Nurse Michael's Journey at Fort Albany: Another day at the Moose

Oct 19^th

After a hearty breakfast at the B&B, we met with the Assistant Executive Director of Patient Care (nicknamed TS). Talk about long ars job titles. Could you imagine the amount of space it would take on a name card? Definitely, not something you would want to say to your classmates at a high school reunion. But he probably doesn’t go to those, since he is so busy. He is a super intelligent guy though. I can tell by the degrees and certifications he has on the wall. (lawl).

About the orientation. He told us about the importance of being culturally sensitive and the loads of resources available to us to read and utilize. From medical Cree-English medical terminology to comprehensive assessments of a human body, it was all there. (What do I do when Michelle is not home? I’ll be reading all that info. while making her din din).

TS strongly encourages nurses to be active within the community and being competent with skills by taking up to date courses. For all those newby nurses out there, courses are fully comped with travel and meal allowances. It is a sweet deal. You learn and use it right away at your work, fully paid for! There is no limit to how many courses you take, but just the return of service of a year (flexible, depending on the amount they paid for). The emphasis was also put on our adaptation to the working environment and the steep learning slope it will present. Although he kept repeating that the fort Albany staff was supportive of learning, there was clearly no time to slack off. There are a slew of added nursing skills to be learned, in order to be completely independent at work. He said that the approximate time to complete the added nursing skills and gaining a familiarity to the environment was six months.

Six Months?!?! Not what I had expected. I had originally planned to only stay and work for a year, but after hearing this, I am not so sure anymore. I might need to stay longer. Seeing the work that the senior staff and management are putting into training and retaining nurses, I feel that I owe it to them to give back more of my time. But that’s for another time to think about.

I am feeling very afraid of work and the amount that I do not know. What the heck do I know? It seems that my knowledge bank is having an economic crisis of its own. Its got nadda. I would put more vulgar language to describe my frustration, but I’m on the internet, and I don’t want to destroy the purity of it.

Heading up to FA tomorrow. It is part of the unknown that scares me. What are my living conditions going to be like? How will I adapt? Will I be able to learn and perform well?