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A podcast that brings together primary care providers, healthcare planners, patients, innovators and others to talk about the changes that are happening in primary care in British Columbia.
Sarah: Are you a nurse who's thinking
about joining a primary care clinic?
Do you have any questions about what
nursing in primary care even looks like?
Would you consider yourself
primary care curious?
Me too.
So Morgan, what do we have going on today?
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: Today, Sarah,
we've got a bit of a different episode.
We thought it'd be great to shed some
light on what primary care nursing
is, but for curious nurses who maybe
haven't worked in primary care before.
Sarah: turn the tables a bit and
talk to nurses, maybe speak to
those who haven't been working in
primary care about primary care.
I like this.
And I know a lot of nurses who are
being hired into kind of the nursing
practice roles haven't necessarily
worked in primary care before.
So I think, I think this
could be really useful.
So what's our plan?
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: Well, our
producer, Michael, spent some time
talking with a couple of primary care
curious registered nurses last summer.
And Sarah, you know, both of them, and
they've been working with us over the
summer, Diana and Nikki are two RNs who
are actually both doing their dual masters
in nursing and health information science.
And they did their summer co ISU.
And they both originally come
from acute care nursing settings.
Sarah: That's right.
Diana has been working for several years
as an acute care nurse who works primarily
with seniors with chronic illnesses.
She also has experience working in
a public health system support role.
Nikki has been in emergency and ICU.
She's even been the head ICU nurse.
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: And they came to us
with lots of nursing experience and an
interest in evaluation, but neither of
them had worked in primary care nursing.
Sarah: And here at the ISU, we're focused
on team based care in primary care.
I'm really curious to hear what
questions they had as these
primary care curious nurses.
I'm guessing it was things like, if I
was applying for a job at a clinic, What
kinds of things would I need to know?
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: Exactly.
So they had lots of questions they
were interested in learning more
about how things work and what
the expectations are for primary
care from a nurse's perspective.
Sarah: So where should
we start this episode?
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: how about,
Sarah, we start at the beginning.
What do you need to know
to be a primary care nurse?
Sarah: So if I was a nurse and
I was thinking about this, my
question would really be, you
know, what do I need to get a job?
Nikki: This is going to sound sort
of frank, but I would want to know
what does a primary care nurse do?
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: That's
Nikki, the ICU nurse.
She's new to this podcast season.
Nikki: Like what are the specific
skills that I would need to acquire
or that I would hope to acquire in
order to work as a primary care nurse?
What will I get to do
on a day to day basis?
what sorts of Certificate programs
or advanced training can I look into
if I want to be a primary care nurse
or, or what should I be looking into?
what does a primary care nurse do
uniquely from other areas of nursing?
Sarah: This is a really common question
and I think is a good starting point
for anyone that's primary care curious.
You're going to wonder what you need
to do academically or professionally
to allow you to be well suited
to being a primary care nurse.
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: But thankfully, Sarah,
that answer to those questions, they
aren't quite as scary as you might think.
In BC , we've talked about, how
there's different support programs
are being developed by NNPPC.
but there's other certified practice
that you can take to expand your scope.
Having said all that, general
nursing skills are very
transferable to primary care.
Diana: Yeah, just bouncing
off of what Nikki was saying.
I think for me,
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: And that was Diana.
Keen listeners might recognize her
voice from episode four earlier.
Diana: I would really be curious,
you know, as a new graduate nurse to
know what sort of entry level nursing
positions are there in primary care.
Or anything like that.
Rather, what I need to do a couple of
years of medical surgical nursing and
have that under my belt before I can join
a primary care team, you know, what sort
of specialty training or competencies are
teams looking for in the nurses that they
hire, because that could help me to tailor
the different roles and opportunities.
job opportunities I take on, in the coming
years and tailor them around what I will
hope to do in a primary care setting.
Sarah: This makes total sense.
As much as we expect nurses to love
their job for what it is, we have to
recognize that, bills need to be paid
and food needs to be on the table.
There's some very practical sides here.
Diana: Another thing I think I really
wanted to know is, how would I find
out about these job opportunities?
Where would I find them posted?
Who can I talk to to learn more
about them in my local community
Sarah: and I guess, you know,
what does the job market look like
for primary care nurses in BC and
how can, , I access these jobs?
These would be other questions.
Where, where can
people go, Morgan?
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: Well, there are some
resources to find out where jobs are
and, we'll put them in the show notes.
