Driven to Improve

The invaluable gifts we have received to further the life and work of the school come from many arenas, including partnerships new and old, students, nursing supporters, faculty, and of course, from our cherished alumni. Our most recent donor is all of those things: a current School of Nursing lecturer, a double alumnus, and a current PhD student with whom we have had a long and outstanding partnership. Meet Chandra Waddington.

Chandra began her academic career in 1993, as one of the last graduates of the the combined VGH-UBC nursing program. At UBC, she graduated in 1998 with her BSN and went on to achieve her MSN in 2011. Last year, she began working toward her PhD.

After graduating, Chandra worked in Labour and Delivery and Post-Partum at Children’s and Women’s Health Centre. Over the last 20 years her work as a neonatal nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) helped hone her research interests. Her studies focus on the continuing health and social inequities that create poor health outcomes for women and children. Families who experience health and social inequities are overrepresented in the NICU. This is particularly important because individuals who experience inequities are at a greater risk of preterm delivery and small for gestational age infants — placing this vulnerable group at heightened risk for adverse long term developmental outcomes that manifest in higher rates of chronic diseases, mental health and substance-use disorders. Parent participation in care is one way to mitigate adverse outcomes related to NICU admission. However, evidence highlights that individuals who experience health and social inequities face barriers to infant care involvement. The good news is that changes to policy and practice that increase parental involvement in infant care have generated positive outcomes that have the potential to influence not just the parent and infant but may also improve outcomes for subsequent generations. Chandra intends to be at the forefront of the research that promotes those changes.

Chandra knows that health and social inequities are a public health priority and touch everyone. She developed the Waddington Graduate Award in Nursing in memory of her parents, Linda and Edward Waddington, both of whom were devoted to reducing the stigma that occurs in the context of health and social inequity, and both of whom passed as a result of complex health issues due to their own substance use challenges. The scholarship(s) will be awarded to graduate students in the School of Nursing who focus on research that addresses health inequities with a preference to substance use disorders or the LGBTQ community.

Chandra believes that the scope of nursing is expanding by the day, and the voice and influence of nursing is equally increasing. Nursing, she says, is a research-intensive profession that drives change to make meaningful improvements. Her advice to new graduates is:

• Never stop learning. Don’t become idle because that equals stagnation.
• And if idleness equals stagnation, then change drives improvement. So when it is time for change, embrace it, don’t fear it.
• Ensure all you do is meaningful.
• Remember — Even small contributions can lead to improved outcomes.
• Talk about the power of nursing; be a leader; be proud of your profession.
• Whoever you care for, listen and be present — Always be present.
• Each of you holds such great potential!