Diana Lu, Rachelle BuchokUWindsor nursing students Diana Lu and Rachelle Buchok share a smile Friday during the Great Lakes Biennial Nursing Conference.

Nursing conference integrates research into patient care

A conference last week in Windsor brought together nursing students, researchers and practicing professionals to compare notes on ways to improve health outcomes for patients.

The Great Lakes Biennial Nursing Conference drew about 200 registrants from across Canada and Michigan to Caesars Windsor on Friday, says professor Maher El-Masri, chair of its planning committee.

The sixth biennial conference provides a forum to share the most up-to-date research, showcasing the good work done at the UWindsor Faculty of Nursing and other academic and practice institutions.

“We work to promote evidence-based practice of care, and this event in particular gives students a safe environment to witness dissemination of such evidence and to engage in conference activities,” he says.

Fourth-year nursing student Lisa Hamilton agrees.

“If you care about your patients, you have to put in the work to keep current,” she says. “We are at the point of patient care, that’s what makes us a critical part of the health care team.”

Linda McGillis Hall, professor of nursing at the University of Toronto, delivered a keynote address entitled “Workplace interruptions and patient safety.” She says the conference is valuable in lessening the gap between research and practice.

“It’s about bringing together all the schools in the region, the students and the practice environment leaders,” says Dr. McGillis Hall. “It’s really important to the health system to have them working together.”

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