On April 5th, eight Nursing students participated in the college-wide Applied Research and Innovation Day! Building on their award-winning presentations at the Nursing / Community Services Student-Faculty Research and Innovation Day, the students created posters and Powerpoint presentations to promote their research to the larger college community.

Second year students Tessera Ball, Suzanne Guay, and Caitlyn Edwards presented their research and advocacy statement Advocating for Change: The Introduction of Safe Injection Sites in Winnipeg. The original project was a photo essay developed with fellow students Dana Strong, Melissa Nelson, & Selam Isack in Kim Fraser’s Community Health Nursing 1 course. Tessera, Suzanne, and Caitlyn used their interest in the topic and belief in Winnipeg’s need for a safe injection site to significantly build on their original research and adapt their photo essay into a strong advocacy statement for our community.

Third year students Gurpreet Sandhu, Candace Blahey, Shelby Marks, and Kelsey Pasishnik presented their research on Bedside Report. Originally developed as a group project in Lee Jones’ and Krystal Boyce-Gaudreau’s Issues, Politics, Public Policy and Professional Nursing course, Gurpreet, Candace, Shelby, and Kelsey drew on their LPN experience to further explore the benefits and disadvantages of the bedside report policy, as well as the barriers to implementation and the resolutions to those barriers. The group strongly advocated in favor of the policy, while also taking the concerns surrounding it into account.

Third year student Bridget Burns presented her research on Lullaby Music Therapy in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Originally developed as a research paper in Kim Mitchell’s second year Research and Scholarship in Nursing course, Bridget used her interest and passion for the NICU to expand and enhance her paper into a comprehensive presentation advocating for a simple and beneficial intervention on this ward.

Bridget’s synthesis of the literature on lullaby music therapy was chosen as a finalist in the Student Quick-Pitch Competition. She gave an amazing presentation on her research at the Applied Research and Innovation Day luncheon to an audience of RRC faculty, staff, and administration, as well as government, industry, and community partners. Out of over 30 presentations, Bridget’s was awarded fourth overall!

Congratulations to all eight students who participated in Applied Research and Innovation Day! You all did a wonderful job representing the Nursing department and the important research created and disseminated by our students!

Post written by Meagen Chorney – Nursing Instructor
Photos by Pat Gregory – Nursing Instructor, and the RRC Marketing team