Sample of The Registered Practical Nursing Journal

THE REGISTERED PRACTICAL WINTER 2013
NURSING JOURNAL
“Enhancing Professional Competency”
“I’m Where I’m
Supposed to Be”
A profile of an
award-winning RPN,
Joanne Greenwood
The Power of
Mentorship
Use it to enhance
your career
The Right Care
in the Right Place
An RPNAO policy update
A Mother’s Promise
How one courageous woman
delivered on a vow to her late son
Also in This Issue:
• President’s Message (Playing It Safe With Social Media) • RPNAO Award Winners • ORSIG’s Message
• Executive Director’s Message (Embracing the Power of Mentorship) • Worldwide Nursing News

Advance & Enhance
Your Nursing Career...
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difference — in your practice and your profession.
So, apply for, or renew, your Half-Year Membership
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receive as a member, but the essential advocacy efforts
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Renewing or applying is both quick and easy. You
can do so: 1) Securely Online; 2) By Email; 3) Via
Phone or Fax; or 4) Through Traditional Mail —
the choice is yours!
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Putting Knowledge and Compassion into Action - Ontario’s RPNs
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THE REGISTERED PRACTICAL
NURSING
WINTER 2013
5
JOURNAL
“Enhancing Professional
Competency”
A Quarterly Publication of the
Registered Practical Nurses
Association of Ontario
5025 Orbitor Drive, Building 4, Suite 200
Mississauga, ON L4W 4Y5
Phone: 905.602.4664, ext. 221 or 222
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RPNAO
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Warren Weeks
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Cover (main) and Page 11 (below):
A profile of RPN Joanne Greenwood,
the winner of RPNAO’s 2012 Award
of Excellence and Innovation.
Justin Van Leeuwen Photo
Cover (inset) and Page 9 (below):
Overcoming adversity, Connie Kornek
became an RPN at the age of 50,
delivering on a promise to her late son.
Allison Kennedy Photo
Page 6 (below): Celebrating the groups
and individuals who received awards
at RPNAO’s 2012 AGM & Conference.
Graeme Robertson Photo
10
6
9
11
Departments
2
3
10
5
6
8
9
Executive Director’s Message
Embracing the Power of Mentorship
by Dianne Martin
President’s Message
Playing It Safe With Social Media
by Brenda Mundy
Worldwide Nursing News
Stories From Around the Globe on How &
What Our Nursing Colleagues Are Doing
Features
11
12
12
The Power of Mentorship
RPNAO Unveils New Mentorship Program
by RPN Journal Staff
RPNAO 2012 Award Winners
RPNAO Celebrates Its 2012 Individual
and Organizational Award Winners
Right Care in the Right Place
An RPNAO Policy Update
by Searle Schonewille
A Mother’s Promise
The Inspiring Story of Connie Kornek
by RPN Journal Staff
“Where I’m Supposed to Be”
A Profile of RPN Joanne Greenwood
by RPN Journal Staff
AGM & Conference Recap
An Overview of RPNAO’s 54th AGM
by RPN Journal Staff
A Message From ORSIG
An update from the Operating Room
Specialty Interest Group
Real Nursing, Real Health Care — For a Better Ontario
1

The Power of
Mentorship
Helen Keller had one. As did Oprah
Winfrey. Mahatma Gandhi had one
too. I’m talking, of course, about a
mentor.
It’s impossible to gauge the impact
a great mentor can have. But it’s safe
to say the inspirational achievements
of these three people can be traced
back, at least to some extent, to the
support and encouragement they
received from Anne Sullivan, fourth
grade teacher Mrs. Duncan and Indian
leader Dadabhai Naoroji.
Mentorship can be a powerful way
to help you achieve your career goals.
There are times when each of us is
faced with difficult questions or decisions
that can have a profound impact
on our career as an RPN. Being able to
face those situations with a mentor in
your corner – with all of their wisdom,
insight and guidance – can make all
the difference in the world.
In case you’re not familiar with
the term, ‘mentorship’ is basically a
longer-term relationship in which
someone with more career experience
(the mentor) supports and encourages
a less experienced individual (the
mentee) to help that person grow and
develop professionally and personally.
I consider myself very fortunate to
have practically stumbled upon the
power of mentorship at a pivotal
point in my career. The year was
2003. I was representing my unit on
the nursing practice council of the
hospital where I was working. After a
council meeting one day, Sue Matthews
(currently Interim President &
CEO at the Niagara Health System),
who at that time was the chief nursing
officer and co-chair of the council,
asked me if I would be interested in
having a mentor/mentee relationship.
