My Path: Education

    My earliest choice in education made as an adult had the very practical intent to earn a living. Although I originally wanted to go into medecine, the desire faded as my passion for nursing grew; fueled by the very real lessons that I learned at the bedside. Every patient taught me something about courage, values, family, healing, death or life. Some of their stories haunt me still and I invite you to read them below. 

   It seems I have always been upgrading my nursing knowledge, however, a pivotal moment in my career happened in the summer of 2004. The team of home care nurses I worked with faced the care dilemmas of several very challenging community clients with leaking ostomies. We held case conferences, consulted the nearest Enterostomal Therapy nurses (3 hours away) by telephone and still found we lacked the knowledge and skills to help the patients in our care to a better quality of life. I decided to specialise in Enterostomal Therapy Nursing (wounds, ostomy and continence) and enrolled in a distance education program. From that point onwards, I have shared what I had learned with anyone who wanted to know more. It was a turning point in my life that led me to become as much a teacher as a nurse. However, being a specialist in my field does not mean that I am applying the best teaching approaches. My present pursuit is to learn more about adult education and effective teaching in order to move into more formal teaching environments.

Formal Education

My formal education followed an incremental process of knowledge acquisition over my adult life. It seems to me that I have always been a student! The advantage of this is that the learning I have done has always both related to and augmented my employment. I started my nursing career by doing a three year diploma program in nursing. I worked for a few years in general surgical wards in Canada and the US before deciding to go on take a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. My reasons for this decision were to make a career change into Medecine. However, a change in jobs at the time resulted in an increased satisfaction with my nursing profession. I completed my bachelor degree and transitioned to work in the community. My next foray into student life came as a result of particular patient care dilemmas that I was experiencing in 2003. As a result of these frustrating experiences, I enrolled in a specialty course called Enterostomal Therapy Nursing. Before I was finished the distance course, I found myself teaching others what I had learned! Teaching became an increasingly greater part of my work until I decided that I needed to learn more about teaching so that I could deliver the content of Enterostomal Therapy more effectively. This lead me to enroll in the Master of Adult Education, St. Francis Xavier University, NS. For specific information on the programs I have taken, please refer to my curriculum vitae. 

Informal education or lessons from my patients

    One Saturday night while working at an inner city hospital, I was tasked to get surgical consent from someone whose operation had been postponed several times.  I went to see the patient who refused to sign the form. The patient explained to me in a soft voice that he never did business on a Sunday (the proposed day of surgery). I had to report this refusal to the surgeon who was anxious to perform the surgery. The surgeon convinced the patient to go ahead with the procedure. Tragically, the patient died on the operating table that Sunday. 

...A haunting experience that taught me the lesson of sticking to one's convictions in the face of pressure