FPSC is sort of coordinating
a lot of the job applications
that'll be coming out soon for the
nurse and practice program in BC.
in other provinces, it's, a bit different
and I don't actually know, where to look,
but many of the clinics who are hiring
nurses will be posting on their own.
Sarah: So there's more to working in
primary care than, the job itself, you
know, arguably the most important part
and, The basis for our entire podcast
and work in the ISU is this idea of team.
You know, if I was a nurse curious
about entering a new line of work,
something I would want to know
is, , what does the team look like?
This is also something that both
Diana and Nikki reflected on.
Diana: What is the team?
Who all is involved in the
care of these patients?
And kind of how do we come together
as a group to decide what the
day is going to look like or what
the week's going to look like?
I'd also like to just get a
chance to meet everybody, right?
I know that different primary
care teams have different types of
healthcare professionals and disciplines
that are all working together.
So I'd love to see how I work together
with those different individuals, how
we communicate together and just kind
of coordinate care around the patients
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: Diana has
some great questions and, you
know, it does vary by practice.
So these are actually good
questions to ask the practice if
you are applying for the position.
or for the practice to highlight
when they're posting for a position.
Nikki: So I think you've made
a really valid point there.
getting to know what the team
environment is like as a nurse is, huge.
And so knowing what that would
be like in primary care would
be really important for me too.
Diana: I would say that it's
actually for some nurses.
I think that would be a deal breaker.
Sarah: And that's so true.
There's no real surprise here.
When I reflect back on, you know,
all the jobs that I have enjoyed
working at and why I think I love the
innovation support unit, you know, it's
the people that makes the difference.
The team really has a huge,
huge part in job satisfaction.
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: environment started a
great discussion on what Diana and Nikki
believe to be some of the most appealing
aspects of being a primary care nurse.
Diana: thinking that a nurse might
actually have a role to play in
that team is quite exciting to me.
It's something fresh and something new.
As well, I do think that it would allow
nurses to maybe navigate and see what else
they can do with their scope of practice.
And I think that there's a lot of
opportunity for nurses to kind of
explore what their role is going to
look like within teams, you know, see
how they can bring some of their unique
skill sets and assets to the team.
we have the ability to help manage
chronic conditions and coordinate care
plans, do patient education and teaching.
there's just so many different ways
that we can really, expand on our
scope and really work to the fullness
of our scope within primary care
that you may or may not see those
opportunities in acute care settings.
Sarah: and thinking about the team
really allows you to kind of leverage
different aspects of your scope.
I think you can really provide strong
support as a nurse within a primary
care setting based on the experiences
that you're bringing in and sort of
how your team is working together.
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: Yeah,
Sarah, that's right.
I think bringing, your skills into
a team and the team recognizes
your unique contributions.
that's a big part of,
working well together.
And that makes your job, clinically
and professionally satisfying.
But also that you can see how you're
working together and that builds
that bond between people as well.
Nikki: I would add to that, Diana,
when I think of, uh, my work in acute
care, I think often what we are doing.
we are treating a problem way downstream.
So, exacerbations of chronic
conditions are an example of that.
So, what I think is great about primary
care is you have this opportunity
to engage with a patient on their
healthcare journey before we've, and
intervene before a problem really gets
bad and then it requires acute care.
I think there's a certain amount of.
Gratification in that, I think it's,
really rewarding to be able to see a
patient thriving before their condition
gets to the point where I'm seeing them
in an emergency department or in critical
care my thought is that you'd maybe get
a little bit more of an opportunity to.
See the fruits of your labor and
your team's work with a patient.
Sarah: Both Diana and Nikki
had similar thoughts about, you
know, what was appealing about
being a primary care nurse.
The third topic we really wanted to
focus on here is the question of, what
the role of a primary care nurse is.
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: And this
is an interesting question.
because there's many right answers
to this, , within the scope of,
a nursing profession, there's a
lot of ways that you can focus.
and what you prioritize in this answer
is, telling of your background in health
care and in what you value as a nurse.
being a primary care nurse means you can
fill different niches in the practice.
you actually can, you know, adjust
things quite a bit in terms of
charting your own path as a primary
care nurse and making an impact.
both within the clinic
and within the community.
Diana and Nikki had some
interesting thoughts around this.
Diana: So my idea of a nurse's
role in primary care stems from
my experience of the nurse in an
interprofessional team and acute care.