My initial reaction was to look behind
me to see who she was talking to. I
was sure she had me confused with
someone else. When she reiterated
her request, I eagerly accepted. And I
can tell you that this relationship with
my mentor Sue, which is still ongoing,
has been absolutely central to my
career ever since.
I’m such a big believer in mentorship,
as a matter of fact, that I recently
made the decision to become a
mentor myself to an RPN who is just
starting out in her career. And as we
embark on this new relationship, I
can only hope to provide her with the
same type of support and guidance
I’ve been so lucky to receive over the
years from my mentor.
Do you think you’d benefit from becoming
a mentor or mentee RPNAO
is currently developing a new program
that will deliver the mentorship
experience to Ontario RPNs. This pro-
( cont’d on p.13)
RPNAO Board of Directors & Staff Information
Dianne Martin, RPN RN BScN MA
Executive Director
dmartin@rpnao.org
Beth McCracken, RPN
Nursing Practice and
Outreach Specialist
bmccracken@rpnao.org
Pia Ramos-Javellana, BSc, CGA
Manager, Finance
pjavellana@rpnao.org
Rocio Lock, CMP
Manager, Membership &
Administration
rlock@rpnao.org
Annette Weeres, RN BScN MN
Director, Professional Practice
aweeres@rpnao.org
Searle Schonewille, MA
Director, Policy Development
and Government Relations
sschonewille@rpnao.org
Olivia Vargas
Administrative Assistant
ovargas@rpnao.org
Government Initiatives
Gabrielle Bridle, RPN
Career Advisor,
Recruitment & Retention
gbridle@rpnao.org
Renuka Kumar, BA
Government Education
Initiatives Co-ordinator
rkumar@rpnao.org
Noura Osman
Application Consultant
nosman@rpnao.org
Ruth Hernandez
Application Consultant
rhernandez@rpnao.org
Katarzyna Majewski
Accounting Administrator
kmajewski@rpnao.org
Dipti Parikh
Administrative Assistant
dparikh@rpnao.org
–––––––
Rita Stasiuleviciene
Application Consultant
rstas@ahpdf.ca
Your 2013/14 RPNAO Board of Directors
Brenda Mundy, RPN
President
(serving until 2014)
Linda Gould, RPN
Past-President
(serving until 2014)
Ben Cooper, RPN
Board Secretary
and Board Member
RPNAO Region 7;
(serving until 2014)
Linda Keirl, RPN
Board Member
RPNAO Region 1
(serving until 2014)
Anne McKenzie, RPN
Board Member
RPNAO Region 2;
(serving until 2014)
Lindsay Dracz, RPN
Board Member
RPNAO Region 3;
(serving until 2013)
Yvonne Ramlall, RPN
Board Member
RPNAO Region 4;
(serving until 2014)
Kevin Boake, RPN
Board Member
RPNAO Region 5;
(serving until 2014)
Sherry Shanahan, RPN
Board Member
RPNAO Region 6;
(serving until 2013)
2 “The Voice of Registered
“Enhancing Practical Nursing Professional in Ontario” Competency”

Playing It Safe
With Social Media
Quick, name three media companies…
If you’re like most people, you might
be thinking of your local newspaper,
CBC, CTV or CNN.
The chances are probably not very
good, however, that you’re thinking
about yourself as a media company.
However, if you’re using social media
platforms like Facebook, Twitter,
Google+ or YouTube, that’s precisely
what you are. After all, you’re broadcasting
pictures, video clips, ideas
and opinions to your social media
circle. You’re doing the same thing
Peter Mansbridge does, just on a
smaller scale.
Thinking of yourself as a media
company might seem like a bit of a
stretch for many. But it’s an important
concept to consider. After all,
what we nurses say on these social
media platforms – even in the privacy
of our own homes – can have implications
on our profession, jobs, our
families and our employers.
This past summer, a group of nurses
at the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital
in the Philippines ‘liked’ a doctor’s
Facebook post that criticized hospital
management. Not long after, 16 nurses
who liked the post were fired and their
certificates of employment withheld.
In 2010, Cheryl James, a nurse at
Oakwood Hospital in Michigan, posted
derogatory comments about a man
who had allegedly shot and killed a
police officer. Even though the comments
were made on her personal
Facebook page from her home, she
was fired for disseminating protected
health information.
In the fall of 2011, a nurse at
Nottingham University Hospitals Trust
was fired after posting a picture of a
patient on Facebook.
The list goes on. And there will be
more. These examples might seem
avoidable to some. But it can happen
to even the most well-intentioned.
Let’s say it’s your colleague’s birthday.
You snap a pic and upload it to
Facebook. What you didn’t notice
was the patient information board in
the background. That’s a privacy
breach and a breach of the College
of Nurses’ standard of Confidentiality.
And that’s how these cautionary tales
often begin.
