This text is part of the special Nursing Profession notebook
Through their work and the courses they give, the finalists of the Florence Prize 2023 in the Teaching and Research category work to advance knowledge and develop practice in nursing sciences. Passionate teachers, they are recognized as models by both their peers and their students.
Liette St-Pierre: reorganize for better care
Full professor in the Department of Nursing at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières (UQTR), Liette St-Pierre began her career as an ambulance technician.
“I have always loved caring for people and helping. Being with humans is what has always attracted me. I have also always loved teaching, training and making people think. The idea of supporting young people and giving meaning to what they do was a real trigger for me,” underlines the one who still enjoys teaching at UQTR after 20 years of service.
Concerned with improving health care and preserving the health of nurses, Liette St-Pierre founded the Interdisciplinary Chair in Research and Intervention in Health Services (IRISS). “The organization of work was a strong dominant factor in what I wanted to do. Moreover, in 2008, like others, I understood that there were easy things to put in place to change or reorganize health services in order to improve the quality of life of patients,” recalls -She. With the help of an engineer, a person in operational research and another in accounting, Liette St-Pierre notably reduced the wait in a sampling center from 2 hours to 23 minutes. “It was done interdisciplinarily. Simply by reorganizing care, by seeing care management differently,” she maintains. The nurses therefore saw as many patients, but they did not all arrive at the same time. This organizational change was useful for patients, but also for health professionals, who no longer had the pressure of seeing all patients arrive at the same time.
According to the researcher, this type of reorganization would also have its place in emergencies. “You have to give appointments at the right time, then have a care trajectory so that patients, for example, have already gone for their blood test and their x-ray before even meeting the doctor. »
According to her, the skills of specialized nurse practitioners (IPS) should also be better used. “We have to work interdisciplinarily, because we don’t always need a doctor. The nurses are able to do several follow-ups. »
Far from simply reorganizing health care through her extensive research, Liette St-Pierre also contributed to the birth of the Loricorps research group, which focuses on dysfunctional eating attitudes and behaviors. “We do a lot of research with patients to whom we offer home monitoring,” says the researcher, recalling that this initiative brings together stakeholders from various professions, including nurses, psychologists, doctors, occupational therapists and nutritionists. It is an external program where the user is part of the treatment plan. So that gives you magnificent gains,” she says proudly.
Always passionate about its multiple implications, Liette St-Pierre intends to continue her work with as much enthusiasm as in past years!
Frances Gallagher: training a strong and flexible succession
Full professor and researcher at the University of Sherbrooke, Frances Gallagher has a very flourishing career. What she remembers about her professional life, however, is not her achievements.
“When people ask me what I am most proud of, I think of my master’s and doctoral students. To the relationships I developed with my colleagues at the School, those with whom I did research as well as those with whom I worked on major projects. To have been able to be in contact with such extraordinary people as all these people is a privilege. I also had a lot of fun getting involved in the research that I carried out with and for people,” confides M.me Gallagher.
Placing the patient and their living environment at the center of their practice has always been a priority for the nurse, who has written several research papers related to front-line nursing practice. “There are several places where nursing can be practiced. And when these are given outside the hospital, it requires in-depth knowledge of the community in which the professional works. When working in an unstructured environment, as is the case when going to a home, a school environment or a prison environment, for example, the nurse must develop an ecosystem vision. It must take into consideration the determinants of health, but also social justice. Community health nurses therefore have many challenges to overcome,” she maintains.
Frances Gallagher is one of the visionaries who developed and implemented the baccalaureate nursing program at the University of Sherbrooke. It is also in the desire to train a strong and flexible next generation of nurses that the initial training in nursing sciences at this university offers cooperative internships. Another innovation in which the researcher took part since it is the first training to have included this type of internship.
“Cooperative internships are in addition to the internships included in the basic program. They allow students to develop a better understanding of the outside world that revolves around them. They thus better understand the importance of collaboration and communication with all the stakeholders who work around the patient,” proudly mentions M.me Gallagher.
Trained as a nurse, Frances Gallagher quickly made the jump to teaching. A very natural leap for someone who comes from a family of teachers. “From the start, I had the desire to teach, because I love teaching, but not just teaching students, teaching patients too! I have always loved helping people take care of themselves. It’s a component that interested me from the start of my training,” recalls the woman who became a lecturer immediately after obtaining her bachelor’s degree in nursing.
The research director was also involved in the Accreditation Board of the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) as co-president to ensure the quality of nursing education offered throughout Canada. Although her mandate is over, we can bet that Frances Gallagher’s passion for nursing will lead her to continue her multiple commitments, even if retirement time is fast approaching.
Daniel Milhomme: virtual reality for training
Professor of critical care and researcher at the CISSS de Chaudière-Appalaches Research Center as well as at the University of Quebec at Rimouski (UQAR), Daniel Milhomme became interested in the nursing environment at a very young age.
“Several people around me worked in this field. So I didn’t really ask myself what I wanted as a career. Obtaining my college diploma (DEC) in nursing happened naturally,” he recalls.
Since the end of his studies, Daniel Milhomme has never left intensive care. “When we work in critical care, we experience situations that require us to constantly surpass ourselves. You obviously have to have a good tolerance for stress, which I have always had,” says the nurse, who collaborated for several years on the magazine Nursing perspective.
A few years later, chance led him to teach for the first time. It was in 1996. “One of my colleagues offered to teach two three-hour blocks on hemodynamics. I agreed to do it and, from that moment, I fell in love with teaching! » he remembers.
Since then, Daniel Milhomme has continued to work in the field while teaching and studying. “It was teaching that allowed me to notice certain shortcomings and it was these observations that led me to take my baccalaureate, my master’s degree and my doctorate,” explains the man who was responsible for the scientific direction of the last update. reference manual up to date Critical care (Edition Chenelière Education).
It is in order to fill a gap that Daniel Milhomme created the Virtual Care Unit (UVS), a five-story immersive hospital allowing nursing students to simulate real situations to improve their skills. “I realized that students who arrived for internships in a clinical environment encountered challenges related to decision-making and the collection of relevant data to be collected,” he says. He therefore wanted to use technology to create a bridge between theory and internships.
“This idea was born when I tried a virtual reality headset in 2017. I had a flash ! I told myself that we had to create a virtual intensive care unit,” he recalls.
With his colleague Frédéric Banville, a professor like him at the University of Quebec at Rimouski, Daniel Milhomme worked to make his idea a reality. “The initial idea was to develop an intensive care unit with 14 rooms, a kitchenette, offices, meeting rooms, etc. However, with the grants received and the partners who joined us, we ended up building a virtual hospital in which there is an intensive care department, but also an emergency room and departments of obstetrics, gerontology, oncology and general care,” explains Daniel Milhomme, enthusiastically.
This virtual hospital, available in immersive and non-immersive versions, is used by nursing students at the DEC and at university, as well as by existing nurses. “We are also in the process of developing a project for other health professionals,” mentions the researcher.
His desire for the future? “I simply want to continue what I have started by taking the UVS project even further. My goal is to improve care throughout Quebec, and even internationally. I also want to continue doing research and continue working collaboratively with my colleagues, because I love it! »
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