The

 

 

 

- Mad Hatter |

A Douglas College Newslette

 

June 9, 1987

 

 

Trendsetting Program Moves from
Douglas to BCIT

he first Post Basic Emergen-
cy student entered Douglas

College sixyears ago. Now,
atthe end of a short era, the
Program transfers to B.C.I.T. For
those of us who have had a
“P.B.E.N." experience at Douglas,
the occasion isa litte sad In that
Douglas has been a good home.
However, there ls much to
celebrate aboutthis Program - and
Itwould be nice to share it with you.

The most Important aspect has
beenthe considerable educational
© growth of each of the 60 graduates
of thls Program. These graduates
have scattered thelr expertise all
over the North American continent
the Territories, Atlantic, Eastern,
Central and Western Canada, and
the U.S. Their careers have be-
come diverse from expert practice
In Emergency departments to filght
nurses on Medevacs, medical in-
vestigators In Coroner's offices,
administrators, and teachers of all
aspects of Emergency Medicine.
While they were students In this
program, the nurses prepared ar-
ticles (many of which were
published Injournals), presented
briefs and assisted in the carrying
out of Emergency conferences.
Much of EXPO’s emergency ser-
vice was "manned" by graduates.

The Program had its roots In New
Westminster. The founding mem-
bers of the Emergency Nurses’ In-
terest Group of B.C. were staff of
the Royal Columbian Hospital and
approached Douglas to develop
© the Program. The Advisory Com-
mittes had expert membership
such as the late Dr. Herb Parkin

(also affectionately known as the
“father of emergency medicine").
Mary Fewster, the Director of Nurs-
Ing, was aware of the changing

practice modes towards speciallza-

tlon Inthe nursing profession and
knew the Importance of ap-
propriate education to meet those
needs. Douglas supported the
program throughout the difficult
{Inanclal times In the early elghtles.

Inturn, the Program supported the
philosophy of Douglas Collage
and reflected another meaning of
"Partners In Enterprise": the perfor-
mance was Venturesome and ac-
tive with the Community In the local
sense, the provincial sense and the
natlonal sense.

 

The Progran has been
the rendseuer 17
ONABRAIY JUMSINE I?
Cara SINCE HS NICEGOHOM.

 

Each year at a national Emergen:
cy Care conference, nurses,
physicians and prehospital care
workers from all areas In Canada
attend presentations which are
derived from the content of the
Douglas Program to keep abreast
of progressive Issues and
modalities.

The greatest Impact of this
program has been in the area of
the Canadian Emergency Nursing
Standards. The 1984 class was
given a project to bulld the
framework for development of
Standards, which after further

development by the Program Coor-

dinator, were published under the
National Emergency Nurses’ Affilia-
tlonin 1986. These Standards rep-
resent a promise of common
quality of nursing care to the con-
sumers of health care In Emergen-
cy Departments In Canada. They
are presently used by Provinces to
more fully define local standards,
by the legal system In Canada to
make decisions about standard
care, and by agencles to deter-
mine quality care, educational
needs and performance evaluation.

More recently, the Program com-
petencies, philosophy and content
have been used by the National
Emergency Nurses’ Group to
develop thelr application for Cer-
tification to the Canadian Nurses
Assoclatlon. (Cont on tollowing page)