GNIE: Oops, she did it again!

Remember LPN X and her student nurse? On Wednesday, my preceptor and me were once again paired with them. Once again they were assigned to the earlier lunch break. At around 12 noon (around 15 minutes after the lunch trays arrived), LPN X and her student nurse popped by my room as I was feeding my patient. LPN X went, "So WD, where is HH*? Anyway, we're going for lunch." [*RN HH is my preceptor.] 

I wasn't about to let them go so easily. These 2 didn't even bother to hand over their patients properly. "How are your patients?"

"Oh, they are all ok," said LPN X and they started to walk away out of the room.

"Are they all set-up for lunch?" I persisted.

"Nope" was the reply as they walked away, expecting me to do their job!

I went after them (still holding my patient's food and spoon), "PLEASE set them up for lunch before you go! I have to feed my patient."

They turned, saw my look and then continued to walk away quietly. I know they heard me, so I returned back to my patient. A few moments later, LPN X and her student passed by my patient's room again, saying "All our patients are set-up for lunch. We're going for lunch now."

This is how things work with some folks. If you don't stand your ground, they will walk all over you. If you stand your ground and point out their "faults", these folks will be careful not to step on your toes.

GNIE: On the verge of advocacy

A group of us (final semester GNIE students) attended an Open House by a health authority yesterday evening. We found ourselves facing yet another set of systemic discrimination against us in the registered nursing job market. For the first time, I am truly angry, just like the rest of my classmates. It says a lot that I am angry, for I come from a country (Singapore) with an open floodgate to foreign labour, and as a result I understand the rationale and benefits behind some of the systemic barriers to entry in B.C., Canada. [Click here, here and here for examples.]

After tonight, I feel strongly that I have to raise the issues to the open. My classmates look to me to speak for them. I have been working hard to network with the right person(s) [and organization] to leverage upon to highlight our plight. In short, I am on the verge of advocating for ourselves, the GNIE students and graduates as a vulnerable population. Frankly, I do not like this feeling of having to push for justice and equality, for it is in my nature to withdraw and keep to my own quiet corner. But today, I feel like “人在江湖，生不由己” ["a person in society cannot always do as he/she wishes"] in that I feel compiled to bring the issues to light so as to right a wrong.

More on that another day, I have lots to get done before dawn.

[29-Mar-2013 Update: Click here and here for the result of our advocacy efforts.]

GNIE: Emotionless Sinkie nurse vs Emotional Pinoy nurse

When I read in blogosphere commentaries about Singaporeans being the world's most emotionless people, I laughed. [Click here and here.]

According to CNN on 23-Nov-2012, 

"The 36% in Singapore who reported feeling anything is the lowest in the world. ... The Philippines, meanwhile, registered as the most emotional nation, with 60% of those interviewed responding "yes" to experiencing a lot of feelings daily."

I have a funny anecdote to share that illustrate the above. Now my GNIE classmate AP is a Filipino and I am a Singaporean. Sometime last week, we were both stressed because we were both being closely supervised by our respective preceptors and were unsure if our preceptors would pass us. In AP's case, her fears were raised when the Clinical Instructor (CI) told her that she would be given a "Learning Contract" after hearing feedback from her preceptor regarding her performance. In my case, I was concerned because I made many minor mistakes at work and my preceptor had remarked to me, "See she is so independent. She is near the end of her preceptorship" when she saw how comparatively independent my other classmate LY was at the unit.

Being good friends at school, AP called me to talk about her fears after she was told that she would be put on Learning Contract. I listened for awhile and then re-directed her to focus on her anecdotal notes. When she continued rambling on about her fear of possibly failing, I shared mine too. It caught her by surprise, since my classmates' perception of me is generally (to borrow AP's words), "You're good. You don't need to worry. You will pass." 

Going by our previous experience of writing anecdotal notes for "self-reflection and evaluation", we decided that we would write good anecdotal notes to "save" ourselves. I spent 6 hours writing a super-duper detailed account of every little mistake that I made and/or issue that my preceptor highlighted to me. Just as I clicked the "Save" button, the secure online connection (https) logged me out because of time-out. As a result, I spent another 2 hours re-doing my anecdotal notes -- still detailed but not as long-winded as before. I stuck to the facts of what happened, so as to give my CI an "objective" idea of how closely supervised I was, but I avoided citing my personal feelings or opinions of the events.

