There are more than 408,000 regulated nurses in Canada, the largest of any health provider group. They could be considered the backbone of the country’s health system.
In 1971, the International Council of Nurses designated May 12, Florence Nightingale's birthday, as International Nurses’ Day. In 1985, in recognition of the dedication and achievements of the nursing profession, the Canadian minister of health proclaimed the second week of May as National Nursing Week in Canada.
This year’s Canadian Nurses Association theme, Nurses: With you every step of the way, is meant to emphasize how important nurses are in our lives — at every age, in all health situations, for all Canadians.
For Brittany Loranger, a registered nurse working in the Intensive Care Unit of Battlefords Union Hospital, it’s her dream come true.
"I always wanted to be a nurse."
She was inspired by her aunt, who was a dialysis nurse. She was inspired especially after doing a work experience with her during high school.
She has been at BUH for four years, her first position. She enjoys working in ICU so much she doesn't envision working anywhere else.
Originally from Southey, she trained at the University of Saskatchewan then started her career in North Battleford.
"I came here as a grad nurse, did my orientation, and I've been here ever since," says Loranger.
Working in ICU is gratifying, she says, in knowing she is making a difference in people's lives.
ICU, where the critically ill are cared for, is a busy place, and Loranger says there is an adrenalin rush to working there.
"Working here, you have to like that, because there's so much excitement going on, figuring out the pieces of the puzzle with each patient, always learning, always something new to add to your knowledge," she says.
Years from how, she'll probably still be there.
"I can't imagine working anywhere else in the hospital," says Loranger. "I like ICU.”
Sharon Boskill is a retired registered nurse who now works casual shifts in the emergency room and in ICU, where she worked for some 25 years.
"I came especially to this unit because I just wanted to be where I could advance my nursing career and do more technical things," says Boskill. "It's a good area to come to work with very ill people."
Boskills says, "We've had a really good group of staff here, good physicians and we've done some good things here."
She is also excited to see young nurses like Loranger entering the profession.
"It's nice to see a whole new generation of young nurses coming up, so smart and so good in this field," says Boskill. "It's really good to see that."
She believes in the importance of the ICU, especially being able to care for the really ill in their own community. Not everyone gets better, but the staff do the best for them at the highest level they can, she says.
The ICU staff isn't limited to working in the unit.
"It's an intensive area and all the staff in here respond to all problems in the hospital where there are ill patients or critical patients, whether it's in the ER or on the ward," says Boskill. “The staff have to answer – all times of day or night – emergency situations and know how to help and deal with them."
Loranger adds, "A lot of people rely on us."
Pat McWatters, nurse manager of BUH ICU, says, "We deal with the most critical patients who don't always have a positive outcome … and it's gratifying for the nurses to know we can comfort the patients and the families in those very critical moments that don't always turn out the way everybody wants."
She sees the ICU staff as being able to comfort in more ways that one, depending on which way the situation goes.
Loranger and Boskill are seeing ICU nurses gaining new knowledge and skills through McWatters' initiative to get involved with an advanced critical care education program.
"We were lucky enough to get funded here in the last couple of years to enhance the knowledge of all the staff here in ICU," says McWatters.
The program has caught on across the whole province, she says, so that the standard of ICU care will be the same across Saskatchewan.
About 75 per cent of the BUH ICU staff has completed the course, and she credits them for their dedication.
"They are taking the course, then are working full time and dealing with families and home life, so it's very intense."
BUH's ICU nurses are following in the footsteps of perhaps the most famous nurse of all, Florence Nightingale.
Nightingale is best known around the world as the “Lady with the Lamp” who nursed British soldiers during the Crimean War and turned nursing into a profession.
She was also an activist, social theorist and author whose advocacy to improve health and sanitation for British Army soldiers, and writings on hospital planning and organization laid the foundation for nursing's emphasis on social determinants of health today. Nursing Week gives nurses across the world the chance to celebrate the work they do to keep Nightingale's work alive.
