I started nursing in 1993, two years after the strike. I had difficulty getting a job so I took a position as a healthcare aide at a nursing home where I eventually took term positions as a registered nurse. I did primarily full-time nights until 1999 then went on maternity leave & never returned.
I also worked in the community for ‘We Care’. I visited elderly people in their homes and answered the phones on and off hours, including weekends to help with staffing issues.
I started in the hospital November 1999 and I worked various full-time positions. I worked in medicine until October 2008 and left medicine to take care of my Dad who was terminally ill. I couldn’t return to ward nursing after my Dad died.
So, I started in the Operating Room (OR) in January 2009 and this is where I currently work!
Karen explains why she became a registered nurse…
To be honest, I had to choose something! My parents always thought I would make a good nurse. I had no real desire or calling to be a nurse. That being said- I knew taking care of people was a good fit for me. My “calling” was just in helping people – that is what I knew I was good at. It wasn’t specifically for nursing.
During her training in nursing school, Karen did her senior practicum in the operating room. She recalls knowing that the OR was the place where she always wanted to work. While her path to working in the OR was not instant, she did eventually find her way to the job she had hoped for.
Karen talks about how working during the Covid-19 pandemic impacted her ability to perform her job…
In the beginning, I was fearful of Covid-19- fearful of contracting it, or giving it to my family- my mother or my granddaughter. Every day- in the hospital, we had new Covid protocols to follow. The stressors built as cancellations to the OR came in, then I faced being redeployed to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). I did one
month in ICU – with zero ICU training! Covid also affected all of the people I worked with. Everyone was tired and stressed all the time. I still can’t really talk about it without feeling stressed or anxious.
Working during Covid-19, Karen remembers a moment in time…
I was working in ICU after just being redeployed there and they brought in this lady who was begging for her life. Saying, “please don’t let this be the end, please don’t let me die” right before we intubated her.
Even though Covid has changed the way we functioned at work, nothing affected how I perform my duties currently. I still, for the most part, have always been positive at work.
I always guide my practice with appropriate humour.
Karen’s highlights her biggest learning experience from the pandemic…
Personally-I have more strength then I thought
Professionally-how damaged our health care system is.
How fragile human life is.
Also, how sad our society is that they can’t put the needs of others before themselves.
How misinformed we can be.
Being a nurse has affected Karen in a positive way.
“I am not in nursing to receive praise, but when a family or patient tells you what a difference you have made in their journey-that keeps me doing what I do…”
Karen describes how she takes care of her mental and emotional health…
I work out daily.
I also teach spin class.
I get together with friends.
Spend time with my family.
Walk my dog.
Meditate/yoga.
Karen illuminates her hopes for the future of the nursing profession…
That we are able to retain experienced nurses.
Appropriate nursing to patient ratios.
An end to mandated shifts.
Ability to draw people into the profession.
Autonomy.
Our ability to treat our young nurses as a hope for our future
AND
Our more experienced nurses appreciate for their wealth of knowledge.
From left to right: Jhen Timpug, Joyce Osodo & Karen Richards
“Be kind to yourselves – inner dialogue can make or break you”
When on the subject of young nurses being the hope for our future, Karen had some thoughts for nursing students…
Ask questions.
Prepare ahead of time.
Be transparent.
Be brave.
Know that you can’t do it alone,
once you’re a nurse you become a part of a team.
You’re not a dumb as you feel.
Compartmentalize.
Be patient.
If you need a timeout, take it, no patient deserves to feel worse because you have been given an impossible workload.
Breathe.
There will be bad days.
Be prepared to meet the most dysfunctional, but best work families of your life!
Karen talks about empathy and burnout…
I have empathy in boat loads. Although it is helpful to be able to care for others, it can be a huge hinderance in staying neutral in situations. Empathy makes it difficult to leave your job at work.
I have experienced symptoms of burnout, but I have never left work due to it. Burn out to me feels like when you really have no valid reason to feel sad/mad/whatever feeling, but you feel it and you’re unsure what triggered it.
When asked if compassion has been lost in healthcare, Karen replied,
Absolute crap!!!
Sorry, I feel strongly about this, here’s why… I go into work every day seeing the faces of my colleagues, as we laugh through tears and support each other. That’s who they are to the core of their being. It’s who they are at the bedside of a patient. Trust me, you either care or you don’t. If you don’t care – you won’t last in any area of nursing.