Since it is known that I had a comparatively stronger command of English, AP approached me to edit her anecdotal notes. IMHO [which I did feedback to AP], AP's original anecdotal notes was one long rambling mess, everything in a single continuous paragraph, without formatting (not even capitalizing letters as per normal sentence structures) nor structure. What struck me was her clear insistence to state how she felt. [Below is an extract of AP's anecdotal notes after editing by me.]

"I felt somewhat stressed and pressured being under constant supervision, especially while taking the nurse’s full workload. In addition, the nurse interrupted me frequently while I was attending to my other patients, regarding the need to check for the latest lab-work reports and doctors’ orders. Although I noted that I needed to check the lab-works and doctors’ orders regularly, I am still not comfortable handling the frequent interruptions, which scrambled my plan/prioritization and broke my flow of care."

Coincidentally, we were both under the same CI (even though our preceptorship were at different hospitals) and we both submitted our anecdotal notes around the same time. Reading our anecdotal notes side-by-side, there was a clear difference in how the 2 nationalities express their emotional side -- the stoic me vs the expressive AP -- much like the stoic stiff-upper-lip Brits vs the expressive Italians.

Here is an extract of the CI's reply to my anecdotal notes:

Hi [WD],
Thank you for your detailed anecdotal. I am wondering how you are feeling about this experience. Are you learning and starting to feel more comfortable or are you feeling some pressure/stress? ...

Yah, even my CI found me too stoic! Haha!

[Addendum: See also Gallup's poll 19-Dec-2012 report, "Latin Americans Most Positive in the World; Singaporeans are the least positive worldwide".]

GNIE: Perils of an over-effective leader

In the previous nursing theory module for this semester, we were assigned into multi-cultural teams by the instructor. My team had a fun time doing the project, getting full marks for it. Somehow rumours* spread that I did "all the work" and my team members had a fun and easy time. Well, it was true that I had a hand in the research, powerpoint creation and script editing, but IMHO my team members also pulled their weight in that project. E.g. JK who wrote an excellent script and spliced together the videos, MM who visited the targeted centre to interview its staff and obtain brochures, and AP who made some awesome props.

I learned about the rumours from my GNIE classmate SS (who was assigned to another team) who asked me about it when I was carpooling with her to school. I told her that everyone contributed to the project, it was "not true that I did all the work". SS then asked if she could join my team if we were allowed to choose our team-mates for the next project. To which I replied, "Sure!"

When we arrived at class that day, the instructor for the final nursing theory module told us to form our own teams for the next group presentation/assignment. Immediately SS who was sitting next to me declared that she would join me. Everyone at our table immediately declared the same, including AmP, disregarding if I agree to team-up with them or otherwise. I kept quiet as I was aware that there were some in the table (especially AmP) who only "declared" to join me because they plan to be free-loaders (given their free-loading behaviour during classroom discussions and workshops) and yet want to be assured of a good grade (given the rumours of my previous team's dynamics).

As I predicted, PY (from my previous team) who is a pretty vocal and assertive person came over to our table and "suggested" to AP and myself that we should stick with the previous project team since we worked well together previously. I quickly agreed conditionally; i.e. I replied, "So long as everyone in the previous team is ok, then let's stick to the same team." After all, despite some minor issues in the previous project, the team members were generally cordial and mature about their differences. Fortunately my previous team members all agreed quickly, and thus I had a good excuse to turn down everyone else. I was apologetic to SS for backing out of my word, and thankfully she was mature and understanding about it. I linked SS to IJ, whom I was confident would lead his team to an excellent grade too.

As it turned out, it is really a blessing in disguise for SS because under IJ's leadership, their team scored 19.5 / 20 for the project. My team scored 17.5 / 20. I did not lead as well this time around, mainly because I skived during my bout of flu, and partly because I noticed that several of my team members did not seem interested in pulling their weight. E.g. When we missed the deadline to submit the project outline because I was sick prior-to and on the due date, nobody noticed nor mentioned anything. 

Yet, when the result was out, the ones in my team who complained the loudest about how we had 2 points less than the other teams were the ones who clearly did not pulled his/her weight.

E.g. HMR whose "research" returned only 1 url which he openly declared that he had not even read, called me to complain that he had expected the team to score the full 20 marks. I told him to consider that our presentation was a short 20 minutes one (the shortest and most focused presentation), we should not compare ourselves to others given the (minimal) amount of effort that our team had put in. 

