Island nurses graduate in critical care and emergency nursing
Nine nurses from two PEI hospitals graduated today from the critical care and emergency nursing program at the University of Prince Edward Island. They were the second group of nurses to complete this specialized professional training at UPEI. Seven of their colleagues graduated last December.
The graduates are Trenna Adams, Colleen Murphy, Emily Walters, Kelley Doyle, and Angela Steele from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), and Ginette Gallant, Christa Bertram, Beverly Kennedy, and Lyndsey Spencer from the Prince County Hospital (PCH). All nine are employed in intensive care units or emergency departments. Their training included classroom study, lab simulation, and clinical placements.
'I have a better understanding of many disease processes, including congestive heart failure. Having this increased knowledge made me more confident in my decisions,' says Christa Bertram from the PCH. 'It was a great feeling to be able to anticipate the physician's orders and start preparing things before they were needed.'
Angela Steele from the QEH agrees: 'This was the second time that I looked after someone with a temporary pacing wire. The first time was prior to the course. I feel that this time I was much more at ease because I had the proper knowledge base and theory needed to properly care for the patient.'
The graduation marks the end of this phase of the program. It was one of ten pilot projects in a pan-Canadian initiative called Research to Action: Applied Workplace Solutions for Nurses, led by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and funded by Health Canada. The projects were aimed at testing retention and recruitment strategies to address the nursing shortage. Also partnering with the UPEI School of Nursing were the PEI Department of Health and the PEI Nurses Union.
The UPEI School of Nursing has surveyed its Bachelor of Nursing graduates from this year and determined that there is significant support for continuing this type of professional training in the future:
'They have expressed great interest; 84 per cent stated they would take this course, some saying they would leave the Island to get it if it is not available here,' says Judith Cotton, project manager. 'So it could well become an important retention strategy.'
UPEI is examining various ways that it might continue the program to meet the needs of PEI nurses.
'Now that the pilot project has been completed, we are looking at sustainability for the future,' says Cotton. 'We would like to once again work collaboratively with government to provide the necessary education to support excellence in nursing in Prince Edward Island.'
