Let’s visit Carmacks and meet Brittany who is a primary health care nurse (PHCN). PHCNs are very adaptable and deal with all kinds of situations from emergencies to clinical care.
“We see kind of a bit of everything,” Brittany says.
At first, that kind of variety can sound intimidating. But Brittany says the Yukon has “one of the best onboarding programs in terms of training."
Let's learn about her career and her role with the Government of Yukon.
Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your role?
My name is Brittany and I'm one of the casual nurses here at the Carmacks Health Centre. I am a primary health care nurse. I've been in community just over three years. It's a beautiful community.
What happens here in a typical day?
We see kind of a bit of everything. We're very fortunate in Carmacks as we have a very young and growing population. We do a lot of prenatal care: Diagnosis of pregnancies, first visits and more.
We also do primary health care. We get people caught up on their immunizations whether that is babies, adults or elders. Of course there is also emergency care.
Plus we book doctors’ clinics and get people their follow-up. We're very well staffed with physicians here in Carmacks. We do a lot of follow up work and getting people to appointments and things.
What makes for a good day at work?
Ideally there would be no emergencies or at least they would be calm emergencies…but I think a good day is when everyone feels like their needs are being met and that they're seen in the care that they're receiving. Knowing that people feel seen, and that you contributed that, makes for a good day’s work.
Here in Yukon communities, nurses do different tasks than you might elsewhere in Canada. You do sutures, you do x-rays and more. Can you tell us about that expanded scope?
Yeah, the expanded scope is very cool. It allows for a lot more critical thinking. I think it just forces you to use your knowledge and your skills a little bit more.
The Yukon's also very unique in that we have one of the best onboarding programs in terms of training. So you also feel like very comfortable doing those things, which I think is huge.
You don't want to do a chest x-ray if you don't know how to do a chest x-ray!
The autonomy and independence I think is huge out here.
Would you have any advice for somebody who's considering a career as a nurse in the Yukon?
I think, just go for it! I think that would be my advice. You know, it's very nerve wracking coming in to working in an expanded scope. It can seem really intimidating. But the community is great and welcoming. Staff are great and welcoming. And so, yeah, just go for it.