E.g. PY who did not volunteer for any task and had to be assigned some superficial tasks to make it look like she was not free-loading, texted that she had expected 19 / 20. [On the presentation day itself, PY was lost in thoughts and forgot to advance the presentation slides (created by me) in the beginning.] I had to ask PY rhetorically, "Would you wanna work as hard as IJ's team just for that 2 more marks?" [PY was aware that IJ's team had lots of long-drawn meetings and rehearsals, whereas our team completed the entire project with only 1 short discussion, 3 main 1.5-to-3-hour meetings and 1 final 30 minutes rehearsal.] 

E.g. JK who skipped our 1st meeting without prior notice and openly declared that she did not even read the meeting minutes, whose original script was mostly cut-and-paste internet text (for which the other team members were glad when they received my heavily edited version which was further edited by each actor/actress as we reviewed the script) texted me, "I can't believe we only have 17.5, most of them got 19.5". To which I replied JK honestly,  "Personally, I would prefer to focus on job search than the 2 points difference. I think we can ask HS (the instructor) for a breakdown of our group's score so that we can figure out what we missed. But as I said, I would rather focus on getting a job and making money than 2 points in an assignment."  

Even AP was somewhat unhappy (influenced by IJ who was dissatisfied that his team did not get the full 100% score), but she was ok after I reminded her not to compare with others. 

Ironically, MM the only one who did her assigned research and practised her script (in the role-play presentation) was the one who replied, "Not too bad. Let's be happy." in response to my update to the team about our score. I guess having met Mr Death in the face and survived can change one's perspective of what is important in life.

Actually, I am glad that my team did not receive the full marks this time around. For sure, it may mean that we end up with a lower grade (than expected) for the module, but I believe each of us will still pass the module. What I think the lower mark may do is to force each "unsatisfied" team member to rethink about his/her role in contributing to the "lower than expected" score. E.g. I know that I had not been as conscientious as a team leader as I was in the previous project. IMHO, sometimes an over-effective leader has to step back, so that each team member can take initiative and own his/her individual share of responsibility in the desired outcome.

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[Addendum on 28-Nov-2012]

My team (excluding AP who was sick today) spoke with the instructor HS in school yesterday regarding the breakdown of our scores. HS stated that a small amount of marks was deducted here and there because our presentation lacked detailed elaboration. I objected that although we did not put up a long presentation borrowing lots of Youtube videos, our short presentation was comprehensive. HS then told us that we should not compare with other teams and the team which used Youtube may not have scored well either. [IMHO, 80% of that team's presentation was from Youtube, which to me would pretty much equate to plagiarism.] HS then redirected us to tell her how much we should get and why. To which MM and HMR quipped 20, i.e. the full score, and JK agreed. [Note: I could not see PY's response as she was off the range of my peripheral vision.]

HMR cited that we put in "even more effort than in the previous group assignment". MM turned to me and asked, "Say something!" I kept quiet to collect my thoughts for a second before I raised my points. I asked HS if she had seen our written report, to which she replied in affirmative. I told HS that when  we did our discussions, we aimed to do a short and concise presentation but we covered everything in that we followed the marking rubics strictly. HS agreed to reconsider our score. At the end of the day, HS informed me verbally that she will revise our score to the full 20 marks. There is no email from her to that effect, so I will take her word for it for now. A small victory.

That said, in the same evening, the group of GNIE students who attended an Open House by a health authority found ourselves facing yet another hurdle/discrimination against us in the job market. More on that another day, I have lots to get done before dawn.

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[Addendum on 05-Dec-2012]

Yesterday, on the last day of school, instructor HS informed each of my team members that she decided to give us 19 points for the project.

Swollen eyes

A lot has been happening the past fortnight and I just didn't feel ready to gather my thoughts to blog. Nothing truly significant or earth shattering, but little "accidents", incidents, observations and commentaries received. Anyway, I shall start-off with a funny little incident.

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2 weekends ago, I started using a new facial toner with lots of "anti-aging" fruit acid. Fruit acid is not something new to my skin since my dermatologist back in Singapore treated my face regularly with it in my 20's and 30's.

Now, in my mid-20's I had pretty bad acne problems. It was bad enough that one day the department secretary innocently remarked, "WD, [do] you know [that] you can see the doctor for skin problems?" 

