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UBC Nursing Undergraduate Society newsletter: September 2012 issueUBC Nursing Undergraduate Society newsletter: September 2012 issueNext NUS meeting:Next NUS meeting: September 5, 2012 September 5, 2012

In this issue:Page 1

● Welcome!● Upcoming Events● UBC Nursing Clothing

Page 2

● Orientation 2012

Page 3 - 4

● The Employed Student Nurse Experience

Page 5

● Calendar

NUS Meeting (September 5, 1200 in room T206) Everyone welcome!

Book Consignment (September 6, 1215 in room T187) Come find some of your textbooks at more reasonable prices and support our charity, the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada.

Welcome Back Social (TBA) More details to come soon!

Nursing Rounds (September 17, 1210 - 1250) Organized by the CRNBC student representatives, this talk will be on the topic of Social Media.

CNSA Western Regional Conference (October 19 – 21) The next Canadian Nursing Students' Association Western Regional Conference will be held in our very own city of Vancouver at Library Square Conference Centre (350 West Georgia Street). The theme for this year’s conference will be “Beyond the Bevel – Nursing in Vancouver’s Four Pillars Model” to discuss the topic of harm reduction and how it can be applied in various settings. The CNSA is the national voice of nursing students, dedicated to improving the legal, ethical, professional, and educational aspects which are an integral part of nursing and nursing education. For more information, talk to your CNSA delegates: Jodi Meacher and Emily Lester. See www.cnsa.ca/english/conferences/western for conference details and registration.

Halloween Party (TBA) Start thinking about spooktacluar costumes (with all those fresh brains) to wow the crowd at this sure-to-be-amazing extravaganza.

Upcoming EventsUpcoming Events

Welcome back to everyone in 4th term. Hopefully the summer was wonderful and you're feeling refreshed and ready to take on this second-to-last term.

Also a big welcome to all of the new students! Don't worry, it may all sound pretty intimidating right now, but it's really quite manageable.

All the best for the fall term!

Contact Us:

nusubc2012@gmail.com

Welcome!Welcome!

T-Shirts are in...T-Shirts are in...If you ordered one, look out for an email from the NUS Blue Sales Reps (Jill and Alexa) telling you when and where to pick it up. Ordering information for the UBC Nursing sweaters will be out in October. Email questions to bluesalesubc@gmail.com

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UBC Nursing Undergraduate Society newsletter: September 2012 issueUBC Nursing Undergraduate Society newsletter: September 2012 issueOrientation 2012 Orientation 2012 [Caroline Martini, NUS Orientation Coordinator][Caroline Martini, NUS Orientation Coordinator]

UBC Nursing officially welcomed the new cohort of Nursing Students this past August 29 th and 30th. Orientation 2012 started with a big welcome from faculty and 4th year student volunteers first thing Wednesday morning. The new students got moving and meeting each other right away with a round of ‘Icebreaker Bingo’ before heading out to the morning welcome speeches. Our very own NUS President and VP, Erin Devlin and Natalie Lu were on hand at the speeches and gave an enthusiastic and warm welcome on behalf of the 2011-2013 cohort. At noon, we packed the Student Nursing Lounge with new and upper year students for the lunch hour Eat & Greet. On Thursday the NUS hosted a free lunch time barbeque on the lawn outside of Woodward Library. We had sun, blankets, music, a very hot barbeque and lots of fun! Later that afternoon, Erin Devlin, Natalie Lu and Caroline Martini hosted a “Student Life” session at the Resource Fair where they introduced the new students to NUS activities and UBC resources as well as sharing student-friendly Vancouver hangouts and destinations with those who are new to the area. It was so exciting to meet the new students and to think that a mere 12 months ago it was our cohort just starting out at UBC Nursing. It’s amazing how far we have come in a year!A special thanks to Elsie Tan and Cathy Ebbehoj and their crew of faculty Orientation Committee members as well as all of the fabulous 4th year student volunteers who took time out of their summer break to support this event:

Maren AkyerukAmy AshVerity BuskardErin DevlinAlexa HareChristine JosephCamille LefortLenita LeongBrandin LilgertNatalie LuJodi MeacherJill NolanKristen RasmussenErin RobinsonSam RudolphAnnes SongLisa SzegediNatalie TabakmanOswin TseLuba VeverytsaHeather Yaki

Without this amazing group of people Orientation would not have been such a success!

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UBC Nursing Undergraduate Society newsletter: September 2012 issueUBC Nursing Undergraduate Society newsletter: September 2012 issueThe Employed Student Nurse Experience The Employed Student Nurse Experience

Over the summer break some of us chose to take advantage of the Employed Student Nurse (ESN) program in a variety of health authorites and locations. The ESN program allows those who have completed their 3 rd year to work as student nurses, meaning they work within the scope of what they have learned in school and they work under the guidance of an RN. ESNs are registered and held accountable through the CRNBC so they need to familiarize themselves with the CRNBC's policy on Employed Student Nurses (available at www.crnbc.ca/Standards/Lists/StandardResources/435EmployedStudentNurse.pdf). Application packages for registration are also available on the CRNBC website. While you do need to have a job in order to complete the application, the process can be started before you are hired. Each health authority has different application deadlines, some already in the fall, so if you are interested in being an ESN, monitor the health authority websites or ask the 4th term group about this.

