Nurses are ground zero when it comes to hands-on patient care and with National Nursing Week being celebrated, BarrieToday spoke to a couple of nurses who talked about the ups and downs of the job.
Nursing Week is observed at the same time every year to coincide with the founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale’s birthday on May 12.
The theme this year is Our Nurses, Our Future and showcases the many roles nurses play in a patient’s health-care journey.
'Proud to be a nurse'
Riley Symes is a registered nurse (RN) in the post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) in Barrie where she provides care for people directly after surgery.
Symes graduated from Laurentian University with a bachelor of science in nursing in 2019. She's approaching four years on the job and says she wouldn’t change a thing.
"I chose to attend Laurentian University as I knew it would help me prepare for my career," Symes tells BarrieToday, adding placements started early in first year and they had several hands-on labs throughout the program. “This wide variety of placements provided me with a solid backbone to begin my nursing career.”
Hailing from Barrie, Symes joined RVH as a student for her consolidation in the PACU. Soon after she was hired at the local hospital in the Surgery 2 inpatient unit, Symes says the team there really helped mould her as a nurse and it is where she gained a vast majority of her nursing skills.
“I then decided I wanted to try out the medicine side of nursing, so I joined the team on the cancer palliative inpatient unit," she says. "Just when I thought I had a majority of my nursing skills under my belt, I gained even more. I had no idea how different medicine and surgery could be, but I was so glad to see and experience both sides."
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic struck only a few months into her career.
“I ended up going back to Surgery 2 where multiple times throughout COVID we would be reassigned to a new specialty due to outbreaks throughout the hospital," Symes says. "This was a very difficult time, but our team continued to adjust and work together to learn and practise in new areas.
“I also had a brief period working in the intensive care unit (ICU) during COVID as they were in desperate need of extra hands," she adds. "This opened my eyes to a whole other side of nursing and skills."
Symes says she continues to take several courses to further expand her knowledge and improve on the quality of care. She has also been given the opportunity to join a team of operating room nurses, recovery room nurses, anesthesiologists, anesthesiology assistants, and surgeons to Guatemala where RVH provided care to individuals who were in dire need of surgery.
While still in the early years of her career, Symes says she has come across many challenges so far, such as short staffing, stress and, of course, the pandemic. But with each challenge, she and other nurses say they continue to get through it with a smile on their faces and hearts on their sleeves.
“This is what makes me proud to be a nurse and proud to be in a profession where we bind together and with every challenge we only get stronger,” Symes says. “I hope for our future we see a change in health care that provides better support for nurses so we can continue to provide our best quality of care for our patients.”
'Nurses are life-long learners'
Barrie resident Mandy Scott has been a nurse for 19 years and currently works in the ICU at RVH, which was very difficult over the course of two years during the pandemic.
“COVID was overwhelming the ICU and they needed more staff to help," Scott says. "As tolling and challenging as this was to enter into a completely new area at such a crucial time, it was a completely different way of thinking, learning and growing. I am able to incorporate all of my experience in this role. I love being at the bedside. The ICU team is like a family and they are amazing to work with. I decided to stay in the ICU.”
Prior to her work in ICU, Scott had worked in the Surgery 3 inpatient unit and surgical step-down unit since 2004, which was after she graduated from nursing school.
“I actually completed my nursing school consolidation here and was offered a job on my last day," she says. "I held the position of resource nurse for almost eight years. I love surgery, being a part of new procedures, health teaching, learning, and being a part of a patient's surgical journey to recovery."
As a resource nurse, Scott was responsible for leading and supporting her team, communicating with physicians, dealing with patient flow, ensuring adequate assignments and staffing ratios, and advocating for both patients and staff.
When asked about the biggest challenges and most rewarding victories of her career so far, Scott says the pandemic was the biggest challenge, without question.
“I feel like a big win for me is transitioning from surgery resource nurse to ICU bedside nurse," says Scott, who is also the co-lead for the implementation of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) team for bowel surgery patients.
"This was a new to us process of enhancing recovery after bowel surgery — creating nursing education as it was a big change, patient education booklets, and posters for patient teaching on the unit. This was a successful transition,” she adds.
Beginning her love and career of nursing 19 years ago, Scott says there have been many changes along the way.
“It has become more computerized; everything is done on computer or a device. Also, nurses have a lot more responsibility, need to know a lot more medications and have to take care of sicker patients,” she says.
The longtime nurse says her wish is that more people get into the profession and that others change their perception of the job.
“I think that the public thinks nursing is easy, and that nursing is just giving out medication and taking blood pressure," Scott says. "Nurses go through years of education to write a lengthy licensing exam, but it does not end there. Nurses are life-long learners. There is additional education to complete depending on where you want to work.
"For example, to work in ICU, you have to complete multiple courses, and then ongoing education to re-certify for advanced skills," she adds. "Nursing is hard work. You always have to be on your game. You are responsible for the care of sick individuals.”
Scott points out that nurses can be teachers to new nurses, help deliver babies, work in wound care, help as diabetes educators, critical care nurses, bedside nurses, assist in the operating room, work with anesthesia, manage units, have their own practice as a nurse practitioner, direct programs, and even become top executives at hospitals.
Despite the long hours, years of learning and stress, Scott admits she still loves the job.
“I love that you can help care for a patient at their worst of times and help them recover and get to see them go home. I love that I learn something new everyday,” she says. “I also love a good wound that you can help heal and put it all back together.”
Leanne Weeks, who is the vice-president and clinical and chief nursing executive at RVH, spoke about why having Nursing Week is so important.
“RVH’s nurses work many long, hard hours to keep our community healthy and safe,” Weeks says. "At more than 1,400 strong, they hold many roles throughout the health centre and touch almost every aspect of patient care.
"We are lucky to have such a caring and skilled team of nurses – they deserve to be celebrated every day.”
