TouchPoints

BSN Candidate 2017 It took me a little while to come to nursing, and now that I have, I am incredibly happy with the choice. I first did an undergraduate degree in Agriculture, with a minor in Mathematics. After this I worked for some time in the agricultural sector, both as a farmhand in Ontario and British Columbia, as well as by working on research related to the pollination services provided by wild and domestic bees. I wanted to continue my schooling, and so enrolled at UBC to undertake a…read more

MN-NP 2016 As a student taking a few general science courses at the University of Victoria, I realized that nursing is the perfect way to use the knowledge I was acquiring and apply it to benefit others. I obtained my BSN in 2007 and worked in general medicine for a year before moving to Vancouver to take emergency training at BCIT. As a UVic student I took my final consolidated practicum in Guatemala. For five weeks our team set up adult, paediatric, and women’s health clinics in rural and remote…read more

BSN Candidate 2017 I graduated with a degree in Kinesiology from Simon Fraser University and worked a variety of jobs until I found myself in a full-time career working in Occupational Rehabilitation. I really enjoyed helping clients rehabilitate injuries, as well as being a part of the team that assisted with a client’s return to work and activities of daily living. As much as I enjoyed my work, I had an innate desire to do more. I watched clients struggle with anxiety, depression, chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder after…read more

Nursing Alumnus Wins Fraser Health ABOVE AND BEYOND Award Each year, Fraser Health recognizes employees, physicians and volunteers who go above and beyond to improve patient care and services in local communities with their annual Above & Beyond Awards. This year, Fraser Health celebrated 19 incredible individuals and teams making a difference in health care. Among the winners was Royal Columbian Hospital Nurse Practitioner Brenda Poulton, who serves as an Adjunct Professor in UBC’s School of Nursing. She was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Brenda has made it her…read more

CPCSSN assists in study of prescribed medication A Parkinson’s disease diagnosis can be a devastating blow to any patient; however, never before has Canadian patient data been analysed to determine the treatment patterns for a concurrent diagnosis of depression. UBC graduate Kimberly Singian, RN, MSN, with co-authors, Dr. Morgan Price, Dr. Victoria Bungay, and Dr. Sabrina Wong, analysed the associations between Parkinson’s disease, depression, and related medications. The study was made possible with the use of the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN), which extracts data from a variety…read more

Aboriginal men in Canada are significantly over-represented within the criminal justice system. Incarcerated men often have significant idle time on their hands, and this inactivity contributes to an institutional subculture associated with substance use, violence, gambling, debt, self-harm, and depression. The paramilitary and hypermasculine structures of prison life exacerbate pre-existing mental health problems; incarceration itself is hazardous to men’s overall health and rehabilitation. Through an initiative called Work 2 Give, Aboriginal inmates make items needed by some Tsilhqot’in communities in BC. Supported by the Movember Foundation Innovation Fund, this research…read more

Providing Outlets for Positive Masculinity to Two High-Risk Populations Coming Home: Veterans Unpack the Invisible Wounds of War On September 20th, Timothy Laidlaw, veteran of the war in Afghanistan, along with our faculty member Dr John Oliffe, met with Rona Ambrose, M.P., to discuss men’s mental health issues, with a focus on men in the military. As part of the visit, The Honourable Geoff Regan, P.C., M.P. , Speaker of the House of Commons, with Joyce Murray, M.P., co-hosted a special invitation-only performance of Contact! Unload, a 15-minute theatre performance…read more

on Nursing Education, Practice, and Entrepreneurship The Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for the History of Nursing (CAHN/ACHN) took place on June 16, cohosted by the UBC Consortium for Nursing History Inquiry and the BC History of Nursing Society. The conference had a strong international representation with five nurse educators from several universities in Spain, several registrants from the US, and two attendees from the UK’s Centre for the History of Nursing and Midwifery. In total, there were 68 registrants, including 12 students and a post-doctoral fellow. The Hannah…read more