Here are what some people had to say about their experiences as ESNs....

Insite - Jodi Meacher

As soon as I heard about the ESN program, I knew I would be applying for a job. Why wouldn’t you want more clinical experience, money and the opportunity to network with employers? I see the benefit of enjoying an August off after 11 months of continual school, but my motivation was to get involved in my career as soon as possible and that happens after term three when you can become an ESN. Due to the crammed schedule UBC does not seem to endorse the ESN positions, but all ESNs I have spoken with have enjoyed many benefits including being hired upon graduation! Along with two other students in our class, my position is at Insite – the supervised injection site in the downtown eastside and after three weeks of work I can say I have learnt a lot. I have assisted with overdose management (administering oxygen, Narcan, monitoring oxygen saturation rates, contacting paramedics), dealt with bear spray victims, cleansed and bandaged numerous pungent wounds, and worked upstairs in Onsite assisting people who are withdrawing from their drug habit in the detox center. By September I will also have completed Introduction to Wound Care and Non-Violent Crisis Intervention Courses that I will have been paid to do! This job is an amazing opportunity to be at the heart of harm reduction, to hear heartbreaking stories and to be a part of the compassionate and caring neighbourhood that is the downtown eastside.

Richmond General Hospital, 4N - Elynn Chen

The highlights of working as an ESN were definitely getting more chances to practice skills as well as observe how RNs work. When we're in clinical, we often have a teacher watching over our shoulders as we work. As an ESN, we are very much on our own and I think it's a great experience to be able to feel independent and gain confidence in assessment and intervention skills. As much as I enjoyed being independent, I initially found it very challenging not to have someone double-checking my work. With only 6 weeks in a surgical placement, it goes by so fast and it's hard to gain confidence in what you do. As an ESN, it was challenging to trust that I knew what I was doing. 

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UBC Nursing Undergraduate Society newsletter: September 2012 issueUBC Nursing Undergraduate Society newsletter: September 2012 issueMore ESN Experiences...More ESN Experiences...

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I would definitely recommend Richmond to other students. Richmond is one of only 2 hospitals in VCH that employ ERNs (experienced resource nurses) who are float nurses with loads of experience. Learning from them has proved extremely rewarding as they are all very efficient with their work and have lots of advice and tips for you. 

Lions Gate Hospital, Orthopedics (6W) - Caroline Martini

It was very inspiring to work with recent grads who really know what they're doing! I now actually think it’s possible that I’ll be able to manage once I graduate in April!

It was challenging getting used to 12hrs and night shifts but my expectations were so much worse than the reality! It really wasn’t that bad at all, and the 5 days off in between – totally awesome.

Ortho at LGH has a combination of elective and non-elective surgeries but the majority are non-elective and involve the geriatric population – lots of broken hips due to a fall. It’s heavy work because your patients aren’t ambulatory, are in a lot of pain and many have co-morbidities such as dementia. It can be challenging work. That said, the nurses on this ward are fabulous. They work closely with the physiotherapists and occupational therapists and have a great relationship with the surgeons. Also, there is a designated nurse on the ward called the ‘Resource Nurse’ who is your go-to for anything that you are unsure of or need help with. The entire staff is so welcoming and supportive - I would highly recommend this site to other students!

BC Children’s Hospital, Emergency Department - Mike Acton

It has been a great experience as I have gained some incredible practical nursing experience in many of those skills that we either don’t really focus on in school (such as 12-lead ECGs), don’t have the time/chance to do, or just isn’t really taught (such as the day-to-day administrative stuff a nurse is also responsible for in addition to patient care). That all said, the definite highlights have been being in the trauma room when major traumas are brought in by ambulance. It’s an exciting, adrenalin filled experience, with a lot on the line, and it is definitely organized chaos. I love it!

The biggest challenge though, has been transition from that overly supervised and guided environment that is school, into one where you have a little (ok, a lot) more independence to make decisions, assessments, liaison with doctors, etc. You have to think on your feet, with your own brain (not your instructor's), and transitioning into that nursing mindset has been the most challenging.

I would definitely recommend BC Children’s Hospital, and particularly the ER (only if you’re comfortable in that type of environment though). You’ll become comfortable working with children (and their families) in a stressful, high-paced environment, get to practice a lot of skills, and get paid well ($25/hour plus an extra $3/hour for working a night shift on a weekend? YES PLEASE!).

Plus, I get to wear Transformers t-shirts to work…

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UBC Nursing Undergraduate Society newsletter: September 2012 issueUBC Nursing Undergraduate Society newsletter: September 2012 issue

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NUS meeting 1200, T206

UBC BLOODMOBILE @ Abdul Ladha Science Centre

Make an appointment to donate!

Book Consignment 1210, T187

NUS meeting 12pm

Nursing Rounds

1210

Run For the Cure

Labour Day