Master Class

Sara Fung is an experienced healthcare thought leader, author,
advocate, speaker, and consultant. Sara has worked as a nurse for close to 20 years and has held a variety of roles at the frontline, leadership and entrepreneurship levels. Her expertise is in maternal child health, with clinical experience in obstetrics and the NICU. She has worked in academic and community hospitals and in home health as a bedside nurse, educator, and advanced practice nurse. Sara is co-host of the GRITTY NURSE Podcast, (#2 on Apple Podcasts in the medical category) and is the bestselling author of The Wisdom of Nurses: Stories of Grit from the Frontlines. Sara has done a wide range of media interviews for major Canadian news outlets such as the CBC and accepted speaking engagements for organizations such as the Canadian Medical Association, Sigma Nursing, and the Canadian Nurses Association.

Sara is on the Board of Directors at Hong Fook Mental Health Association, and the Research Advisory Board at the Conference Board of Canada and Making the Move, helping skilled newcomers of African descent secure meaningful career opportunities in Canada. Sara’s company The RN Resume was a 2024 nominee for a Young Entrepreneur Award from the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.

Satvir Kaur is an internationally educated nurse currently practicing as a Registered Nurse on a medical surgical unit in Windsor, Ontario. Shortly after graduating with her Bachelors Degree in nursing from Baba Farid University of Health Sciences in Punjab in 2016, Satvir set out for Canada to pursue higher studies, graduating with a Masters of Nursing from Thompson Rivers University with a focus on the resilience of newly graduated nurses transitioning to practice. Satvir is passionate about the issues related to new graduate nurses and their transition to practice experience.

Jodi Kerr has been a Registered Nurse since 2006 when she earned her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from the University of Saskatchewan. Jodi was born and raised in Regina Saskatchewan and credits her parents Frank and Sharon Kerr for the full life she lives today. Having known Jodi from the time she was a young nursing student, I can attest to the love, kindness and great sense of humor they passed down to Jodi – no doubt it has served as a buffer for the trials of leadership over the years Jodi!

Prior to Nursing, Jodi was a Sign Language Interpreter, earning her Certificate in American Sign Language in Edmonton, AB and practicing as an interpreter for the Saskatchewan Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services. But her heart was in nursing – Jodi graduated from the Nursing Education Program of Saskatchewan in 2006 and quickly became part of the leadership team for Nursing The Future, holding many positions during the 4 years that she was a part of our amazing team. Jodi says her time with NTF was one of the best times of her life – but honestly her joy and sense of humour kept all of us afloat. Jodi transitioned to practice on the Neurosciences ward of the Regina General Hospital, functioning in the roles of primary care nurse, Charge and Clinical Resource Nurse up to January 2014, when she accepted the position of Unit Manager of Neurosciences and continues to be inspired by the nurses that show up every day and provide the best care to their patients and families.

Don Leidl is an assistant professor at the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Nursing. His clinical background is in mental health and addictions nursing, primarily in the clinical areas of in-patient adult acute psychiatry, psychiatric emergency department services for adults and adolescents, and forensic mental health nursing.

Don holds a Bachelor of Science (BSN) in Nursing from the University of Saskatchewan (2001), a Master of Nursing (MN) from Athabasca University (2010), and a Doctor of Education (EdD) from the University of Liverpool (2016). He is the lead researcher in extended reality teaching modalities and the use of technologies in nursing education at the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Nursing. His current research portfolio is focused on the use of immersive virtual reality technologies in nursing and health sciences education.

Don is a passionate mental health nursing educator and researcher and is currently serving as the president of the Canadian Federation on Mental Health Nurses (CFMHN). He is also the former lead researcher of the Northern Nurse Education Network (NNEN), an international research collaborative affiliated with the UArctic, with the goal of leveraging advanced technologies to build healthcare capacity in the circumpolar north. Don resides with his family in Moncton New Brunswick.

