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ON CAMPUS: Nursing grad enhancing her profession

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Suzanne Braithwaite will never forget the moment she decided to become a nurse.
“My daughter was sick and in the hospital,” said Braithwaite. “I knew that if I could do for another family what those nurses did for my child and me, that the education would be worth the time.”
Braithwaite began her post-secondary studies at Loyalist College in the Pre-Health Sciences program and continued her education with the college’s Nursing Collaborative Degree with Brock University program.
“I chose Loyalist because of its attention to clinical practice and the belief that nursing is a practical profession,” she said. “I knew nursing would provide me the opportunity to work with individuals and families in the community and to help them reach their optimal levels of health.”
Nursing Collaborative Degree with Brock University students spend the first two years at Loyalist and the final two years at Brock University and graduate with a B.Sc.N. awarded by Brock. Students learn in small, clinical groups with personal, continuous guidance from experienced faculty.
During the Brock segment of her studies, Braithwaite learned about a nursing-focused volunteer-based experience in Peru. A once-in-a-lifetime chance to study the country’s three-tiered health care system and compare it to Canada’s socialized structure.
“Seeing the disparity in care between Peru’s rich and poor fuelled my passion for lifelong learning,” she said. “The experience reiterated just how important it is to protect Canada’s publicly-funded and administered health care system and work towards its sustainability.”
Braithwaite graduated from Loyalist in 2010 and began working at the Belleville Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic (BNPLC) that year. While in the field she discovered nurses weren’t always being used to their full scope of practice. Curious as to why this was happening, she looked for answers and realized there was not a lot of information available to provide an explanation.
“Loyalist taught me that nursing and research were connected,” she said. “They went hand in hand. Whether you’re working in a hospital and leading quality improvement initiatives or conducting research at an academic level, nurses are obligated to ensure that we provide the best care for patients that we possibly can.”
Today, Braithwaite is a part-time faculty member in Loyalist’s Collaborative Nursing Degree with Brock University program and is currently working toward a PhD in Nursing at Queen’s University. Her research focuses on the scope of practice of registered nurses in primary care. Her goal is to support nurses to utilize all of their skills.
“My biggest motivation is to have a health care system that I can pass down to my children and grandchildren,” she said. “Being a nurse is an amazing opportunity. It’s rewarding. I always say ‘nothing good comes easy,’ and I think that’s true when working in health care. You know you will come home with a sense of fulfilment, but it doesn’t come without a lot of hard work.”
To begin your journey in Loyalist College’s Pre-Health Sciences Pathway to Advanced Diplomas and Degrees, Pre-Health Sciences Pathway to Certificates and Diploma, and Nursing Collaborative Degree with Brock University programs, visit loyalistcollege.com.

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