Until then, I was clueless that superficial beauty issues warranties a doctor's attention. Even then, I did not know how to approach a doctor for my acne issues. By chance when I visited the company doctor for cough/flu, he offered me  (without my asking for it) roll-on antibiotics to treat my acne. It worked like a charm. 

Thus when my skin broke out again, I took my sister's colleague's referral to a dermatologist seriously and visited the skin specialist. I was very consistent about the monthly AHA (alpha hydroxy acids) treatment until my skin condition stabilized; thereafter I returned regularly for maintenance treatments. That is how I learned about one of the ways in which the rich "tai-tai's" stay young and beautiful (assuming that they did not undergo the knife for plastic surgery). Yes, the regular AHA treatments worked like a charm too. 

Once in my early 30's, I even had a female colleague asking me, "What foundation are you using? Your skin looks so smooth." I replied that I wasn't using any foundation, just regular skin care (wash, tone, moisturize) and plain sun-block.

The problem is it was a different (not famous) brand, and I took it for granted that my skin would adapt to AHA as it did before. On the 2nd or 3rd time of using the new toner, I woke up at 4am to an itchy, burning sensation on my face. In my drowsy state, I started gently scratching the itch but it just wouldn't go away. Finally I couldn't take the itch anymore, so I got out of bed, switched on the lights to see what's "irritating" my face. Boy was I in for a shock!

4:05am Swollen face, erythematous skin, patches of serous facial discharge

I was due to leave home at 6am to report for 7am-7pm duty at my preceptorship hospital. Straight off I debated the merits of calling the nursing unit to inform them that I was unable to work. I rinsed my face with as much tepid water as possible. Finally I could see my double eyelids returning, but my face was still unevenly swollen (left side was more swollen than the right), erythematous (red), with patches of (clear fluids) serous facial discharge (1st degree and 2nd degree superficial partial thickness burns). In fact, I found my face so funny that I could not help laughing at myself despite my predicament and took photos "for the memories".

4:20am Double eyelids returned, but still swollen face, erythematous skin, patches of serous facial discharge

I decided to head for duty at my preceptorship hospital as previously planned. I already had to replace 1 day's work due to being sick previously, I did not want to further delay my training unnecessarily. My preceptor was surprised. She mentioned that she had noted slight redness the day before (when I started with this new toner). She exclaimed, "Why did you use that new toner? Your skin is so good, don't spoil it."

Later in the day, an elderly ethnic Chinese lady patient remarked admiringly that I had such a glowing complexion. I laughed and replied that my "glowing complexion" was actually an allergic reaction!

Thankfully my skin returned back to its previous normal conditions after a few days of recovery.

Previous normal skin/eyes conditions

[Note: Eyes with a little eyeshadow applied]

Questions about PCP Nursing in Singapore

In my previous (unrelated) blog entry, I received some questions from a reader Sue regarding the Singapore government WDA's PCP (Professional Conversion Programme, a.k.a. Accelerated Diploma) Nursing programme in Singapore. [Note: The PCP programme was previously known as the "Strategic Manpower Conversion Programme" (SMCP).] Since there may be other readers who may be interested in the programme, I shall post her original questions and my replies here.

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Anonymous wrote on Monday, November 19, 2012 3:58:00 AM:

Hi, I just came across your blog and would like to know a few things, hope you can help me with it.

For your PcP Nursing programme, did you get to choose your specialisation? Which is the specialisation that requires the least physical strength? What is the dropout rate for the programme?

Thank you (Sue)

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Winking Doll replied on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 1:22:00 AM:

Hi Sue, 

Thanks for visiting my blog. 

> For your PcP Nursing programme, did you get to choose your specialisation? 

Just to confirm, are you are referring to the Singapore WDA PCP Nursing Conversion Program? If so, during my time, the determination of one's specialization depends on one's sponsoring agency and its procedure. E.g. Some classmates are sponsored by nursing homes, and thus their specialty is already fixed (i.e. long-term care facility). E.g. In my hospital, my buddy stated clearly during her sponsorship interview that she is only interested in O&G, so they arranged for her to be interviewed by the O&G ADON. In my case, during the sponsorship interview, I stated that I had no particular preference (since I truly knew very little about nursing at that point). It was only near the end of the course that I played some politics and pulled some strings to get me transferred from Med/Surg to Paeds. E.g. My classmates at a restructured hospital received a form towards the end of the PCP course asking them to list their 1st to 5th preferred choice of specialization. That said, I don't know if the system has been changed since our time, it's been 5 years now. 

