Sample of The Registered Practical Nursing Journal

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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
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