In a perfect world, every workplace
would have a social media policy. But
many hospitals and long-term care
facilities don’t have them yet. I frequently
give presentations on social
media and nurses often ask for advice.
Some RPNs say their organizations are
leaning toward bans on mobile devices
in the workplace. Personally, I can’t see
that happening. Mobile technology
( cont’d on p.13)
RPNs:
A Long History of
“Making a Difference.”
REGISTERED PRACTICAL NURSES ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO
Call us at 1-877-602-4664 or
email us at info@rpnao.org
pinAD_b.indd 1
www.rpnao.org
2/3/10 5:06:47 PM
RPNJ – Winter 2013
3

Advance Your Career Through Mentorship
RPNAO unveiling new program aimed at fostering professional
growth and development for RPNs
At any point in your career, access to
advice and counsel can be helpful in
refining your career path, clarifying
workplace issues or broadening your
network. And once you’ve attained
a certain level of expertise, you may
want to share that experience by
encouraging and supporting others—
the fundamentals of a mentee/mentor
relationship.
Beginning this spring, RPNAO’s
new program, Advancing Your
Career through Mentorship, will be
launched as an exciting addition to
the popular Career Directions program.
“When the program is officially
launched in the spring of 2013,
we’ll have a mechanism to establish
mentoring relationships that support
knowledge sharing, build self-confidence,
enhance individual careers
and benefit our areas of practice,”
said Gabrielle Bridle, Career Advisor
at RPNAO.
Participating in a mentor/mentee
relationship can bring with it a wide
range of benefits, including increased
self-confidence, enhanced direction
regarding your career goals and the
satisfaction that comes along with
giving back to your profession to
name just a few. RPNAO’s Executive
Director Dianne Martin knows
firsthand the positive impact mentorship
can have, both as a mentee to Dr.
Sue Matthews, Interim President and
Chief Executive Officer of the Niagara
Health System, and now as a mentor
“The program will
feature an online
matching program,
available exclusively
to RPNAO members.”
to a recent practical nursing graduate.
By giving RPNs across Ontario
access to the Advancing Your Career
through Mentorship program, RPNAO
is once more reinvesting in its membership
and providing nurses with yet
another program aimed at helping
them fulfill their career and learning
needs. A Career Conversation on
mentorship is currently available on
the RPNAO website.
If you’re interested in pursuing a
mentoring relationship, it’s advisable
by RPN Journal Staff
to first complete the existing online
Career Directions modules on the
RPNAO website, as they provide the
tools and strategies to help you develop
your personal career plan. With
that foundation in place, proceed to
the Advancing Your Career through
Mentorship module (a new, standalone
module that will accompany
the Career Directions program) for
valuable insight into mentorship and
the long-term benefits for both mentees
and mentors.
“One of the more innovative components
of RPNAO’s new mentorship
program is the manner in which mentees
and mentors will be matched,”
says Bridle. “The program will feature
an online matching program, available
exclusively to RPNAO members.
Prospective mentees and mentors will
complete an online profile, which will
include information such as education,
areas of expertise and interests.
This extensive ‘members only’ database
will then be accessible for review
and for mentees to self-select the
most appropriate mentor.”
RPNAO members visiting the site
can identify mentor candidates that
best align with their own personal
and professional goals, objectives and
areas of expertise and forward their
profiles directly to those individuals
for consideration.
Once your mentoring relationship
is established, both mentors and
mentees will have access to ongoing
support through a series of webinars
as well as counseling, guidance and
other resources available through
the program.
Please note that access to the database
is for RPNAO members only. If
you’re not a member yet, this is yet
another great reason to join your
professional association.
More information on the launch
of Advancing Your Career through
Mentorship will be available in the
coming months through RPNAO’s
website, our Facebook page and
our e-newsletter.
www.rpnao.org
RPNJ – Winter 2013
5

RPNAO’s 2012 Award Recipients
RPNAO Celebrates Its 2012 Individual and Organizational Award Winners
RPNAO’s Annual General
Meeting and Conference simply
wouldn’t be complete without
the annual awards banquet. The
members of the judging panel
really had their work cut out for
them this year, with a long list
of worthy nominees in each of
the award categories.
Please join us in congratulating
the following individuals and
organizations on their welldeserved
awards:
Award of Excellence
and Innovation
The recipient of the Award of
Excellence and Innovation was
Joanne Greenwood, an RPN with
the Rideau Family Health Team at
the Riverside Court Medical Clinic
in Ottawa (see our feature story
on Joanne on page 11).
Pictured (l to r): Chris Greenwood
(Joanne’s husband), RPN Joanne
Greenwood, her mother Caroline
Morrissey and her sister Marie
Morrissey.
