Maria Chiera-Lyle is an Advanced Practice Nurse Educator, Neurosciences.
National Nursing Week 2015 runs May 11-17. To mark the occasion, UHN News is running a series of stories in which nurses talk about their career. Today, Maria Chiera-Lyle discusses her career.
One of my favourite pieces of career advice comes from Dr. Seuss's
Oh the Places You Will Go:
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who'll decide where to go..."
As educators, we help both new and experienced nurses to integrate new knowledge and skills into their current practice.
Education is very important to me. I learned very early on in my career that nursing is never static – it's an evolving profession. As technological advancements continue to be made at a phenomenal rate, so will my need to acquire new knowledge to learn new skills that will benefit patients and their outcomes.
My journey at UHN started in July 1989 when I joined 5A neurosurgery. Within a few short months I was trained as a charge nurse, which soon evolved to preceptorship and mentoring of students and new nurses. I was also quite fortunate to have a supportive manager and educator who kept encouraging me to consider education as a future career path.
Listening to their advice and guidance I went back to school and upgraded my education. I went from a diploma trained nurse to one who now holds a MN degree. I also dabbled in some writing and was successful in publication. After grad school I taught at various nursing programs and strengthened my scholarship of teaching.
Looking back at my early days at UHN, I had very good nurse leaders on the unit that helped to get me where I am today. Those nurse leaders are still currently on my list of mentors, and to this day I continue to seek advice and guidance from them.
If someone is out there trying to steer you along a certain pathway stop to listen to their message, as you may be surprised as to where you may go.
