This week, we are introducing one of our inspirational Sprott Shaw Heroes who has had the dream of pursuing a career in healthcare since she was a young child – and today, she is living that dream every day.
In early 2019, Nancy Bettencourt Janzé graduated from our East Vancouver campus as a student studying our Health Unit Clerk / Medical Office Administrator program. Since graduating from Sprott Shaw last year, Nancy went on to pursue a career as a Nursing Unit Assistant at Richmond General Hospital, which is under one of BC’s regional health authorities, Vancouver Coastal Health.
Life as a Nursing Unit Assistant
As a Nursing Unit Assistant, Nancy spends the majority of her time working in psychiatric wards. On a typical day, she will start her shift in the afternoon in the psychiatric wards and psychiatric emergency department of the hospital, fulfilling her duties and helping patients. For the next half of her shift, she will transition to 2W, which is the inpatient psychiatry department, and fulfill her duties there.
On a day-to-day basis, Nancy carries out a variety of responsibilities as a Nursing Unit Assistant. Some of these responsibilities include:
- Processing doctor’s orders
- Stuffing and thinning medical charts
- Ordering supplies for the units
- Faxing orders to the pharmacy
- Adjusting the MAR (Medication Administration Record) according to the doctor’s orders
- Preparing close observation sheets for the nurses on night shifts
- Compiling daily statistics for the monthly census
- Helping patients with requests
- Requesting maintenance repairs and housekeeping duties as required
- Putting charts together for admissions and dismantling them for discharge
- Updating patients’ status on the PCIS (information system) as required
As a people-person, Nancy’s favourite part of the job is being able to interact with the patients and process orders from the doctors she works with. Every day, she loves being able to help and support her patients to the best of her abilities.
Since the beginning of the global pandemic, Nancy’s work life has drastically changed. Now, she must take extra precautions and always wear head coverings and masks during her shifts to protect both herself and the patients and colleagues she works with.
We are honoured to be part of the journey our students, including Nancy, take to reach their career goals. Throughout her education journey, Nancy “couldn’t have done this without the mentoring and support of Rosemary Courtenay, [her] instructor at the Sprott Shaw East Vancouver campus. She [is] truly an inspiration and made this all possible [so I can] obtain my dream!”
