Closing the First Chapter: A Bittersweet End to MHST601
- lydiaalemu1
- Dec 6, 2022
- 7 min read
After graduating Toronto Metropolitan University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, I obtained my registered nursing license and began my professional career on a Medicine/Oncology unit at Markham Stouffville Hospital. In 2021, I transitioned into Community Health with Rexdale Community Health Centre, and discovered a passion for working with underserved populations. This passion pushed me to pursue a Master of Health Studies with Athabasca University, eventually finding myself in the MHST601 – Critical Foundations in Health Disciplines course in 2022.
Unit 1: Professional Identity and Interprofessional Connectedness
Willard, A. [Digital Image]. (2018). https://online.une.edu/blog/interprofessional-collaboration-in-healthcare/
Healthy collaborative practice makes up the backbone of a successful interprofessional team. Through connection and collaboration individuals can come together to share information, present new perspectives, close communication gaps and provide comprehensive client-centred care. Virtually meeting other classmates and building an interprofessional learning network not only allowed me to grow my knowledge on different professional identities and social media presences but also develop strategies for curating, managing, and synthesizing any new information learned. As a registered nurse in Ontario, I am licensed under the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO). This governing body provides a framework consisting of seven professional standards of practice that outline the expectations of nurses working within the province. Prior to beginning this course, I defined myself as a health care provider that valued characteristics such as empathy, cultural competence, transparency, and justice. Though I still value these characteristics and will continue to implement them in my care, my focus has begun to shift towards a different style of practice.
The creation of an active professional online presence was not a goal that I had prioritized when beginning my career in nursing. I believed simply keeping my presence appropriate and passive was enough to fulfill my professional duty online. However, I realized that I was falling short in the creation of a healthy digital presence. To build communities where people avoid misinformation, improve their health literacy, and participate in health promotion, means to prioritize positive engagement in health discussions online. My practice has shifted to one that prioritizes advocacy, education, empowerment, and strength building. I aim to be a registered nurse that not only engages with the populations I serve in-person but creates a digital presence that provides others with the tools needed to become successful participants in their own healthcare.
Unit 2: Federal and Provincial Health Systems in Canada
The development of my ePortfolio became the starting point of my journey to build a healthy and active digital presence. I began to familiarize myself with websites and curations resources such as Wix, Raindrop, Google Keep and Google Drive. Alongside my classmates, I shared professional resources and organizations related to my role within the Canadian healthcare system. This included but was not limited to the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO), Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA), and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO).
My first blog post was sharing my opinion on ways in which the Canada Health Act (CHA) can be modernized. Initiated in 1984, the CHA’s universal coverage only encompasses “medically necessary” services provided by hospitals and physicians, excluding many other essential health care services (Flood and Thomas, 2016). Increasing funding to the primary care sector would better support the benefits of these services and potentially alleviate the financial burden caused by “medically necessary” procedures and surgeries. This in turn could improve financial flexibility and allow the allocation of funds to other healthcare services that are currently outside of the CHA’s universal coverage. Presently, my ePortfolio continues to act as a digital collection of my personal and professional opinions on various health topics, reflections on course learning activities, curated resources, and academic achievements.
Unit 3: Understanding Health and Determinants of Health
In 1984 the World Health Organization (WHO) defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity,” (Huber, 2011). Though the health outcomes of populations have changed, this overarching definition has persisted over the years with systems and processes still in place that function under its narrow focus. In this unit, the class discussed existing approaches to understanding health, the determinants of health and their resulting effects on an individual or population. The Public Health Agency of Canada (2022) refers to the social determinants of health as factors such as income, education, historical trauma, and experiences of discrimination that can influence the health of an individual or population. The conditions in which people are born, grow and live vastly differ and therefore the definition of health must be flexible to accommodate these differences. Card (2017) challenges the WHO definition of health and instead considers the individuality and experiential state of one’s health status, viewing it as a spectrum that varies along a continuum. Having a definition that is focused on the experiential state of health allows health care providers to empower the individual or populations they serve to achieve their own personal definition of health.
Unit 4: Multilevel Approaches to Understanding Health
The social determinants of health play a major role in the health outcomes of vulnerable populations. Among the vulnerable groups listed by the Canadian Red Cross (n.d.), Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ2+ and homeless populations can all be identified. The class had the opportunity to share and review literature on the impact multiple levels of influence have on the health of an individual or population. The social ecological model (see figure 1) presents health as the interaction between individual, relationship, community, and societal environments (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015).
To ensure health success, it is essential that the interactions across these environments are safe, equitable, and conducive to one’s health and wellbeing.
Figure 1. A four-level model of the factors affecting health, by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015.
However, if inequities are present in any of these environments it can result in negative health outcomes that carry across generations.
Unit 5: Chronic Disease Prevention and Management
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