Nurse Michael's Journey at Fort Albany: Northern vs Rural Hospital

Being able to spend time with new friends like the paramedics and nurses has been great. I am getting used to this environment very quickly. Everyone is extremely friendly and we are approached by others to join us to hang outs and social events. I keep being told that after working up north, it would be near impossible to get back to the rural hospital setting. It is very very different in terms of how the work is scheduled. I could see why too. After a couple of shifts at the hospital’s clinic, I realized that the work load is not bad at all. The appointments with nurses are usually follow-ups or routine checkups, which do not require a lot of time. On top of that, more than half the appointments are no-shows. So on an average day, the clinic could be very slow. So, the work pace is vastly different from a city hospital.

However, if there were to be a walk-in, the nurse in charge would have to triage the person, and then see them. This process could be a little time consuming because the presentation could be one thing, and the assessments/lab tests say otherwise. So, when there is a walk-in or emergent person coming into the clinic, the nurse would have to be prepared for anything. I find it extremely hard to fathom how an RN would be able to keep their assessments from toddler to the elderly at the protocol standard when the flow of patients come in waves. I might bite my tongue down the road, but that’s just what I have felt so far. Could you imagine having to deal with something you haven’t dealt with, in a long time? Nevermind the dramatics of the family bringing the person in and the amount of pain or complaint the person is expressing. That just boggles my goggles. As a new nurse though, I do appreciate knowing that I will be exposed to a rainbow of things. Knowing that I will face something I do not know how to deal with, is surely a bitter sweet feeling.

Another interesting thing I found, was that everyone in the reserve, has a file on them. It is very strange to me at first, but it makes sense that everyone would have a file, because it is the only hospital in town. Even, on an emergency case, the patient would present their health card or status card and they would already have a file in the cabinet that shows their history. If only it was computerized, then the paper work could be cut down by 75%...if only. I thought that the paper work at my placement hospitals were too much, but its no different here.