New perspectives

Nurses new to profession reflect on first months on the job during COVID-19

If there were a nightmare year to start a new job, this may have been it. It certainly doesn’t sound like a dream to start work during a global pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped many young professionals from embarking on new careers.

For some, that career has been within health care and, more specifically, nursing. New nurses in Nova Scotia have experienced a final school year and first year on the job like no other, but have learned a lot because of it.

This cohort includes Madison Brow, who says this year has been full of challenges and surprises.

“It is always scary starting a new job, especially one where others are relying on you to care for them during their most vulnerable times. I feel empowered though, seeing how everyone as a community has come together during these challenging times,” she says.

Finishing school either right before or during the COVID19 pandemic was no easy feat for these nurses. Miriam MacEwan, who’s just graduated, says her final months in school were incredibly overwhelming but left her more prepared for the job than she’d perhaps realized.

“I feel a lot more prepared that I thought I would, given everything, because we had those six months of clinical practice. That time meant I got to see what it’s like to work as a nurse,” she says.

Brow’s degree started before the pandemic, which meant it was during her third year when whisperings of new virus began. Starting her new career was temporarily stressful, but she says she too realized she was more prepared than she’d first thought.

“The pandemic has taught me the importance of collaboration and communication between team members, empathy and having a strong support system,” she says.

Greencorn was hired as a new nursing graduate at the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow. She says her career goals remain the same despite this year looking very different than she’d expected.

“They remind you in school to always be prepared and to put your best foot forward, regardless of the circumstance. But only when I began working did I realize how flexible and adaptable nurses are,” she says.

After working in long-term care facilities during her summer breaks, Greencorn realized her passion for neonatal nursing had grown to include another area of focus in working with elderly, vulnerable populations.

“I learned a lot about hard work, time management, patience and compassion during my four years as a student nurse working in long-term care. Although I enjoy working with patients at all stages of life, my passion lies with caring for our tiniest and most vulnerable patients,” says Greencorn.

And she is not alone in having expanded her original career plans. Hartwell’s second-last clinical placement was cancelled during COVID-19’s first wave in Nova Scotia, which meant she completed her final placement on a psychiatric floor. This is also where she now works.

“It’s amazing to see how each of the different nursing career paths have taken a role in this pandemic. I work as a psychiatric nurse and I have seen firsthand how the pandemic not only effects individual’s physical health, but their mental health too,” she says.

MacEwan is now working in Amherst and says her new world of nursing feels like a new normal to some extent, as it has made up the entirety of her experience in nursing.

“Learning to do this job in health care within a pandemic setting is all that I’ve known,” she says. “But my clinical term has prepared me to work in different settings.”

The past year has certainly been full of challenges for all nurses. These young nurses each feel proud to have made it through and say that it has reaffirmed their certainty that nursing is the right career choice for them.

“If I wasn’t proud to be a nurse before, I certainly am now. The way that nurses and other health care professionals and essential workers have stepped up to aid those in need during this pandemic is truly admirable,” says Greencorn.