I started the fourth semester (2nd year) of my master’s degree program about three weeks ago (around the same time y’all resumed as well), and I must say, it’s been a long couple of weeks. Fortunately for me, the Master of Nursing Science program here at UNBC was initially developed to operate as a distance and online form of learning; as such, my enrolled courses for this semester have been relatively unaffected by the campus-wide switch to an alternative mode of education delivery. I suppose it won’t be bold of me to claim to be something of a pro at online-learning.
As part of the requirement of being enrolled in a thesis-based master’s program, I am required to embark on independent research under the supervision of a knowledgeable professor. Since I am in the proposal development stage of my thesis, I have devoted uncountable hours of my time this summer doing a lot of reading, writing, and editing. I must say, it’s the not-so-fun part of research – in all honestly – but perhaps the most important stage as well. I will stop here so as not to bore you with the gory details of the literature search, critiquing, and research matrix. Nevertheless, I must need to say that diligent perseverance in the aforementioned stage makes for a smoother journey down the road, or at least so I’ve been told.
As if the full-time graduate study is not enough, I work part-time as a Registered Nurse at one of the complex care facilities here in Prince George – a job I absolutely enjoy, although can be mentally and emotionally tasking at times. I also hold a casual position with the BC Office of Patient-Centered Measurement (BCPCM) as a cognitive testing interviewer, a recent but amazing development!. The office of BCPCM deals with the measurement of patient experiences and outcomes to enhance public accountability as well as facilitating the province’s progress towards providing care that is patient-centered. Prior to the launching of a full-scale survey study, cognitive testing is done to ensure that the survey successfully captures the scientific intent of the questions in a way that makes sense to the respondents. In this role, I get to cognitively test aspects of the developed survey by interviewing a small number of select respondents that are like the target population.
In a nutshell, this has been my semester so far; I look forward to what the coming months bring.