> Which is the specialisation that requires the least physical strength? 

Well, if you can get into Nurse Informatics, that ought to require the least physical strength. I wonder if my reader CK can help on this, since he is in the Nurse Informatics specialization. But then, there wasn't anyone in my cohort who ended up in that specialty. At one point, the Institute of Mental Health was looking for someone to go into that area. That said, I am not sure if how often such opportunities present itself in Singapore. 

Other areas that usually doesn't require much strength would be Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Polyclinic nurse, Day Surgery, Endoscopy Centre (e.g. TTSH), and School Health Nurse. Avoid the Intensive Care Unit, Neurology Unit, and similar such areas where the patient is likely to be too sick to help you with their care by bearing/lifting some of their own weight.

I wonder how little physical strength you are expecting to put in. After all, the PCP training requires you to undergo Medical, Surgical, O&G, Paeds, Mental Health, OT and Emergency Dept clinical, so some physical strength is required to complete the training. That said, I think most able-bodied persons would meet the physical strength requirement. E.g. I was an underweight 40-43kg at height 155cm -- petite even for Asian females. Yet I managed to survived through Med/Surg, etc through "teamwork". IMHO, the killer isn't the physical work per se, but the bitchy female-dominated environment (especially of nursing in Singapore).

http://winkingdoll.blogspot.ca/2012/04/nursing-in-singapore-what-did-you-learn.html

http://winkingdoll.blogspot.ca/search/label/Nursing%20in%20Singapore 

> What is the dropout rate for the programme? 

My cohort started with 28. After the 1st test, 2 dropped out. After 2nd semester, another 1 dropped out. At the last semester, 2 deferred and another 2 did not complete the course (if I remember correctly). Amongst those that deferred, I heard that only 1 of the 2 returned to complete the program in the end. There were others from previous batches who joined our class along the way, so the ending numbers don't quiet synch. If you were to strictly count amongst the 28 who were at the same starting line, how many of those completed within the expected (scheduled) 2 years time-frame, then the answer for my cohort is that 21/28 or 75% completed as per original schedule. 

I think you have asked good questions. As I have mentioned above, I don't know if the system has been changed since my time. I think that it is best that you raise your questions at the WDA PCP talks promoting the conversion training. 

Cheers, WD.

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Just FYI for those who are interested. 3 (including me) of the 21 in my cohort mentioned above migrated to Canada. Note: That said, I did not do the nursing conversion programme to qualify for immigration to Canada. I already qualified for Canadian permanent residency based on my previous career and the Canadian immigration point system back in end-2006. I believe the same is true for my 2 other classmates who immigrated to Canada as well, for they too had submitted their PR application around the same time, before/near the start of our nursing programme.

IMHO, the WDA staff did their best to give me trouble when I tendered my resignation before completing my bond. Please read your contract carefully if your true intention is to leave Singapore with your newly acquired nursing qualifications. In addition, please be careful not to leak to others about your emigration plans, unless it is someone you can trust 100% to be on your side and who would be discrete about not accidentally leaking your plans to your workplace management and/or to WDA. Finally, be prepared to face "friends" who turn into jerks just because you choose to leave the little red dot.

p.s. Also do consider if you can put-up with and survive a potentially bullying/abusive environment long enough to earn your wings as a nurse.

GNIE: Started preceptorship

I started clinical last weekend. I am grateful that my preceptor HH is very supportive. She was previously from the GNEA training program (predecessor of my current GNIE program) and has worked as an RN in Canada for around 7 years. Several of the staff at the unit are also GNEA graduates. It is a busy unit, but staff atmosphere was generally cordial. 

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Coincidentally on my first day, both my RN preceptor HH and LPN X each has student nurse understudying them. LPN X was assigned the relatively stable patients, but a couple of them were isolation cases.

