Academic News

Learning Innovation Awards are given for innovation in three broad areas:

1. A fresh/innovative approach to Teaching and Learning at Red River College
2. An innovative use of technology to improve Teaching and Learning or its accessibility
3. Significant contribution to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

Teacher Education Learning Innovation: Building a Graduation Tradition

After 38 years Ross Sundmark is retiring. The Graphic Design Program is losing a great resource and friend.
There will be a friends and industry event Thursday June 14, 5 pm at the King’s Head. Come out and share your stories.

Relational nursing involves a process of inquiry. We have already seen how the nurse inquires about Joe’s and his family’s experience. Other areas of inquiry that Suzette will consider are empirical knowledge – what are the current best practices for management of diabetes? What does she need to know in order to competently manage Joe’s physical health needs? She thinks about ethics – what is the right or moral thing to do when there is pressure to discharge Joe before everything is ready for follow-up in the community? She also examines her own experiences, beliefs, values and ideology – for instance, has she allowed her ideas about “compliance” to affect the way she has responded to Joe? Self-observation is key to being able to consciously choose the best actions in a particular situation.

So what has this meant for Joe and his family? Joe’s physical health needs have been competently cared for, and they have felt respected and listened to. They trust Suzette and are willing to hear the recommendations she has for them. Safety has been maintained, and Joe’s concerns have been attended to.  Joe feels empowered to manage his health better, and his family feels ready to support him.

We are exploring the story of Joe, whose nurse Suzette practices relational nursing. In relational nursing practice, nurses look for “how people, situations, contexts, environments and processes are integrally connecting and shaping each other” (Doane & Varcoe, 2005). So Suzette inquires about the connections and influences that shape Joe’s health and illness experience. She notes that he is from an ethnic minority group, lives in a poor neighbourhood, and is on disability leave from his job. He has a large extended family who visits him frequently. Joe’s wife and family are experiencing his illness as very frightening and overwhelming. Suzette offers the family support and resources.

Joe states that he hasn’t gone to his doctor because he feels discriminated against at the clinic. Suzette considers how this has hampered his illness management, and supports Joe and his family in thinking of ways to address this concern. Cultural safety is an important part of relational practice, and means going beyond cultural awareness or sensitivity, to actively promote respectful and supportive practices and systems.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of Joe’s story!

Reference: Doane, G.H. & Varcoe, C. (2005) Family nursing as relational practice. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Thanks to everyone who attended the displays of National Nursing week in the Library Hallway. The event proved to be a sampling of what the nursing life is like at Red River College including a look at some of the skills of nurses, the job roles, and the program development of the RRC Baccalaureate Nursing Program. Special thanks to Instructor Tracey Wozney for spearheading the organization of the day and to the many student and staff volunteers who answered questions from our guests and participants. Please enjoy a sampling of photos from the event.

Nursing Week Event May 7th and 8th
Come by the Library hallway from 11 am to 1 pm on May 7th and 8th
as we kick start the beginning of National Nursing Week.

There will be a variety of booths, information, and displays reflecting the positive impacts nurses make on the lives and well being of Canadians.

Please stop by to see what it is nursing faculty and nursing students do in the preparation of knowledgeable, competent and caring health professionals and their contributions to society as learned, innovative and thinking citizens.

There will also be pizza and pop for sale.

Cancerous Lung in Action

On Tuesday May 1st the Teacher Education Department at Red River College hosted it’s 34th annual Cooperating Teacher Appreciation Dinner. This is Red River College’s opportunity to thank the teachers and administrators that support our student teaching practicum and teacher education program. This year we hosted representatives from 20 school divisions and 60+ schools. Our special guests in attendance were Pat Isaak, Past President of Manitoba Teachers’ Society standing in for Paul Olson, David Rew, Vice President Student Services & Planning at Red River College and Paul Little, Dean of the School of Learning Innovation at Red River College.

At this dinner we also recognize the exemplary student achievement in each of the programs. Manitoba Teachers’ Society generously provides a bursary award for these students. The award recpients are selected by faculty with consideration given to GPA, commitment to community and their contribution toward the learning and support they have given their peers. The recipients this year are John Sobkovich for the Aboriginal Award, Steven Potter for the Technical Vocational Award, Jeff Lasage for the Business Technology Award and Maribeth Tabanera for the Industrial Arts Award.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Registration and pre-dinner mingle
Time: 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Place: Selkirk Lounge (located across from the Voyageur)

Dinner will be served at 5:00 p.m.
Place: Voyageur Dining Room
Building A – Notre Dame Campus

For parking, please check with the commissionaire in the South Lot shack in front of the college upon arrival for instructions.

By invitation, R.S.V.P. to mlpishak@rrc.mb.ca

“Nursing the Health of Our Nation”
“It all begins with a strong, educational foundation”
Come by the Library hallway from
1100 to 1300 May 7th and 8th
as we kick start the beginning of

National Nursing Week.

There will be a variety of booths, information, and displays reflecting the positive impacts nurses make on the lives and well-being of Canadians.

Please stop by to see what it is nursing faculty and nursing students do in the preparation of knowledgeable, competent and caring health professionals and their contributions to society as learned, innovative and thinking citizens.

Our new curriculum is founded on the relational approach. But what exactly is this?

Joe, age 55, has Type 1 diabetes and is in hospital after having suffered an insulin coma. His primary nurse, Suzette, practices relational nursing. What will this mean for Joe?

Suzette begins by seeking to learn about Joe – not only his medical condition, but also who he is as a unique person, what concerns him most, and what this hospitalization means for him. In relational practice, the nurse seeks to know who the particular person/family is in this particular situation at this moment in time, and what is meaningful to them.

Suzette is authentic and responsive in her interactions with Joe, and takes initiative to make a connection with him. This means that whenever she is in the room to do a nursing task, she is at the same time interacting with Joe to get to know him, what he is experiencing, and what he needs. She invites Joe and his family to be partners in Joe’s recovery by providing information and support. She also collaborates with the interdisciplinary health team. Partnership is the heart of relational practice.