My Nursing Career started at MSA Hospital , Abbotsford, British Columbia. My first year I worked a medical unit primarily it what is now known as hospice. I loved my job and the connections I could make with the patients and families. I have always thought it was one of the most honorable places to work as a nurse.
The next 14 years I was trained and worked on a rapidly growing perinatal unit. I worked with the most incredible people with strong values and impecable procedures and deep compassion. It was the days when we could actually spend time sitting with a patient and engage them. It was a time when we actually know the person we were nursing. And patients actually trusted us.
I took near ten years off from nursing and worked in communities around British Columbia both on contract and in the counselling and addiction field.
In 2001 I returned to hospital nursing and in 2002 went to the US and worked on contract until 2009. I worked for an outstanding company called Agostini Nurse Staffing. They treated me extemely well, we positive and were always there when I needed some support.
Nursing is still a great profession. The challenge for us now is our patients are sicker and the legal system, government regulations, and accountability experts have made the profession a job filled with papesrwork, computers and little time for actual patient interaction. The layers of administrative people on the units take up so much of the budget the bedside nurses are fewer than needed. The bedside nurse is constantly watched and reported. One hospital I worked at had a designated night assistant manager watching and reporting every action the 10 bedside nurses did. She read all the computer charting and went to the patients and asked for what her nurse was doing that she could do better. At the end of the night she would present you with your list of what you did wrong. You either could try and explain why you did things the way you did or smile and say thank you and walk away. I learned to say thank you and walk away. It created a very tense working environment.
The smaller hospitals seem to do better at giving the bedside nurse the support she needed to give care. Unfortunately, the resources and technology are not affortable.
I add to that the reported errors in care, the patients arrive not trusting and somewhat fearful of what we might do to them.
I have worked in administration. Did not care for it much. I much preferred bedside nursing. One day I may return.
I have a great deal of compassion for nurse, they have a tough job. I am just not sure I want to return to the system.
While in the US I was often asked about our Canadian systsem. I usually avoided much discussion. All one really has to do is look at the health statistics per capita and make a decison on what system works better. Are people healthier in Canada? US? Sweden? UK? China? What is the mortality rate of babies? What are the leading causes of death? Look at those things and you can find the answer of what is the best system for yourself.
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