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The amazing resilience of trauma patients

In a special series, reporter Marelle Reid chats with the people who make RCH run. This is her second report

Kathleen Fyvie has been working at RCH since 1986. The Record caught up with Fyvie recently to find out what it's like for a trauma nurse practitioner at the hospital.

Can you describe your role?

I'm the nurse practitioner on the trauma service - we look after multi-system trauma patients, so people with multiple injuries.

Say you had a head injury, rib fractures, and maybe lacerated your spleen - we're going to see you.

What's the difference between a nurse practitioner and a registered nurse?

A nurse practitioner is an advanced practice nurse. I have a master's degree in nursing and I've had advanced clinical education.

We can do things that were traditionally thought of as being strictly confined to (the role of a) physician; so, I can diagnose, I can order tests, I can write prescriptions.

What's a typical shift like for you?

I usually start out in the morning reviewing test results and looking at films and X-rays in my office, and then I'll meet the trauma team leader in the emerg department, usually about nine o'clock, and we'll review our list of patients together and then we'll start rounding, going to see all our patients.

What's the most interesting thing about your job?

I think it's the people I work with and the patients. I'm constantly amazed by the resilience of human beings.

I'm fascinated by watching how they come in and how they recover. It's amazing, and it's a privilege to actually be part of that.

What about the patients who don't recover?

I don't think we ever get over feeling sad. You want the best outcome.

Sometimes you just know that when some patients come in their lives are never going to be the same, so rather than dwell on that, we focus on how we can give them the best outcome given the nature of their injuries. . it's a great opportunity to make a difference in people's lives.

Is it stressful, what you do?

I love it. You just never know what's going to come through the door. I like the anticipation of not knowing what I'm going to see each day.

They're challenging patients. They're complex, their injuries are very interesting and complex, obviously.

Many of our patients also have issues with addictions or mental health, which adds another layer of complexity to their care needs.

What's the most common reason for trauma patients to be brought in?

We see a lot of motor vehicle crashes, or we'll see pedestrians struck.

In the spring we start to see motorcycle crashes and falls from ladders when people are out cleaning their gutters.

Something you wish you could change about your job?

Ideally, we wouldn't need somebody like me. In an ideal world, there'd be less trauma. People wouldn't be injuring themselves like they do.

What did you want to be when you were a kid?

When I was a little girl I wanted to be a nurse because my mom was a nurse.

I kind of grew out of that, but then I actually became interested (again) when I was a multi-trauma patient myself at 18. The nurses had a real impact on my recovery, so that's when nursing became a more viable consideration for me.

Where did you get your training?

Langara (for Registered Nurse training), University of Victoria (for nurse practitioner training), and then I did my degree at Kwantlen.

Do you wear scrubs?

No, actually I wear street clothes and a lab coat. We were the first NPs . to get hired at RCH in acute care that Fraser Health hired. We sort of had to set ourselves apart.