Angela Wignall is a Registered Nurse whose practices at the intersection of policy and governance. As the current Chief Executive Officer of the Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of British Columbia, Angela holds a BA from York University, a BSN from the University of Victoria, a Masters in Policy & Practice, and is currently completing her PhD with a research focus on state level health policy coalitions. She is a member of Canada’s CNO Advisory Committee on Nursing Retention and Chairs the International Council of Nurses’ PAHO region and Global GNLI Alumni Policy Tables. Angela advises and speaks around the world on nurse-led innovation, clinical governance, policy science, and health-care transformation.

Dr. Joan Atlin is Sr. Director of Strategy, Policy and Research at World Education Services (WES). In both staff and consulting roles, she has led and executed policy and program initiatives focused on professional licensure and workplace inclusion of internationally educated professionals. She served for 5 years as Director of Programs at the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council. Her experience includes developing profession-specific solutions in health and engineering. She has participated on national and provincial level task groups including the National Task Force on IMG Licensure and, recently, on the Bridging and Laddering Task Group of Ontario’s Staffing Supply Accelerator Group for Long Term Care. Earlier in her career, Joan developed and managed bridging programs and served as a policy advisor on Access to Professions and Trades with the Ontario Government.

Dr. Edward Cruz is an internationally educated nurse (IEN) from the Philippines. He is currently a tenured Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs at the Faculty of Nursing, University of Windsor (Ontario). His program of research centres around social care, health human resources, interprofessional education and collaboration, and nursing education. Since 2019, he has been co-chair of the Partners in Integration and Education of IENs, and also serves as chair, co-chair, or member of provincial and national associations or initiatives related to IENs. He is recognized as one of the foremost experts in the field of IENs and bridging education in Canada. Dr. Cruz is the recipient of several awards, including the Top 25 Canadian Immigrants Award in 2023, Nursing Society Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award (UWindsor 2023), Heart of SCHS Recognition Certificate (Centennial College 2017-2018), and the Dean’s Recognition Award for Excellence in Teaching (Centennial College, 2015). To date, he holds the distinction of being the only Filipino Canadian inducted into the Canadian Academy of Nursing.

As Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Cynthia Johansen leads the largest health profession regulator in western Canada, ensuring the college fulfils its mandate to protect the public through the regulation of more than 60,000 nurses and midwives in B.C.—licensed practical nurses, nurse practitioners, registered midwives, registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses. Founded on Sept. 1, 2020, the BC College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) is the first college in Canada to regulate both nurses and midwives. Cynthia has a passion for regulation and recognizes opportunities to incorporate best practices into health care regulation to better protect the public. She has a track record of bringing people and organizations together – including government, other regulators and the public – to improve professional practice standards and transform health profession regulation. Cynthia's regulatory career began in 2003, as Registrar of the College of Dental Hygienists of BC. In 2006, she joined the College of Registered Nurses of BC (CRNBC) as Director of Registration, Inquiry and Discipline and was subsequently appointed Registrar/CEO in 2012. Cynthia guided CRNBC through its transition to a college focused solely on public protection and was a catalyst for increased collaboration among health regulators within BC and across the country. She was also instrumental in bringing the province's nursing colleges together as a single regulator for all nursing designations in 2018. Cynthia served as Registrar and CEO of the British Columbia College of Nursing Professionals (BCCNP) prior to BCCNP and CMBC amalgamating to become BCCNM. Cynthia represents BCCNM on the International Nurse Regulators Collaborative, a group of nurse and midwife regulators that includes the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Ireland. She is a member of the Canadian Council of Registered Nurse Regulators (CCRNR) and a board member of Registered Psychiatric Nurses of Canada Examination (RPNCE). Cynthia is also the Chair of the BC Health Regulators, a society made up of the health profession regulatory colleges in B.C. Cynthia holds a BA in Political Science, an MA in Leadership Studies, and an MSc in Information Management.

