Dr. Mike Kirlew has a passion for rural healthcare. Mike shares his experience working in Northing Ontario. We discuss systemic racism, inequality in healthcare and how inequality likely had a huge factor in not being able to isolate a major virus like Covid 19.

Dr. Gianni D'Egidio and I talk about the issues surrounding futile care from a practical financial perspective to a moral and ethical perspective. 

Some definitions from this episode: 

RACE – Rapid Assessment of Critical Events. A team of a ICU physician, nurse and respiratory therapist. They are called to the floors when a patient begins to deteriorate with the goal to intervene early preventing an ICU admission.

CCB – Consent and capacity board. Basically, it is a legal process to have a third party review the patient’s goals of care and if the substitute decision maker has the best interests of the patient in mind. The Consent and Capacity Board is a quasi-judicial administrative tribunal which operates at arm's length from the Ministry of Health under the authority of the Health Care Consent Act. The Board convenes hearings and makes decisions under six Acts including the Health Care Consent Act, the Mental Health Act, the Substitute Decision Act, the Personal Health Information Protection Act, the Child Youth and Family Services Act and the Mandatory Blood Testing Act.

SDM - Substitute decision maker. They are there to consent to a proposed treatment plan not to demand treatment when the patient is not mentally capable of doing it themselves.

Rebecca has been a Registered Nurses in Ontario for almost 6 years, with most of her experience being in a level 3 medical/surgical ICU. She is currently progressing through a graduate degree in Public Health with a specialization in Nursing from Lakehead University.

Rebecca and I talk about burn out in the nursing profession. How we get there and how can we prevent it. We discuss the environment in critical care and the toll it takes on our lives and leading to a burn out. Specifics that we feel leads to burn out is our responsibility on our shoulders in the work place, feeling valued, compassion fatigue, abuse in the work place and futile care.

Kathy and I discuss ICU and community nursing. There is some disadvantages to nurses coming back to work after retirement that deter many nursing from doing so even though they love the work and want to help. We recognize the provincial red tape with regards to pay and that hospitals have to stay within the union rules, however, there are other ways to do so such as bringing nurses back on a contract like they do with travel nurses. A contract could have conditions in it that would be attractive to older nurses. Enjoy!

Travel nursing is a hot topic right now. From the pay caps in the United States to the growing popularity in this field due to its higher pay and flexibility. Christine discusses her experience as a travel nurse and answers some questions nurses would want answers to if considering this field in the profession. We also discuss issues of retention and compare Ontario to how healthcare is run in other provinces. Such a great guest! Thanks to Christine for sharing her story!

Casey Morrison, Registered Nurse, and Ryan Forsyth, Life In Red podcast host interview me! This was Caseys idea, and at first I was a little hesitant, but it is only fair to know who you are listening to every week. This is a super fun episode. We rarely finish a story and get progressively more tipsy as the drinks flow. We talk about some ethical views when a patient is dying, how to disconnect from work in order to cope, toxic mommy culture, post partum depression, and much more!

Kim McMillan is an assistant professor in the school of nursing at the university of Ottawa, she holds a PhD in Nursing and hospice and palliative care certification from the CNA. Her clinical background is Pediatric oncology.

Kim wants to make research more relatable! We discus moral distress, nursing ethics and institutional ethics towards nurses, fighting the system, flexibility in scheduling to retain nurses, and pros and cons to continuity of care. 

Keep in mind many of my episodes are pre recorded. Some Covid discussions and guidelines have changed since the recording.

Students have gone through the ringer but have we been listening to them? 2 Elementary children speak to me about looking forward to going back and a high school student discusses her hesitancy. The Ford government has been consistently inconsistent with decisions about opening schools and that inconsistency is taking a toll and loosing the trust of our younger generations. Their voice is important and we should be listening.

Lauren is a Registered Nurse and a Mom of 3. A few years ago she realized she was in a negative mind set and knew she needed a change. She focuses on movement, nutrition, mental health and personal development to have a positive outlook on life and thrives on sharing this with others. We talk about tools to cope during tough times, such as right now with increases cases of Covid in Ontario and school closures. We discuss time management, being present and letting go of things you cannot change.  www.bigrigdelivery.ca promocode BEYONDTHEBEDPAN