her prior expertise in emergency and surgery nursing.

Her practicum required her to complete a regional review of palliative care education across Vancouver Coastal Health, where palliative care is offered in a range of environments (from urban to rural and remote) and settings (hospitals and homes). Virginia used national standards as a baseline and then used AI to look for patterns and gaps. Her two main findings were that there is a gap in Indigenous cultural palliative care and a gap in education for practitioners who’ve worked in the field for more than a few years.

“There’s a lot of work in early education and advanced specialty education, but that middle piece is missing – and that’s actually when we see a lot of nurses leaving the practice. This finding validated my understanding of the importance of using education to retain staff.”

She’s shared her insights in five presentations with teams across VCH who are interested in integrating existing educational content for palliative care teams.

Applying her skills in a new director role

Virginia was enrolled in the part-time MHLP, and over the course of the two-year program she worked full time and advanced into three roles of increasing responsibility: Senior Clinical Operations Lead, Patient Care Manager at St Paul’s Hospital Emergency and, as of May 2025, Director of the Patient Care Quality Office.

“The MHLP is a very inspiring program,” she says with a laugh, “and I kept looking for opportunities to apply my growing skills!”

In her current position, she is reviewing current policies, standardizing data and outcome measures across departments, moving to embed Indigenous review processes within the work, building relationships with strategic partners and more. It’s a job that enables her to apply her wide-ranging knowledge, leadership skills and passion for excellence.

She credits the MHLP with helping her become a more grounded, intentional leader. “I’m more responsive and less reactive. I can leave something and come back to it later – and my work-life balance is a lot better!”