Hybrid program lets nursing students work, earn & learn

Undergraduate Nurse Employee wraps up his practicum in Two Hills

Story by Jonathan Koch & Gayleen Froese | Photo by Gayleen Froese

TWO HILLS — Nathan Myshak loves working in the ER at Two Hills Health Centre.

“For me, it keeps the mind active. You're using all your skills all of the time. The day goes by quickly, but you also feel like you're doing a lot of good,” says Myshak. “There’s something very satisfying about having the patient come in, working with the doctor and sending them home better than they came in.”

A fourth-year nursing student at the University of Alberta, Myshak is currently doing his final practicum at Two Hills while working in the AHS Hybrid-Undergraduate Nurse Employees (UNE) program. The Hybrid-UNE program enables nursing students to work, earn and learn while completing their final practicum of a Bachelor of Nursing or Bachelor of Psychiatric Nursing degree. Students gain practical experience and develop valuable skills while earning income and contributing towards the completion of their required final clinical practicum hours.

Myshak is doing his preceptorship under the supervision of two registered nurses, Anu Paul and Dany Anne Fournier.

“A preceptorship is like a guiding essence,” says Paul. “Most of the time we’re in the emergency department, so before he graduates, I have to familiarize him with how emergency works, what the workflow is, how to triage the patient — basically, how a nurse works, so he can work in the ER.”

Working with Myshak is also an opportunity for Paul to brush up on her own skills.

“Sometimes he asks questions, too, like when he sees new cases or new patients, and he asked, ‘why is it like that?’ or ‘why is it supposed to be like this?’,” adds Paul. “So, I have to refresh my memory, and it's like a learning curve for me, too.”

Myshak says he’s enjoyed his experience with Paul and Fournier.

“They are fantastic RNs, very calm and very skilled,” Myshak says. “It's nice to just be able to bounce ideas off each other, and for me to kind of slowly learn everything that they know, as it comes through the door.”

Tammy Tarkowski, Two Hills site manager, says there’s nowhere better for a nursing undergrad to learn the ropes than in a rural hospital.

“My one thing that I used to tell the RNs, even when I worked on the floor — 'you are it’,” adds Tarkowski. “You need to know how to control the oxygen, from watching the hot water tank temperatures to knowing how to turn on the air ambulance lights — you need to know every part of the hospital.”

Myshak agrees.

“In rural, there's a lot more responsibility, and you know if you're one of two or three people on the floor, you rise to the challenge. Here you know all the doctors on a first-name basis, you know the managers, you know, the staff — so it's a much more intimate environment, but also a lot more dynamic.”

Myshak strongly urges nursing students to consider a rural practicum when working in the Hybrid-UNE program.

“You'll use all of your nursing, and then some, in a rural site. You will grow a lot, like I barely recognize myself from graduating to third-year to now, having worked here a few months in my preceptorship. You’ve got all kinds of opportunities that you wouldn’t get otherwise.

“Getting paid is really nice as well — it makes the days a lot easier.”