InspiringMotivatingThoughtfulNurses' Voices.
Welcome to Nurses’ Voices.
Nurses’ Voices is a unique video and audio series where we talk with nurses about their work, the challenges they face and how they are making a difference within these changing and uncertain times. Hosted by Gail Donner and Mary Wheeler, Nurses’ Voices features conversations with a diverse group of Canadian nurses from a variety of workplaces. Listen and watch now.
Nurses’ Voices is generously supported by:
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Nurses’ Voices is available across a wide variety of platforms, including listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or watching on YouTube. Please click here to watch our Season Two episodes, or click here to watch our Season One episodes.
In our final episode of Nurses’ Voices Season Three, we speak with Angela Wignall about the impact of COVID-19 as well as the current context of care on the health human resources crisis and the urgency of investing in quality practice environments as a critical priority for health system transformation. Trauma-informed leadership is one framework that can support leaders in designing resilient systems where nurses and others in health care thrive. Through the principles of safety, trustworthiness, peer support, mutuality, empowering voice and choice, and cultural and historical factors, trauma-informed leadership aims to centre the humans who care for humans in reimagining the future of health care in Canada.
If you would like to learn more, please contact our guest: Angela Wignall, RN, BSN, MA, Director, Professional Practice & Health Policy Implementation, Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of British Columbia, awignall@nnpbc.com
This episode focuses on how one organization is attempting to reduce documentation burden to prevent nurses’ burnout by identifying redundant or double documentation required to be completed by nurses. The goal is to reduce nurse’s workload related to documentation and information retrieval in Electronic Health Records (EHR), so that they can have more opportunities for therapeutic engagement with clients and feel less burdened by EHR. Thanks to this innovation, the time spent on issues that aren’t directly related to care decreases, empowering nurses and their clinical practice to succeed.
If you would like to learn more about this initiative, please contact our guest: Satinder Kaur, RN MSc(N), MEd(HPE), PhD(N), CPMHN(C), Advanced Practice Clinical Leader (Nursing), Centre for Addiction & Mental Health, Toronto, Satinder.Kaur@camh.ca
This episode highlights the Sharing Circle, a website that was developed with the aim to improve accessibility and healthcare for Indigenous people by the Nurses Specialized in Wound, Ostomy and Continence Canada (NSWOCC) Indigenous Wound, Ostomy and Continence Health Core Program. This website is dedicated to helping patients, NSWOCs, and other healthcare professionals across Canada access a directory of resources (general and province and territory specific), education, training, and support related to Indigenous wound, ostomy and continence health.
This episode also highlights nurses who take on volunteer roles and lead health initiatives that they are passionate about.
If you would like to learn more about this initiative, please contact our guest: Bev Smith BScN, RN, NSWOC, Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurse with Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, Alberta, NSWOCC Indigenous WOC Health Core Program Leader, bev.nswoc@gmail.com
This episode profiles nurse innovation in closing the system gap to facilitate discharges of patients on weekends to enable the right patient, right place, right care philosophy. This quality improvement initiative focused on improved multidisciplinary communication, resource utilisation and both staff and patient wellbeing. The health human resources crisis and capacity challenges in the health care system requires us to look at our challenges through a different lens, so instead of strategizing alone on attracting additions to the workforce, we as a team designed a process to reduce the capacity and therefore the workload of the team. The aim was to specifically highlight was that, with a seven day week focus we can improve discharge rates on weekends and enhance flow principles at a tertiary care hospital.
If you would like to learn more about this initiative, please contact our guest: Gillian Kozinka, RN, BScN, Clinical Operations Director, Vancouver Island Health Authority, Victoria, BC, gillian.kozinka@islandhealth.ca
This episode highlights the L’nu Nursing Initiative (L’nu means Indigenous in the Mi’kmaw (Mi’kmaq is plural) language). The L’nu Nursing Initiative was created by the Nova Scotia Canadian Institute of Health Research Chair in Indigenous Health Nursing, Dr. Margot Latimer in collaboration with the Mi’kmaq communities in NS. As the L’nu Lead for the provincial Chair, Dawn Googoo’s role is to gather evidence that best supports Indigenous People to access culturally safe nursing education and transition to health care practice.
If you would like to learn more about this initiative, please contact our guest: Dawn Googoo RN, BScN, Lead, L’nu Nursing Initiative, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, dw904927@dal.ca
Welcome to the premiere episode of Nurses’ Voices, Season Three: Change is Possible!
This episode profiles Central Ontario’s first college standalone nursing degree program and the approaches taken for innovative curriculum design that actively engaged health care partners and subject matter experts. The aim was to ensure the curriculum met the needs of the community and that the nursing degree program closed the academic – practice gap, ultimately creating future nurses that are practice ready!
If you would like to learn more about this initiative, please contact our guest: Sara Lankshear RN, PhD, Associate Dean – Nursing Programs, Georgian College, Barrie, Ontario, Sara.Lankshear@GeorgianCollege.ca
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Meet Our Hosts
Gail Donner RN, PhD
Partner, donnerwheeler
Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto
My career and my life, my passion and energy have been focused on three things: my family, nursing and health care and community engagement. When I think about what ties all those endeavours together, I realize it is a commitment to supporting those I care “for” and those I care “about” so that they can grow and be the best they can be.
I’ve tried to do that with my family and in return they have enabled me to be my best. In nursing, I have worked in diverse settings but always with a focus on developing nurses through education, mentoring and professional and career development and in contributing to building the nursing profession itself. And then through volunteering both within health and nursing and in my community at large I have been able to work with amazing people and give just a little bit back to the province and country that has given me such tremendous opportunity.
Mary M. Wheeler RN, MEd,
Certified Coach
Certified Coach
Partner, donnerwheeler
I have been practicing nursing in various capacities and settings, as a staff nurse, manager, educator, director and for the last 30 years, a nurse entrepreneur. My nursing career has taken me to northern Ontario, Australia, South Africa, Europe and the USA.
My career in nursing has been an adventure. Nursing has opened so many doors for me. I’m never quite sure of the destination but my curiosity has been my beacon. I often don’t know what might happen along the journey, who I will meet, what I will do, or what I will learn and that unknown makes it exciting.
Over my career one thing is for sure, I have met so many compassionate and passionate nurses who have a story to tell. Many years ago in doing a career development workshop Gail and I remarked, wouldn’t it be awesome if we could record these nurses’ voices and share their stories. What do you know, that time has come.
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