Nursing students at North Island College were looking for inspiration last month, and they found it during the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Student Conference.
The inaugural student leadership conference’s theme was Finding Innovation, Inspiration and Ingenuity in Health Care.
Thirty-three fourth-year students organized the conference, which highlighted the work of students throughout the nursing program and depicted the foundational concepts of the Collaboration for Academic Education in Nursing.
The conference included a student panel about surviving the nursing program, a faculty panel on curriculum revisions, presentations about the nursing program’s simulation equipment and plans to expand the simulation labs and presentations about students’ work.
Rob Calnan, the nurse manager of general surgery at Victoria General Hospital and co-chair of the Association of Registered Nurses of B.C., was the guest speaker of the conference at NIC’s Comox Valley campus.
Calnan, who is past president of Registered Nurses Association of B.C. and of the Canadian Nurses Association, spoke about the profession of nursing and the differences nurses can make on people’s lives.
“I love being a nurse.” he told the North Island College (NIC) students. “I can’t think of anything else that has provided me with the joy and the opportunities that nursing has, and I hope that all of you will feel the same way, that you will know nursing offers a plethora of opportunities. You should never feel boxed in in your career. What other profession offers its graduates the opportunity to work in so many areas of practice after a four-year degree? What other profession allows their practitioners to have such influence in the lives of others every day that we work? What other job can offer the challenges, the rewards and the disappointments that nursing does? This is what gives us our richness, our passion and sometimes our disillusionment.
“Working with national and provincial organizations, I have had the opportunity to travel from sea to sea to sea and meet with nurses in their workplaces. I can recall so many stories and examples of how nurses made a difference in the lives of others. I can tell you that without the 240,000 nurses in this country working days, nights and weekends, there would not be a health care.”
Calnan shared a quotation from nurse, researcher, theorist and author Virginia Henderson, who said: “The nurse is temporarily the consciousness of the unconscious, the love of life for the suicidal, the leg of the amputee, the eyes of the newly blind, the means of locomotion for the invalid, the knowledge and confidence of the young mother, a mouthpiece for those too weak or withdrawn to speak.”
“We are a profession with a history of excellence and an unending quest for quality,” said Calnan. “We are a profession that makes such differences in the lives of everyday people.”
Calnan told students that patient safety is fundamental to nursing care and health care, and he noted that research shows that the more registered nurses are involved in care, the safer patients are.
“I am proud to be a nurse, and I hope each of you can stand proud in that statement,” he said.
Fourth-year student Alice Grasby presented closing remarks on behalf of the students who organized the conference, thanking everyone for their support.
“Innovation, inspiration and ingenuity, this was the theme of our conference, and how fitting it is,” she said. “As I ventured through the rooms today admiring different projects and presentations and talking with many different people from different backgrounds and levels of experience, I was left with a sense of possibility. We are surrounded by inspiration, innovation and ingenuity, and what a great day it’s been to be able to come together and connect and share and celebrate new ideas.”
writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com
