Two TWU MSN students, Flavia Bughiu and Katrina Haynes, write about the opportunity to present their research at the Western and North-Western Region Canadian Association Schools of Nursing (WNRCASN) Conference, The Edge of Tomorrow: Perspectives, Pedagogy, and Possibilities for Nursing Education, held in Victoria, BC February 15 – 17, 2017. Flavia and Katrina benefitted from the mentorship of their supervisor, Dr. Barb Astle, in preparing these presentations.
Flavia writes:
Have you ever wondered what happens to patients who can’t afford to fill in the prescriptions given them, or those who don’t have anywhere to live once discharged? Social determinants of health (SDH) such as these play an enormous role in our ability to care well for patients, and so in my thesis, I’m currently exploring whether nursing students feel competent to address the SDH, and what factors help or hinder them in doing so.
Presenting at the WNRCASN conference this past February gave me the opportunity to first make sense of my preliminary findings, and to then clearly present them before numerous nursing educators – the audience with arguably the greatest potential of influencing students. This experience further allowed me, for the first time, to communicate my research cogently, in order to incite educators themselves to consider how to engage more critically with this subject. Of course, I’m also grateful for the unique opportunity the conference gave me to be inspired by others’ research, and to connect with students and faculty whom I otherwise may have never met!
Katrina writes:
Internationally Educated Nurses often experience many barriers to becoming gainfully employed in the Canadian health care environment. Nurse Managers responsible for hiring IENs can be described as the gatekeepers capable of granting IENs access to practice in Canada. I am currently working on my final chapters of my thesis which explores the perceptions and experiences of Nurse Managers regarding IENs and how these impact their hiring practice decisions.
At the recent WNRCASN conference in Victoria, I was able to share my research and initial findings in the form of a poster presentation. This was an excellent learning opportunity for me as it allowed me to disseminate my research to various conference attendees and helped me to gain confidence in my presentation abilities.
Katrina will also present her research at an upcoming Sigma Theta Tau International Conference in Dublin in July, having won an International Rising Star in Nursing Invited Poster Presentation competition. The MSN program faculty congratulates Flavia and Katrina on their accomplishments!