Today I write about a topic that is often not discussed particularly with respect to women working in healthcare such as nurses who many have become healthcare entrepreneurs.
Many nurses over the past three decades have astutely observed a significant community need in medical foot, lower limb and wound care. These gaps needed to be addressed given their has been few qualified healthcare providers available to services this essential community need given our growing and aging population in Canada.
Many seniors in our communities across the country are challenged with personal and hygienic tasks that were once easy for them to manage due to;
- Declining eye sight
- Declining mobility
- Declining small motor skills
- Knowledge deficit related to health consequences when their feet and lower limbs are not appropriately cared for throughout the aging process.
- Caring for our senior population is our responsibility. They took care of us. Worked hard and made our communities what they are today.
- Thousands of nurses who have sought out this role in footcare have been greatly rewarded and report enjoy their careers once again. They are an integral part of the positive results their clients benefit from with the quality care a Nurse, PodOrtho Foot Specialist provides. As we know nursing concepts are to deliver therapeutic and preventative care, this is exactly what nurse achieves when delivering paramedical medical foot, lower limb and wound care services. This is one of the reasons why I decided to take an unconventional career path as the first nurse in Canada to open up my very own clinic early in my nursing career at the age of 27 and have never looked back.
- A nurses career path in the twenty first century can be cultivated to work with their individual needs and the work life freedom one may wish to obtain in order to for example, work around family obligations, social plans and life events. A nurses career path may take on new roles that may or may not be within the constructs of our public institutions. This is an individual choice for all nurses who are individuals. This concept should be embraced and acknowledged in society today. Nurses must remember who they are and their worth. What have you accomplished as an individual? How have you shaped your own life as a nurse? Your not “just a nurse”. This does not define who you are as an individual person with a valued set of sought after skills and knowledge in healthcare.
- Nurses have the right to choose their own individual career paths while utilizing the knowledge and skills they have obtained throughout their life and education path.
- When I began my career as a nurse in the public health sector I noted a very negative environment or culture of intolerance and in particular for young nurses trying to learn and find there way. I would describe this as a military like structure. Little tolerance for questions, critical thinking or new evolving ideas. A known fact that some senior nurses “eat their young”.
- This was the case with me and I attribute my short lived work in the public health sector to this type of environment. Nurses are overseen from a distance by the elite class of the appointed college registrar and well paid bureaucrats who are removed from point of care with little ability to appreciate the practice to practice concepts nurses are faced with in their daily practice.
- Early on in my nursing career I discovered an opportunity to utilize my nursing skills and knowledge through obtaining post graduate education in advanced nursing foot care then offered at my community college. This was a very exciting opportunity to become specialized in an area of healthcare and to apply my practical nursing skills to meet a critical need in a positive setting while caring for those in my community.
- The idea of becoming an entrepreneur and owning my very own clinic one day was exciting and gave me the drive to make it happen. Being free from a draconian culture and institutional setting of hierarchies that placed me into a culture of stress, fear and being under appreciated was attractive to me. This opportunity allowed me to focus on what I thought nursing would be. Quality solution oriented and preventative patient care. We are “told” to place our patients needs first and foremost
When designing your new career path in the field of medical foot and lower limb care as an entrepreneur consider the following;
- Has the post graduate education program you took provided you with the practical hands on skills in an environment that is supportive meaning you will have access to resources throughout your career
- Demonstrates all clinical concepts such as infection control measures, practice set up, instrumentation, documentation, obtaining client consent, skills relevant to your nursing practice that can be applied to foot care concepts and overall operation of a clinic or homecare setting.
- Communicates theoretical concepts to offer care safely that considers healthcare regulation such as controlled versus non-controlled acts as per the regulated health professions act (RHPA).
- Promotes evolving technologies
- Provides information on additional continuing education that complements your practice such as; wound care, orthotic therapy, photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy and holistic treatment modalities.
- Client education and prevention concepts
- Entrepreneurial concepts