President’s Award
The recipient of the President’s
Award was Colleen Lipskie, Senior
Policy Analyst with the Nursing
Secretariat.
Pictured (l to r): Toronto radio
personality and awards banquet
master of ceremonies Erin Davis,
RPNAO Executive Director Dianne
Martin, Nursing Secretariat Senior
Policy Analyst Colleen Lipskie and
RPNAO’s Past President Linda Gould.
eeee
6
“Enhancing Professional Competency”

Employer Award
of Excellence
The Employer Award of Excellence
was given to the Simcoe Muskoka
District Health Unit.
Pictured (l to r): RPNAO Executive
Director Dianne Martin, RPNAO Board
member Ben Cooper, former Simcoe
Muskoka District Health Unit Chief
Nursing Officer Joyce Fox, Sue Bellinger,
Sandi Steele, Kathy Purchase, Jenna
Shaw, Brice Bronson, Mary Newton and
the organization’s new Chief Nursing
Officer, Karen Ellis-Scharfenberg.
Excellence in
Journalism Award
There were two winners of RPNAO’s
Excellence in Journalism Award this
year. The Globe and Mail’s Public
Health Reporter André Picard won for
his story, Nurse Practitioners Don’t
Need Turf Battles.
Pictured: RPNAO Executive Director
Dianne Martin with Globe and Mail
Public Health Reporter André Picard.
Global TV Field Producer Kathlene
Calahan and Health Specialist Beatrice
Politi also won an Excellence in
Journalism award for their television
story titled, Patient Malnutrition.
Pictured (l to r): Radio personality Erin
Davis, RPNAO Executive Director Dianne
Martin, Global TV Field Producer
Kathlene Calahan, Global TV Health
Specialist Beatrice Politi.
www.rpnao.org
RPNJ – Winter 2013
7

The Right Care, the Right Time, the Right Place
A Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario Policy Update
by Searle Schonewille
The Ontario Government’s Action Plan
for Health Care released earlier this
year envisions a health care system that,
whenever possible, cares for people at
home and in the community, rather than
in hospitals and long-term care homes.
This strategy reflects a growing consensus
among health researchers and health
policy leaders that the current health
care delivery system is out-of-date – that
is too expensive, too inefficient, and too
unresponsive to the needs of patients.
The current system, it is argued, is too
focused on providing episodic acute care
and treating illness instead of promoting
good health, preventing and managing
disease, and addressing the socio-economic
determinants of health.
Patients, health professionals, and
policy-makers should ask themselves a
few poignant questions. For instance,
if 75 percent of good health is the
result of social and economic factors
outside the walls of hospitals and
other health care institutions, why
do we spend 70 cents of every public
health care dollar on hospitals, drugs,
and physicians Why do we treat
people after they are sick, instead of
helping them stay healthy in the first
place Why do we spend so much time
in emergency waiting rooms, when we
can get better value for our money
being treated in our homes, living
healthier and happier lives
In the simplest terms, people prefer
to receive care in their homes and communities,
rather than in hospitals and
long-term care homes. If people have
to go to the hospital, most want to get
back home as soon as possible. And
home care and community care happen
to cost patients and taxpayers much
less than care provided in hospitals and
long-term care homes. The average cost
of caring for a resident in his or her
home is $42 per day, compared to $126
per day in a long-term care home and
$842 per day in a hospital, according
to The Ontario Home Care Association.
There are still far too many people using
emergency room services unnecessarily,
instead of receiving optimal care
at lower costs in their homes and communities.
Last year, patients made over
271,000 unnecessary visits to emergency
rooms in Ontario when they could have
received the same (or even higher) quality
care at lower cost outside of the
hospital. And too many people have to
return to the hospital after being discharged
because they did not receive
the right follow up care in their homes.
In 2009 there were 140,000 instances
of patients readmitted to hospital in
Ontario within one month of their original
discharge date. This demonstrates
that too many people are having difficulty
getting the care they need in the
appropriate setting, which is forcing
them to rely on hospitals – and especially
on emergency departments – to get
the care they need.
The alternative to the current episodic
acute care system, according to
the Government and a broad array of
key health care stakeholders, is a more
patient-focused health care delivery
system that treats the whole patient
by providing care in the community in
which the patient lives and works and
by addressing the social and economic
determinants that impact the patient’s
health. Such a system would be embedded
in an integrated community-based
and patient-centred primary health care
network focused on health education,
wellness promotion, preventative care,
mental health care, seniors care, and the
management of chronic disease and disability.
A stronger primary health care
system that cares for people in their
communities would result in timelier
access and better patient health outcomes
while alleviating the pressure on
other parts of the health care system,
such as hospital emergency rooms. This
would free up beds and other resources
in hospitals and long-term care homes
for those who need them and save
money to invest elsewhere in the health
care system.
