July 19th, 2010 by Kathy Doerksen
My term will end soon and I wish to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their support. Support comes in many ways such as your participation in the coffee and conversations, or attendance at board meetings or the Annual General meeting, and the numerous comments I have received from individuals.
All of these actions demonstrate your concern for the nursing profession and I thank you for that.
So as I write my last blog, I will be firing neurons and getting my grey matter focusing again on the practice of neuroscience nursing. I will forever take the experiences and knowledge I have learned in this position and apply it to my practice every day.
As chair of the Board and your elected President I thank each and every one of the registered nurses who placed their faith in me to serve you.
Tags: Dialogue, Registered Nursing Profession
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May 14th, 2010 by Kathy Doerksen
I was truly humbled and honoured to share the stage with our accomplished and dedicated award recipients at the College of Registered Nurses of Maniotba Professional Nursing Awards Banquet. The evening showcased the committment and passion for the profession in a variety of settings and domains of nursing practice. Two main themes were striking throughout the evening. First, the registered nursing profession is full of opportunities. Second, and most important, registered nurses are fortunate and proud to be able to apply their knowledge, judgment and abilities to improve the health of Manitobans.
Congratulations to each of the award recipients. For those who were not able to attend check out our website to view the list of recipients. I welcome and encourage your comments and thoughts about the profession and why you are proud to be a part of it. Kathy
Tags: Registered Nursing Profession, Role of the Nurse
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April 19th, 2010 by Kathy Doerksen
I spent last week, with Helga, going around the province meeting with registered nurses. The President’s Coffee and Conversations really do provide a time to for registered nurses to have thoughtful, informative discussions about the nursing profession.
In our travels we reached Parkland, Assiniboine and Central Regions. We were as far north as Dauphin, west to Russell , south to Killarney and east in Morden/Winkler. In five days we visited ninteen practice sites.
Thank-you to the many registered nurses who took the time out of their busy practices to sit down, and chat with us. Common topics were scope of practice, how to share knowledge throughout the province, and new initiatives at the College.
I truly enoyed the beautiful rich geography that our province offers. But more importantly I valued meeting and hearing from each and every registered nurse. I want to thank-you for your willingness to share your thoughts with me. We can all influence the direction of our profession by quesitoning, learning, and being an active participant.
Tags: Dialogue, Scope of Practice
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March 19th, 2010 by Kathy Doerksen
The Regulated Health Professions Act will replace the Registered Nurses Act, as it will more than 20 individual Acts governing health professions in Manitoba. Nursing will be among the first to come under this new ‘umbrella’ legislation. Manitoba joins BC, Alberta and a growing list of provinces adopting this approach to regulating health professions.
Have you looked at the new Act? You can find a copy of it here.
The College is busy developing draft regulations and bylaws in anticipation of the implementation of this new legislation. Helga and I have been consulting with registered nurses on the definition of scope of practice and reserved acts as part of this preparatory work.
I’d appreciate reading your views on the new legislation. Is it something that interests you? As individual RNs is it something you believe you need to concern yourself with? How important do you think self-regulation is to our profession? Does the new Act cause you any concerns? I understand that while legislation is an important part of my role as your President and our College’s reason for being, but does it matter to you? And if not, why not?
Post a comment below and let me know what you think or what questions you have on this issue.
Tags: Dialogue, Legislation
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February 22nd, 2010 by Kathy Doerksen
Check out this link to a documentary on PBS called “Nurses Needed”: www.pbs.org/now/shows/442/index.html
This really depicts why nurses are so important to quality and safe patient care. You will notice that one of the nurses featured works in an ICU caring for a neuro patient, but trust me that is not the only reason why I relate to this documentary. For me there are many aspects of it that I agree with. There is discussion regarding the shortage of nurses, the need for more, and the importance of recruitment and retention strategies. These are important issues that we do face today and in the future. The one key statement that really rang true for me is that the nurse ‘constantly monitors, manages and responds day and night’ being the essential role of the nurse. Regardless of practice setting this I believe is the key aspect of why nurses are needed.
Watch the video and comment on your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.
Tags: Challenges, Role of the Nurse
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January 14th, 2010 by Kathy Doerksen
You will have noticed in the recent RN Journal I discuss some personal highlights from last year and share with you my goals for 2010. You may have also noticed that I enjoy challenges. Leaders, in all settings, are faced with challenges throughout their careers. So I would like to challenge you to post either a recent highlight that you have experienced in your professional career or a professional goal that you want to obtain in 2010.
It is important to share, learn, and celebrate our successes. Regardless of where you practice, and whether your expertise lies in clinical, research, policy, management, leadership, or education I want to hear from you. This is an opportunity to enlighten your colleagues about your unique contributions to the profession of registered nurses. We all set goals for our professional growth, however it is particularly challenging to admit our goals to others as we feel perhaps more compelled to complete them.
Although it is cold outside we can heat up our practice sites by firing those neurons. I look forward to hearing about the many highlights that I know we are fortunate to experience as registered nurses and the goals we set to grow in our profession.
Tags: Challenges
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December 17th, 2009 by Kathy Doerksen
Welcome to the first installation of Kathy’s Grey Matter. This blog is a new tool that will allow all of us to get those neurons firing. Once a month I will generate ideas and thoughts that are hopefully supported by synapses and electrical activity in my brain. I’ll also look forward to your thoughts, views and comments on my blog entries.
These postings should get everyone thinking, and activate our cerebral function. Many of you know I love neuroscience nursing, but did you realize that I am also left handed? So let’s see if I am able to tap into both sides of my brain and stimulate discussions around our shared profession.
Some of the thoughts posted I hope will resonate with you, and yet others may strike a nerve (pun intended). Either way, I want to hear from you and I will look for your comments and respond to them at least a couple of times per month.
When I think about how the brain is mapped out, there are certain areas that are less understood, or known. Similarly in nursing there are practice areas, or geographical areas that are often heard from less. With the right technology, and proper nerve transmissions we should be able to have some lively debates with all registered nurses in Manitoba.
Let’s connect within our nervous systems and amongst ourselves. I am looking forward to connecting the dendrites and axons!
Tags: Blog Launch, Dialogue
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