During report taking, I was relatively slow in taking notes as I was new to this hospital's Kardex system. Thus, I asked LPN X and her student if I was holding them up, and made it a point to give way to them. After all, my learning objective for the day was "seek-and-find", not patient care, so it didn't matter to me. I would later realize that it was a bad move on my part (playing the "humble RN student") because some people are like sharks -- if you give an inch, they would take a mile. ［“得寸进尺”］

At around 11:45-12:00, lunch was served. I assisted HH in setting up the patients. While at a 4-bedder attending to HH's patient, I assisted and/or visually checked that all the other patients in the room (who were under the care of LPN X) were set up with their food too. All were eating except for bed 2 (under the care of LPN X), who was sleeping soundly and as I recalled from earlier in the morning, did not like to be woken up. My preceptor came by and told me not to worry about bed 2 and to get on with my own stuff. I returned to the nursing station to continue with my "seek-and-find". It was around 12:40.

At around 12:50, LPN X shouted as she walked towards the nursing station, "Why isn't bed 2 eating his food?" As her team partner, RN HH, was not at the nursing station, LPN X directed her anger at me. I looked surprised and asked her which patient she was referring to, since I was not familiar with the bed numbering yet.

LPN X did not answer my question. Instead she raised her voice and repeatedly shouted her question. A few other staff were around at the nursing station. One of them, RN B told LPN X, "Now, now, don't you shout at WD. She is a nice and quiet student." But LPN X ignored her, so RN B said, "She doesn't even know which bed you're referring to." Then RN B explained to me the bed numbering system, after which I replied LPN X that the patient was sleeping.

"Patient was sleeping! Patient was sleeping! If the patient was sleeping, you have to wake him up! I went for my break from 12:15 to 12:45, to find that my patient has not eaten when I came back. 12:15 to 12:45, half an hour! What were you doing for the whole half hour? You didn't check the patients? What were you doing?", LPN X was shouting at the top of her voice.

I stared at her stunned. Then LPN X walked back to her patient's room in a huff. A shocked silence hung in the air. RN B told me to ignore LPN X and reassured me that it is not an issue. When my preceptor heard about the matter, she was really angry with LPN X. She told me not to let LPN X bother me and asked if I was alright. I told her honestly, "Yes (I am alright), it is not my problem."

I did not mention it but at no point did LPN X nor her student hand-over the care of their patients to me before they went on a break. In the first place, since the lunch trays arrived at least 15min before the start of their lunch breaks, LPN X and her student nurse were responsible for and should have set-up their patients for meals before they left. LPN X did not do her own job, but instead attempted to push the responsibility of her own failure to the easiest victim on hand. 

IMHO, I think bullies like LPN X are really stupid. As the Chinese saying goes, “知己知彼，百战不殆” ["know thyself and know thy enemy, 100 battles without a defeat"]. LPN X was too impulsive to attack so quickly -- on the very 1st day of meeting me without finding out more about me. [Admittedly, I am good at hiding my strengths so that others would underestimate me. Thus, if and when I need to "take action", they would be defeated by surprise. E.g. Now that my GNIE classmate AP knows me much better, she is a little wary of me -- as she said (in a recent discussion with me, AP and PY) that I am smart and "can be manipulative".]

You see, I am pretty good at writing official letters (e.g. of complaints). The last time I did so was when I helped IJ with his resignation letter over an incident where he was harassed at work by a Care Aide Manager. According to IJ, the Care Aide Manager eventually lost her job (due to a compounding of various incidents). For now, I have documented the incident in my own records. Should LPN X continue to be offensive repeatedly, I am prepared to lodge an official incident report/complaint with detailed history on the hospital incident reporting system, with CLPNBC and/or with WorkSafeBC. As far as CLPNBC requirements go, LPN X's behaviour clearly did not meet its Code of Ethics. As for WorkSafeBC, it takes "Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace" seriously, and there will be ramifications for an alleged bully found guilty of inappropriate conduct.

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Other then the above incident, the other staff were cordial and supportive of my learning experience. During my breaks, I noticed that the staff chat happily in the staff lounge. From their own life stories that they shared, it seems to me that I am working with people who mostly do not believe in being stressed during/over work, count their blessings in life, and appreciate karma (i.e. believe in being nice to others so that they will get a good life themselves). 

As for my preceptor HH, I really appreciate that she would ask me from time to time if I was alright. I noticed that my preceptor was really effective in her time management and efficient at work. I suppose that comes with her years of experience. In addition, not only was HH teaching me about nursing, she was also guiding me on handling people (patients, NOKs, colleagues) at work. I hope to learn her time management skills and develop her ability to handle workplace interactions over time.

It is not the pace-of-work that makes or breaks the joy of nursing, it is the people.