The challenge for the Ontario
Government will be to invest more
money and resources in the community
and home care sectors without
cutting investments in the acute care
and long-term care sectors – which will
be as important in the future as they
are today – especially given Ontario’s
expanding population, the escalating
costs of health technologies, and the
widening prevalence of people with
complex health conditions.
This more patient-centred system
requires the leadership of interdisciplinary
teams of health care professionals,
including nurses. The members of
these interdisciplinary teams must be
enabled to work to their full scopes of
practice in order to achieve the highest
quality patient care at the lowest
possible cost. All health professionals,
including nurses – and their professional
associations – must take leadership
roles in transforming our health care
system. Our patients deserve nothing
less than our full commitment to making
this happen.
8
“Enhancing Professional Competency”

A Mother’s Promise
Despite incredible adversity, Connie Kornek graduated from the practical nursing program at
Georgian College last fall at the age of 50, delivering on a promise she had made to her late son.
by RPN Journal Staff
< RPN Connie Kornek is pictured here in her Owen Sound, Ont., home, proudly displaying a
photo of her son Tyler and her practical nursing diploma from Georgian College.
Connie Kornek is the first to admit
that as a mother approaching the age
of 50, she didn’t exactly fit the profile
of the ‘typical’ practical nursing student.
But you know what they say: “A
deal’s a deal.”
Kornek had made a pact with her
son Tyler that if he successfully graduated
from his post-secondary program
to become a computer technician,
then she would go back to school and
become an RPN.
By the time Tyler successfully completed
his program and accepted a
job offer, Kornek was already busy
completing course upgrades in math,
chemistry, communications and other
subjects she would need in order to be
accepted into the nursing program at
Georgian College in Owen Sound.
Then, tragedy struck. On the night of
February 10, 2010, Tyler was killed in a
car accident. He was just 21 years old.
He was driving home from a friend’s
house when lost control of his car and
hit a pole. The accident punctured his
aorta and Tyler was killed instantly. His
mother makes a point of stressing that
there was no evidence her beloved
son was under the influence of alcohol
when the accident occurred.
Kornek was shattered by the loss
of her son. But instead of serving as
an excuse for her to give up on her
schooling, Tyler’s death steeled her
resolve to do whatever it took to
become a nurse.
“I made him a promise,” she says.
“We had a deal that if he got his
degree, then mom would do hers and
I wasn’t giving up.”
The day after Mother’s Day, just a
few months after her son’s death, she
received a call saying she had been
accepted into Georgian College’s practical
nursing program.
And after two difficult years of
studying and grieving, last fall, at the
age of 50, she delivered on her end
of her promise to her son when she
graduated from the program.
“Ever since I was a kid I wanted
to be a nurse. But I never had the
opportunity or could afford to go to
school,” Kornek says. “Life leads you
on a different path sometimes. But
there’s always a reason why.”
Completing the program wouldn’t
be easy. In addition to mourning the
loss of her son, she also had to deal
with the death of her father and an
illness that nearly took the life of her
daughter’s young boy.
Despite the incredible personal challenges,
Kornek says she did her best
to remain enthusiastic and optimistic.
Her classmates rallied behind her
strength and her ever-present sense of
humour, says Marion Lougas, a professor
and practical nursing coordinator
at Georgian College.
“A lot of the students actually looked
at her as kind of a mom figure,” says
( cont’d on p.13)
www.rpnao.org
RPNJ – Winter 2013
9

Worldwide Nursing News
A Look at What’s Happening With Our Nursing Colleagues Around the Globe
With our constant focus on nursing in
Ontario, it can sometimes be easy to
overlook some of the issues and events
that are happening in other parts of the
nursing universe. Here are some of the
more recent stories affecting nurses at
home and abroad.
NEW YORK, New York — Hurricane
Sandy struck the northeastern US with
a vengeance in October, killing well
over 100 people, injuring countless
others and causing billions of damage
in that country alone.
But amid the tragedy, a story of
courage, bravery and dedication
emerged: the nurses who rose to the
challenge of providing care during a
crisis, evacuating patients in the middle
of a natural disaster and working
together to save lives during the
emergency. Hundreds of patients had to
be evacuated from New York hospitals
during the hurricane, including New
York University’s Langone Medical
Center, where nurses and other hospital
staff had to carry patients down
numerous flights of stairs to safety.
Among those patients were 20 newborns,
including four who required
respirators to breathe. In order to keep
them alive, nurses manually bagged the
babies all the way down nine flights of
stairs. One nurse in New Jersey even
swam 200 yards in order to report for
duty at the hospital — just one of the
many nurses who made a difference
during the hurricane.