So as an acute care nurse, I
often interact with many different
healthcare professionals.
collaborating pretty closely with, the
physician in the care of my patients
feel as though there should be some
level of overlap as, you know, the role
of the nurse, the kind of competencies
and skills that they bring to the team,
those same sorts of competencies would
be just as relevant and applicable
in acute care, as I would hope they
should be in a primary care setting
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: So Nikki alluded
to the benefits of continuative
care earlier and she drives this
point home a little further here.
Nikki: Diana, I agree with you there.
So, I think in the nursing discipline,
there's a lot of discussion around what
nurses uniquely offer apart from other
disciplines within the medical realm.
So from my perspective, what nurses
offer uniquely and, maybe not
uniquely, maybe just in a different
way from other disciplines is.
how well they know their patients
I think by being able to see
a patient repeatedly, you are
further building that relationship.
the more times that you see a patient,
the better you get to know them, and
the longer the relationship has existed,
I think the better you get to know a
patient So, if you're seeing a patient
for the first time, as a nurse, or as a
physician, or any, healthcare discipline
really, you're just sort of getting to
know them, and you're just getting a
snapshot of how they are in that moment.
But I do think, in primary care, Having
the ability to see this patient multiple
times, and establishing that relationship
does give you a better idea of what's
normal for this patient and, what's not.
Sarah: That's a great point.
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: I don't think you'd
be overstated about how vital it is
to see a patient to treat a problem
before it becomes, you know, something
that that Nikki is going to see in
the emergency room or the or the ICU.
You that's why I went
into primary care too.
So, robust primary care network.
improves the health care for everybody,
it'll lighten the load on the merge.
It will, engage and empower patients.
And I think that's a, that's a key part
of the role of the nurse in primary care.
Sarah: That kind of feels
like a good spot to wrap up.
this episode, I think, talked on a lot
of important questions and concerns that
primary care curious nurses might have.
What were some of the key
takeaways that you noticed, Morgan?
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: I, noticed that they
didn't really talk about shift work,
Sarah: Mm
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: I,
I thought might come up.
And if you're a primary care
curious nurse, there's definitely
much less shift work in primary
care, but that didn't come up.
Some of the things that did come up were
how it's fulfilling, how you can build
relationships and how you can support
the healthcare system and how you can
tailor your practice to, to leverage
your own personal strengths as a nurse.
Sarah: the key takeaway for me today
is maybe a little bit more meta.
important to always ask
questions, to stay curious.
both Diana and Nikki brought
up some great questions.
I think that, People who are listening
can maybe ask themselves or potential
employers, if their primary care curious
nurse, I think it's easy to kind of go
along for the ride and take any offer
that sort of put out there, but to
really think critically about the role
you can provide the, role, the clinic
is able to, play in the community.
team dynamics, and how that'll influence.
how you're working and what
you're able to bring to the table.
I think those are just really important
things to think about to set you
up for success during any kind of
career transition more generally.
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: Yeah, I
think that's a good point.
and in this day and age, I think the nurse
who's applying for position can really
think about where's a good fit and maybe
even ask about doing some, short stint in
the clinic to see how it works for them.
Those things I think are important.
A little bit of a, not, not so much a job
shadow, but, a trial to see how it works.
That's something that, as you just said,
that I couldn't help but think, yeah,
that's a That would be really useful for
somebody to see how the clinic really
works versus just a job interview.
Sarah: Yeah, I agree, Morgan.
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: Well, maybe that's a
good place for us to wrap up this episode.
It was really interesting to hear what
Nikki and Diana thought, we talked
to them early on in their co op,
so they learned a lot with us about
primary care over the whole summer.
So I kind of want to go back and revisit
with them maybe later on to see if
it influenced their thinking about
primary care, maybe sometime next year.
Anyway, for today, thanks
for listening to the podcast.
Sarah: You have any questions
or topic suggestions, please
email us at isu at familymed.
ubc.
ca.
Morgan SM7b-MixPre: See
you next time on team up.
Sarah: The Innovation Support Unit is
a distributed multidisciplinary team.
We work mostly remotely from communities
across the Lower Mainland and
Vancouver Island in British Columbia.
Morgan: Sarah and I are both recording
from our offices in the territories
of the Lekwungen speaking peoples, the
Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations.
Sarah: And recognizing the colonial
history and the ongoing impacts of
colonization and healthcare systems
and in Indigenous communities in
Canada and around the world, as we
move through the season, we'll work
to bring an equity lens to this work.
And we really encourage you, our
listener, to reflect on your past,
present, and future participation.
On the indigenous lands
where you are situated.
Morgan: we'll see you in
the next episode of team up.