Psychiatric nursing approaches milestone in Brandon

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/04/2022 (1609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been nearly a century since psychiatric nursing was established in Western Canada with Brandon one of two hubs in Manitoba.

Celebrations for that milestone and a look at the future begin May 5 with an online webinar titled “Psychiatric Nursing and Practice — Our History, Our Future.” The event features five registered psychiatric nurses (RPN) sharing their research and experiences in the profession.

The host will be Mallory Schmitz, RPN and mental health nurse educator at Selkirk Mental Health Centre.

This is the first part of a two-part event.

Registered psychiatric nurses work in a variety of settings and bring with them a wide array of competencies and skills in clinical, research, education and administration domains.

Their work is constantly evolving as new treatments and discoveries are made and developed.

“It’s much different than what it was 100 years ago,” Beverley Hicks, a retired psychiatric nurse and one of the presenters, said. “This is a teaser for next year and we will be saying that in 2023, we will have a bigger event.”

The committee planning the event is still working on exact details, Hicks said, and will be releasing them as soon as they are available later in the year. Part of the reason is COVID-19 is still an obstacle for live events.

This presentation marks not just an anniversary, but highlights the importance of mental health in Brandon’s history. Hicks said the psychiatric hospital and nursing school were both major employers for the city well into the 20th century.

For the May 5 event, each presenter will focus on a different topic. Hicks said she is presenting on the history of psychiatric nursing in Western Canada, focusing on the establishment of the first psychiatric hospitals in Selkirk and Brandon in 1921, then the graduation of the nurses in 1923 from the psychiatric nursing school in Brandon.

Manitoba was the first western province to have dedicated psychiatric hospitals, according to Hicks.

The other four papers look at the current state of psychiatric nursing and the future. Each presenter’s paper will give an overall assessment of the profession as it is and where it could be going in the western part of the country.

A look at the trauma nurses face in their profession and what can be done to reduce incidents and provide more support will be presented by Kyla Webb, RPN, from the University of Saskatchewan. With many psychiatric nurses working in acute care with aggressive patients, the risk of physical and mental trauma is high. There are gaps in care and training for nurses and she will present ideas on how to better prepare nurses in undergraduate programs.

Karen Batson, RPN and assistant professor at the University of Brandon, will present her work focusing on anti-racism and cultural safety education. As an Indigenous person, she is researching the effects of colonialism and how cultural awareness can help improve outcomes for Indigenous patients, as well as how teaching can be changed to meet a wider range of diverse backgrounds.

A more holistic approach that involves spiritual care will be the focus of the presentation by Karen Scott Barss, RPN, faculty member of the School of Nursing at Saskatchewan Polytechnic in Saskatoon. She will discuss integrating a spiritual dimension to nursing for a more holistic approach to health care and education for patients and nurses alike.

The challenges women diagnosed with borderline personality disorder face in the health-care system will be the topic presented by Racheal Ligali, RPN, from British Columbia. The focus will be on how women empower themselves, focusing on four women who volunteered for a research project. Her talk will look at the findings of the research to help professionals gain a better understanding of this segment of the population to deliver meaningful and supportive care.

To register for the event, log on to Eventbrite and type in https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/webinar-psychiatric-nursing100-tickets-296397491877?keep_tld=1.

» kmckinley@brandonsun.com

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