LONDON, UK — In an important legal
victory, nurses in the UK who are
wrongly accused of criminal offences
will not have the allegations disclosed
to future employers.
Under the previous system, police
officers were able to record details of
criminal allegations against an individual,
regardless of whether there was
credible evidence to back up the claim.
This was particularly problematic for
nurses, who often undergo thorough
background and police checks as a
condition of employment. Like any
profession, some individuals who work
in nursing may commit crimes. But the
close relationship between nurses and
patients and the often-sensitive
nature of their work also makes them
vulnerable to being falsely accused of
abuse, theft or other crimes. The Royal
College of Nursing in the UK successfully
argued that keeping a record of
allegations back up by little or no
evidence could be “immensely damaging”
to the careers of many nurses.
They say they hope police forces in
other jurisdictions follow suit.
SURREY, British Columbia — Nurses
and other hospital staff at Surrey
Memorial Hospital are being praised for
their quick response to help patients
after the province’s busiest emergency
room flooded.
Nurses leapt into action and worked
alongside other hospital staff to
evacuate patients or move them to
other areas of safety in the hospital
as well as use towels, sheets and
anything else at their disposal to keep
the water at bay. The flood was
caused by a broken water main as the
result of a construction accident and
the emergency room remained closed
for a few weeks.
BRITISH COLUMBIA — Should all
health care workers be required to
get a flu shot as a condition of their
employment
Those who opposed a proposed
policy mandating flu shots for health
care workers have won a temporary
reprieve. After heated debate, the
provincial government has announced it
will temporarily back away from
enforcing a policy that requires thousands
of B.C. health care workers to get
a flu shot. Although the policy remains
in place, the province says it will
encourage compliance this year instead
of enforcing it. Under the policy, health
care workers would be required to get a
flu shot. If they refuse, they are to wear
a mask throughout flu season. The
province says it adopted the policy
because fewer than 50 per cent of
health care workers in B.C. are getting
the annual flu shot. The announcement
was met with vocal opposition from a
number of unions, who claimed the
measures were too heavy-handed.
WESTCLIFF-ON-SEA, UK — A woman
who is believed to be the longest-serving
nurse in England is retiring after a
career that spanned nearly six decades.
Jean Colclough, 74, began working as
a nurse in 1956, when she was just 18.
Her dedication to her job is all the more
impressive, considering that when she
was younger, Colclough had to have a
lung removed and was told she
wouldn’t live past 40. She told several
media outlets that she would happily
remain in her position, but that she was
taking retirement due to pension
reasons. Colclough initially wanted to
become a doctor, but her family
couldn’t afford the tuition. However,
she told the BBC she had no regrets: “I
don’t think I could have done better
than I have done.”
10
“Enhancing Professional Competency”

“I’m Where I’m Supposed to Be”
by RPN Journal Staff
Award-winning RPN Joanne Greenwood is an inspiration to patients and colleagues alike
At the RPNAO AGM and Conference
this past fall, an unassuming RPN
named Joanne Greenwood took to
the stage to accept the 2012 Award
of Excellence and Innovation. While
Greenwood herself is incredibly modest,
we couldn’t help but notice how
vocal and enthusiastic her colleagues
were about this nurse they affectionately
call ‘JoJo’. Intrigued by their
show of support, we set out to learn
more about this nurse, what makes
her tick and why she’s so beloved by
her patients and colleagues alike.
“I’ve learned that people will forget
“Joanne just has
a way with patients,
a way of making them
feel special. . . . She
greets each patient
by name and knows
their conditions,
their struggles, details
about their lives. . . .”
what you said, people will forget
what you did, but people will never
forget how you made them feel.”
If this quotation by Maya Angelou
is indeed true, then there are thousands
of patients of the Riverside
Court Medical Clinic in Ottawa who
will always remember how special
a nurse named Joanne Greenwood
made them feel.
“Joanne just has a way with patients,
a way of making them feel
special,” says Dr. Lisa Moore, Managing
Partner of the clinic where Greenwood
has worked as an RPN for the
past 10 years. “Joanne has an incredible
memory. She greets each patient
by name and knows their conditions,
their struggles, details about their
lives without having to look at their
charts. She makes them feel like a
person…like they’re important.”
For Greenwood’s part, she says,
“I’m where I should be. I love my job
and I love going to work with these
people. It’s like a family.”
It wasn’t always that way, though.
After starting her career in kinesiology,
Greenwood said she had a
consistent, nagging feeling that
“something was missing” in her
professional life. Taking her cue from
her mother and several aunts who
had worked as nurses, she enrolled
in the practical nursing program at
Algonquin College, from which she
graduated in 2000.