Dr. Ruth Lee is the Executive Director of CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses (CARE Centre) – an organization supports IENs pre and post arrival to relaunch their career in Canada. In this role, Ruth works closely with regulators, employers, professional organizations, and academics to support Internationally Educated Nurses’ integration process. She is an Associate Clinical Professor at McMaster University School of Nursing, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada where she is a faculty member of the graduate program since 2003. Ruth obtained her Registered Nurse Diploma from Seneca College, BScN and MScN from the Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, and her PhD from the Institute of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. Prior to joining CARE Centre eight years ago, Ruth was the Chief of Nursing Practice, Hamilton Health Sciences, for thirteen years where she led the Internationally Educated Nurse Integration Project. Ruth’s clinical and administrative expertise spans many roles in various healthcare settings – community, long term, and acute care. Her academic work focuses on culturally competent practice, diversity and inclusion, leadership and management, and health human resources planning. Ruth was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario in 2018 for her outstanding contributions to the nursing profession. Her recent publications in the Canadian Journal of Nursing Leadership, and presentations at the International Council of Nurses Congress on Internationally Educated Nurse workforce transition and integration, have received many accolades from nursing leaders, healthcare employers and Internationally Educated Nurses.

Leah Watts holds a Masters of Arts and has been working with the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing since 2012. She has led several nursing education initiatives, including the development of the National Nursing Education Framework, and the development and ongoing delivery of the three Certification exams that CASN offers for Nurse Educators. Leah has carried out several Health Canada funded projects and has developed competencies for specific areas of nursing education in Canada as well as internationally. Leah is currently the Project Coordinator for the IEN Preceptorship project.

Times are ‘a changin to be sure and foundational nursing education is attempting to respond to the dynamic context in which we currently practice. But what is changing and how are those changes being reflected in curriculum, practice and the experience of both student and faculty? NTF is pleased to host this outstanding panel of nursing education leaders to discuss the salient issues we are dealing with today.

Dr. Claire Mallette, BScN, MScN, PhD has enjoyed a diverse career with roles in academia, administration, research and clinical practice in the provinces of Quebec, Alberta, and Ontario. She has held leadership positions in both practice and academia in such roles as the Director of the School of Nursing at York University, Director of Education at University Health Network, and the Chief Nursing Officer at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in Ontario. She is presently the Director of the School of Nursing and an Associate Professor at York University. Her areas of research and interest are in fostering quality compassionate care, leadership and positive work environments now and in the future within an advancing technological healthcare system. She is a risk taker, team player, change agent and innovator of new programs; who is action oriented, passionate about nursing, and demonstrates the ability to lead others in striving for excellence.

Dr. Catherine Ringham PhD, RN, CNeoN(C) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing, Thompson Rivers University, with decades of clinical practice and research experience in the field of Maternal and Neonatal Care. Dr Ringham has a passion for qualitative approaches to health systems inquiries that show how peoples’ work is organized within quality improvement, implementation, and evidence-informed discourses. Currently, Cathy is cultivating good leadership practice in students in her graduate and undergraduate courses, teaching effective communication and leadership skills for contemporary healthcare contexts. Her research focus now focuses on the implementation and sustainability of faculty mentorship to support the retention and wellbeing of new academic hires, as well as other interdisciplinary research collaborations.

Dr. Tracie Risling RN, PhD is the Associate Dean Innovation in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary, the President-Elect of the Canadian Nurses Association and the Past-President of the Canadian Nursing Informatics Association. With a practice background in pediatric nursing, Tracie leads a patient-oriented program of health and nursing informatics research including study on artificial intelligence, social media, co-design, and the use of texting for wellness and workforce support.

Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc, PhD, RN, FSAHM, FCAHS, FAAN, FCAN, is a Distinguished University Scholar, Professor, and has been the Director of the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia (or UBC) for the past 7 years. In her nursing career she has been both a perinatal nurse and a public health nurse, working primarily with adolescents, including homeless pregnant adolescents, 2SLGBTQ+ youth, and sexually exploited young people. She leads a research centre focused studying how stigma, discrimination, violence and trauma influence young people’s health, and interventions to promote health equity for youth. She has been a consultant to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, and for the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, among others. She was an Inaugural Fellow in the Canadian Academy of Nursing, and has been inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Researcher Hall of Fame.

