A Powerful Advocate for Medical-Surgical Nursing

from The Canadian Nurse ..

By Missen, Brenda

If one person could be said to have spearheaded the movement to establish a national association of medicalsurgical nurses and have this area of nursing practice designated for CNA certification, it would almost certainly be Nicole Simpson. Beginning in 2001, when a group of nurses came to her office with some questions, right through this past year when she led the development of the national practice standards and the designation proposal, Simpson has been a driving force. Simpson, who graduated in 1992 with a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Alberta (U of A), has experience in medical-surgical nursing, but it hasn't been her sole career focus. "I graduated right at the time of the nursing layoffs and was told not to expect to have a job," she explains. "I worked where I could, and that's meant I've had an eclectic career."

In fact, her fields of expertise are wide ranging and encompass all domains of nursing practice. She's been involved in direct patient care, carried out research studies that influenced standards of care and collaborated with nursing colleagues from across North America. Her job titles have included research assistant in U of A's faculty of nursing; staff nurse and neonatal research nurse at Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital; and cardiovascular clinical trials project coordinator at U of A.

"Having this diversity of experience turned out to be helpful, but early on it was how I survived. I just wanted to work," Simpson says. "I didn't choose any one path. If an opportunity came my way, I took it."

Her "most clinically challenging" position was the work she did at Leduc Community Hospital and Health Centre. There, in 1998, she was appointed nurse educator, infection control practitioner, and occupational health, safety and wellness nurse. She provided education and resource support for all nursing staff at a time when the hospital, located just outside Edmonton, was making the transition to becoming part of the large urban health region.

"Walking into all of those new responsibilities, never having attempted anything like it before... well, I didn't think I was going to last a week," Simpson says. "What got me through was the experience of the hospital nurses and staff and being able to call on the contacts and resources I had built up working in so many different roles in Edmonton." Her efforts garnered her a REACH Award for Leadership from Capital Health in 2000.

From Leduc, she was seconded to Capital Health, where over the next eight years she held positions as project leader, regional manager and professional practice consultant in Nursing Affairs. One day, nurses from the U of A Hospital stopped at her office to talk about the lack of recognition for medical-surgical nursing.

"They started the whole ball rolling," she explains. "We realized that there was no strong voice for the single largest group of nursing professionals in our region, not to mention Canada. And we thought that if this issue was being brought forward regionally, we should probably be doing something about it at the national level. So I contacted the Canadian Nurses Association."

Staff at the CNA Certification Program advised her on how to start the process of building a national group for medical-surgical nursing and seeking certification designation. With support from her employer, Simpson agreed to take on this new challenge it was going to be yet another of those "opportunities."

Her first step was to convene a meeting, held in Edmonton in October 2003, to discuss what needed to be done. A small group of nurses and CNA representatives attended, along with Simpson's one- month-old son. "My kids have been a part of this initiative from the beginning."

In fact, her son and daughter are meeting and conference veterans; Simpson has often had one or the other in tow.

Two years later she was chairing the planning committee for a day- long national medical-surgical nursing conference, which would coincide with the 2006 CNA convention in Saskatoon: "We knew that a few of us in Edmonton making decisions for more than 43,000 nurses across the country was just not effective or representative. We needed more voices." She was convinced that the scope of this first- ever event would move them closer to that goal and worked tirelessly to make it a success.

The conference exceeded all expectations, with more than 200 eager participants, outstanding speakers and an energy level that the room couldn't contain. The day culminated in consensus to form a national group and to move toward designation for CNA certification.

The Canadian Association of Medical and Surgical Nurses (CAMSN) emerged soon after. The response was immediate and enthusiastic. "Within a short time we had volunteers for every position on the board - and they happened to be from every region of the country, in every area of expertise. You couldn't have asked for a better balance." Simpson agreed to be secretary and the main contact for memberships. After just one year, CAMSN membership has expanded from 60 to 460.

Simpson's next challenge was to facilitate working groups that met to develop national standards of practice and the proposal for certification designation. Once again, this dynamic organizer rallied volunteers to complete complex and rigorous tasks within a tight time frame. That this hard work had paid off was made clear to everyone at CNA's centennial convention, when Lucille Auffrey announced that the proposal had been approved and the go ahead had been given for certification exam development. "I receive e-mails from nurses thanking me and telling me how career altering this initiative has been, but the credit should really go to them for rising to the occasion."

Simpson relishes the creativity and innovation that come out of brainstorming sessions with her CAMSN colleagues. They came up with the idea for buttons promoting 2010 as the date of the first administration of the exam and the slogan Medical-Surgical Nursing - It's Our Turn! "We loved having something that every medical- surgical nurse could wear; CNA has been flooded with orders for them." They want to have at least 500 medical-surgical nurses write that first exam and are doing everything they can to get the word out.

Simpson is grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of CAMSN's journey. "I've been lucky to have learned from some amazing leaders and to do some leading-edge work, but this has been one of the most professionally fulfilling projects I've ever worked on."

She knows that she couldn't have done it without the support of CNA and Capital Health - or without the drive and enthusiasm of the medicalsurgical nurses. "The process has been empowering for these nurses. Some of them have been waiting their entire career to be recognized for their competence and excellence in practice. It's been phenomenal to see the effect it has on them."

Simpson hopes her example will inspire another wave of nurse leaders to step up and commit to moving CAMSN forward. She is currently working as a consultant but will continue to volunteer with the association. She'll be at the next national conference - in Halifax in 2010; the whole family is looking forward to it.

Copyright Canadian Nurses Association Feb 2009

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