Since joining the Riverside Court
Medical Clinic in January of 2003,
Greenwood has become a popular
fixture there. In addition establishing
a track record as an exceptional
nurse with a broad knowledge base
in the specialty of primary carebased
nursing, she has also taken the
lead on numerous projects aimed
at continuously enhancing the best
practices in its nursing group. “To
a large extent, when patients talk
about this place, they’re talking
about her,” says Dr. Moore. There
are the elderly ‘snowbird’ patients
who spend their winters in Florida
and who write emails to the clinic
asking how ‘JoJo’ is doing. There’s
the woman who, two weeks after
Greenwood helped her through a
painful episode, made a special trip
to the clinic to say thank you. There’s
the Ottawa Senators fan who, knowing
Greenwood is a die-hard fan of
the Toronto Maple Leafs, brings in a
box of tissues for her whenever his
appointment coincides with a Leaf
loss. And there are thousands of
others who feel just as passionately
about Greenwood, who is the clinic’s
Lead Nurse and the RPN member of
its Family Health Team.
When asked why she’s able to connect
with patients so well, Greenwood
says, “I try to remember that
every patient I bring in is an individual.
I put my whole heart into it
and try to make them feel as comfortable
as possible. Hopefully they
remember that.”
While Greenwood says she feels
protective of all her patients, she
calls the geriatric and pediatric
patients her favourites. “With the
young ones, I love their innocence
and independence,” she says. “And
with the elderly, it’s their knowledge
and their history.”
“The clinic has a very diverse
multicultural patient population and
Joanne goes out of her way to greet
( cont’d on p.13)
www.rpnao.org RPNJ – Winter 2013
11

RPNAO 2012 AGM & Conference Recap
An overview of RPNAO’s 54th Annual General Meeting & Conference by RPN Journal Staff
For two days in late September,
hundreds of RPNs and other nursing
and health care professionals from
around the province gathered in
Toronto for RPNAO’s 54th Annual
General Meeting & Conference.
Thanks to a stimulating and jampacked
agenda of speakers, workshops
and presentations, the event
lived up to its aspirational theme:
“Putting Knowledge & Compassion
into Action”.
On Day One, participants were
treated to two pre-conference
workshops. RPNAO President
Brenda Mundy presented on the
popular topic of social media, providing
advice for how RPNs can maintain
professional standards as well as how
they can use social media to enhance
their professional practice. The second
workshop, presented by RPNAO’s
Gabrielle Bridle and Annette Weeres,
focused on building a successful career
and touched on topics such as the
importance of creating a career plan,
how to find a mentor and more.
Day One was rounded out by special
interest group meetings, RPNAO’s
AGM and the awards banquet.
=The second day
of the event saw
greetings and
opening comments
by Debra Bournes,
Provincial Chief
Nursing Officer
for Ontario and
Dianne Martin,
RPNAO’s Executive
Director. Attendees
were then treated
to an engaging and entertaining keynote
address by East Coast author and
former nurse manager Barb Fry. Attendees
then had their choice of nine
concurrent sessions,
a lively exhibit area
and a closing discussion
panel on the
topic of advancing
your career through
mentorship.
Thanks to everyone
who took the
time to attend the
2012 event. Plans
are already under way for our 2013
AGM & Conference. We’ll provide
details later in 2013 and we look forward
to seeing you there!
A Message From the RPNAO Operating Room Specialty Interest Group.
Have you ever wondered what’s
behind those doors leading to
an operating room
We can enlighten you.
OR Nursing is very different from any
other kind of nursing. That said, you
still implement your knowledge, skill,
judgment and evaluations every day
while advocating for your patient,
who is at his/her most vulnerable
during surgery.
The OR is a very fast-paced, technical
world where no two days are the
same. Vast knowledge is required
regarding surgeries including, but are
not limited to adult and pediatric general
surgery, cardiovascular, thoracic,
neurovascular, orthopedics, OB-Gyn,
plastics, ENT and urology.
Each year, the RPNAO Operating
Room Specialty Interest Group (ORSIG)
provides one Educational Conference
that includes its Annual General
Meeting and a plenary educational
session pertaining to OR nursing at
the RPNAO Annual General Meeting
and Conference.
We’re currently accepting nominations
to join our executive, as positions will
be vacant at the time of our next AGM.
If this has piqued your interest,
whether you work in an OR of not,
we invite you to attend our next conference
this Spring at Holland Orthopedic
and Arthritic Centre in Toronto
on April 26th and 27th, 2013.
For more information about our
group, email us at:
liztaylor5@hotmail.ca,
joanneross77@hotmail.
com, msparks0524@
rogers.com, or donna.
chojnacki@yahoo.com.
