Workplace Issues
Nurses, nurses everywhereWhen people think of nurses, they often think of hospitals. In fact, today's nurses practise in almost every context of society. SHARON ASCHAIEK -- Special to the Toronto Sun |
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"Nurses can work on cruise ships, at schools, hotels, physicians' offices, as home care nurses, developing nursing policy, teaching -- almost anywhere nursing services are needed," says Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, president of the Ontario Nurses'Association.
Laren Burneman is someone who's experienced three different areas of the profession during her 38 years as a nurse. Her career began in 1970 working for downtown Toronto hospitals, followed by a brief stint as a home care nurse before beginning her current role in 1970 as a public health nurse in the GTA.
Burneman joined the Child and Family Health team, and for 24 years, she visited moms and their newborns at their homes to provide parenting information and support that would help them adjust to their new situation.
"It was wonderful watching the child develop and the parent improve their ability to cope," Burneman says. "You're helping the next generation and making an impact on people's lives so that they can better their lives."
Three years ago, Burneman moved into a program planning role in public health. She currently runs Nobody's Perfect, a free parenting group that takes place in various local community centres and offers new parents information on understanding their children's develop- ment and bonding with them.
Burneman also conducts research that identifies and attempts to address the various parenting needs of the community she serves. She recently completed a two-year research project that evaluated the ethnocultural requirements of local new parents.
"I like to learn, and I haven't done something like this before, it's so different for me," Burneman says.
Overall, Burneman says, she enjoys the independence and variety of work that comes with being a public health nurse.
"I like the fact that I don't answer to a physician and have complete autonomy in my job," she says. "I also really like the flexibility the job provides, the fact that I'm treated like a professional, and I get to use a broad range of my skills."
The same passion for the profession is behind Anne Connolly's 34-year nursing career. A member of the Victorian Order of Nurses, Canada's largest, national, non-profit home and community care organization, and serving the East York area, Connolly visits between 50 and 60 patients per week at their homes.
She serves a variety of patients and performs a broad range of functions, from changing wound dressings to facilitating dialysis treatments to providing palliative care.
"There's a huge learning curve, but the learning is very rewarding," Connolly says. "You become very good at being a jack of all trades."
A key highlight of the job for Connolly is the autonomy she enjoys in directing the care of her patients.
"I like being able to make a decision on a certain amount of a patient's care," she says. "When I walk into a patient's home, I don't get disturbed until I'm finished with that patient; the patient gets my undivided attention."
The independence home care nurses enjoy, and the variety between different home settings, means that they often need to use ingenuity to get things done, Connolly says. She adds that home care nurses should be good collaborators so that they can effectively work with other health-care providers to facilitate patients' care.
Connolly says that ultimately, she feels she can provide higher quality care to patients as a home care nurse.
"It's a more comprehensive type of nursing that takes the whole client and their living situation into account," she says. "It usually works out much better for patients."
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