Dr. Leigh Chapman is committed to advancing the nursing profession in Canada to ensure equitable access to quality care. As CNO for Canada, she provides strategic advice to Health Canada, plays a convening role on key nursing issues, and represents the Federal Government at public forums. Leigh is a registered nurse (RN) who received her PhD from the University of Toronto’s Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing. Over the past 20 years, she has gained a deep understanding of nursing by working in both frontline and clinical leadership capacities. In addition to her role as CNO for Canada, Leigh continues to work at a community-based consumption and treatment site in Toronto, where she provides harm reduction services and frontline care.

This Masterclass series invites you into a deeper understanding of nursing as the sacred science of caring. In 8 conversations with Dr. Jean Watson she offers her reflections on unitary caring in a time of global fracture – the focus of this series is on how new nursing graduates can situate their evolving practice in the sacred covenant between nursing and the healing of humanity.

Dr. Jean Watson is a Distinguished Professor and Dean Emerita at the University of Colorado in Denver, Colorado where she held the nation’s first endowed Chair in Caring Science for 16 years. Dr. Watson is founder of the original Center for Human Caring in Colorado, a founding member of the International Association in Human Caring, and the Founder and Director of the non-profit foundation, Watson Caring Science Institute. Dr. Watson is known around the world for her theory of human caring-the 10 caritas processes and caring science. She is the recipient of 15 honorary doctorates from around the world and most notably was designated as a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing. This is its highest honor.

The first 2 interviews with Dr. Watson introduce the reader to Dr. Jean Watson’s 10 CaritasTM processes as universal to human caring and outline her 7 Sacred Sutras. This video will serve as the foundation for profound discussions on the nature of caring in today’s healthcare system.

The global pandemic has challenged how nurses interface with those they care for. A required focus on social distancing and personal protective equipment have influenced the capacity for, and the expression of caring as a cornerstone of our interactions with each other. In this session, Dr. Watson explores the challenges to caring in contexts where human touch is prohibited and discusses the impact of these changes on our care practices.

1. What do you see as the challenges to caring in contexts where human touch is not possible?

2. How do you think the pandemic, and it’s influence on our capacity to be skin to skin/face-to-face, has changed the way we care?

3. If, in the post-pandemic world, we do not return fully to our face-to-face practice – if we return to a greater reliance on digital or virtual platforms to educate nurses and even to practice (an increase in telehealth for instance), how might this impact on our capacity to ‘care’?

4. How might this situation influence the health of those we care for?

Simulation technology is being used increasingly as a platform not only to educate health practitioners, but to care for patients, particularly in extreme rural and remote geographical areas. In this session, Dr. Watson explores how ‘synthetic’ care can be positioned as an effective means of caring while helping us to understand the influences of physical distance in caring ‘for and about’ our patients, families and communities.

The future of humanity lies in our ability to care for one another. In this session, Dr. Watson talks about the covenant between nursing, as an act of humanity, and the world, as a global community struggling to sustain its true nature of loving and caring for self and other. The world is changing – we see that in the growing instability of our politics, our geography, our economies, and in the expressions of our cultural, religious, spiritual and social relationships. Dr. Watson offers her insights into what caring looks like today, how it has changed and how the conscious caring of even one nurse has the capacity to affect the whole of humanity.

It is a common lament by practitioners that they are simply too exhausted to care. In this session Dr. Watson speaks to the paradox of caring – that, in fact, caring MORE uplifts and energizes rather than depletes and exhausts. She explores how the newest members of profession can use caring theory to discern, critique and construct practice rather than accept, comply and conform to externally determined practices. A review of how committing to caring for others creates contexts of self-care.