12
“Enhancing Professional Competency”

(The Power of... cont’d from p.2)
gram will include a robust mentorship
module that will enhance our popular
Career Directions program, as well
as a tool to help match mentors with
mentees. We’re very excited about
the potential for this new program,
which you can read about in more
detail on page 5.
If you’d like to learn more about
the benefits and the potential of
mentorship, visit the ‘RPN Careers’
page of our website and click on the
‘Advancing Your Career Through
Mentorship’ tab. There, you’ll find
an audio Career Conversation
focused on mentorship, featuring
the firsthand experiences of me, my
mentor and my mentee. The purpose
of this online conversation isn’t to
bore you with our personal stories
but, rather, to highlight the promise
and potential of the mentor/mentee
relationship and inspire you to take
advantage of this special dynamic in
your own career.
We’re aiming to unveil RPNAO’s
mentorship program early in 2013
and we encourage you to learn more
about it and take full advantage of it.
Dianne Martin,
RPNAO Executive Director
dmartin@rpnao.org
(Playing it Safe With... cont’d from p.3)
(A Mother’s Promise... cont’d from p.9)
Lougas. “It wasn’t easy. It was certainly
a struggle. But she knew that she
had to do this.”
And in those tough days, Kornek
says she leaned on her classmates
and teachers for support, which
helped her persevere even in the
darkest of times.
“I had immense support from my
classmates and my instructors,” she
says. “It just got me through it. I was
able to grieve.”
Kornek, who is currently working
in a long-term care facility in Durham,
Ontario, believes her story proves
that no matter how difficult life
becomes, there is always a reason
to keep believing.
“People in life who have gone
provides nurses with almost instant
access to research, best practice guidelines
and professional standards. Social
media is here to stay and asking nurses
to forego their phones doesn’t seem
like a realistic solution.
So what’s a nurse to do Well, if your
organization has a social media policy,
read it carefully and do your best to
adhere to it. If they don’t have such a
policy, however, it’s probably a good
idea use our professional guidelines and
standards around professionalism, ethics
and confidentiality to come up with
a common sense strategy for responsible
use of social media. That should
serve as a good cornerstone on which
to base your social media decisions.
As Kris Voycey, President of the
College of Nurses of Ontario said in
the fall 2011 edition of The Standard,
“New technologies come and go.
Professionalism, however, never
changes.”
Brenda Mundy,
RPNAO President
bmundy@rpnao.org
through traumas, they can still make
something out of themselves,” she
said. “Once you find out who you are,
the sky is the limit.”
Now, the highlight of Kornek’s day is
going into work and caring for patients.
“I want to go to work and make a
difference in someone’s day,” she says.
Kornek says the painful experiences
she suffered through over the
past several years have helped her to
become a nurse who truly understands
compassionate care.
“She knows the pain that people go
through and she knows the struggles
that people experience in their lives,”
says Lougas. “This was the avenue she
needed to pursue. She’s destined to be
a very good nurse.”
(I’m Where I’m... cont’d from p.11)
each patient in their first spoken
language,” says Jen Ball, a recentlygraduated
RPN who started working
in the clinic last spring. “And if she
doesn’t know how to say ‘hello’ in
their language, she’ll find out how
to say it and remember that the next
time they’re in.”
The clinic staff consists of eight doctors,
two nurse practitioners and four
RPNs. Greenwood and the other RPNs
ensure the patient flow is handled
efficiently in the 12-room clinic. “We
bring the patients in, get them ready
for the doctor, do vitals, prenatal
work if they’re pregnant, administer
shots, tests, whatever needs to be
done,” she says.
“Joanne’s so patient and kind,” says
Dr. Moore. “And on top of that, she’s
a great nurse. She’s skilled, she’s dependable
and she’s always taking the
initiative to help make this a better
place to work.”
“I learn something from her every
day,” says Ball. “She’s gracious,
empathetic, caring – her attention
to detail with everything she does is
inspiring. She’s everything I’d like to
be in a nurse.”
Greenwood’s colleagues nominated
her for RPNAO’s Award of Excellence
and Innovation without her
knowledge. As Dr. Moore explains,
“Joanne never wants to be the centre
of attention.” When she received the
call letting her know she had won the
award, Greenwood was surrounded
by all her colleagues at the clinic.
“It was quite touching,” says Greenwood,
who admits that she considers
the award, “A huge deal and, to me,
a confirmation that I’m where I’m
supposed to be.”
Greenwood, who is married with a
four-year-old son, accepted her award
in-person at RPNAO’s awards banquet
at the AGM and Conference in late
September. She was accompanied by
her husband Chris, her mother and
her sister.
www.rpnao.org
RPNJ – Winter 2013
13