British Columbia Chapter
Critical Care: State of THE ART, combining compassion and technology when patients need us the most.
Latest News

Supporting Novice Critical Care RNs
Presented by: Caroline Penner
Description: Critical care units have increased numbers of novice nurses. Time, practice and connections are required for nurses to move from novice to experienced nurse. The transition educator position was created to provide a personal connection during the challenging role of a novice critical care nurse.
About me: I graduated from VGH School of Nursing in 1989. In my program I had the opportunity to spend one month in ICU. This was when I decided ICU was my destination. I started working for Fraser Health in 1990 at SMH, took my BCIT Critical Care education in 1993 and went to ICU at SMH in 1994. Until 2015, I remained dedicated to point of care nursing and was not interested in any other role. After filling in as clinician, I went on to be a BCIT instructor, patient care coordinator, ICU clinician, and most recently the Fraser Health Critical Care Program (CCP) CNE for Fraser South. In April of 2022, I joined the national board of directors for the CACCN. At that time, I also took the newly created role of regional transition CNE for career placement and advanced training (CPAT) in critical care.
Stay tuned for details on our next presenter!
NEWS FLASH -
World Congress is coming to Vancouver in 2025!

Canadian Critical Care Nursing Conference - Sept 25-27, 2023

Next one is Mar 9, 2023
at 0900h BC Time
CACCN National Sponsored Webinar
These are CACCN members-only events. Click on the link, log in to the Member’s Only section and go to “Events” to learn more and register. Some past events are available in the members only section of the https://caccn.ca website.
February was Black History Month.
While there are many ways to honour Black History Month, here are a few resources to reflect on:
- RESEARCH – Jefferies, K., States, C., MacLennan, V., et al. (2022). “Black Nurses in the nursing profession in Canada: a scoping review” BMC.
- RESEARCH – Fawzy, A., Tianshi, D.W., Wang, K. et al. (2022) “Racial and Ethnic Discrepancy in Pulse Oximetry and Delayed Identification of Treatment Eligibility Among Patients with COVID-19.” JAMA
- Webpage – “Racism in Healthcare” – CNA’s page devoted to anti-racism resources, advocacy and policy.
- Webpage – Coalition of African, Caribbean and Black Nurses in BC (CACBN) website.
- Webpage – Canadian Black Nurses Alliance (CBNA)
- Article – Brown, C.E. (2021). “Counteracting COVID-19 Healthcare Inequities: Supporting Antiracist Practices at Bedside.”
- NEWS – PBS Weekend NEWS (Dec. 17, 2022). “How racial biases in medical algorithms lead to inequities in care.”
- NEWS – CityNews Everywhere (June 26, 2022). “Battle faced by black nurses in Canada.“
CACCN National's Journal Club
CACCN’s National Journal Club – Stay tuned and join the upcoming ones to be held on:
- Mar 9, 2023
- May 11, 2023 – TBA
- Sep 7, 2023 – TBA
Save the dates! More information will be coming about these upcoming Journal Club Events.
Want to Speak for Us?
We are Planning our next event and are looking for speakers. Are you a critical care nurse? Do you have a great idea, or are working on a project? Do you want to share your story with other critical care nurses? Let us know!
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British Columbia CHapter
Set between the province of Alberta and the Pacific Ocean, British Columbia is Canada’s most westerly province. BC entered the confederation in 1871, Victoria is our capital city and we have a population of approximately 4 million people. There is a rich first nation’s art and history to discover. Vancouver, although not our capital is a multicultural, cosmopolitan city with something for everyone.
Chapter Executive
President – Sybil Hoiss (until April 2024)
Leader of Strategic Initiatives, Quality Lead for the BC Sepsis Network – BCPSQC
Vice President – Allana LeBlanc (until April 2024)
CNS Vancouver General Hospital ICU & HAU – Vancouver Coastal Health
Secretary & FHA Rep – Emily Taylor (until April 2024)
CNS Fraser Health Critical Care Network – Fraser Health Authority
Social Media – Vini Bains (Until April 2024)
CNS Critical Care – Providence Health Care
CCSEC & BCPSQC Representative –
Upcoming Events
Join CACCN
CACCN is a national association of nurses dedicated to the advancement and innovation of clinical practice, research, and leadership in critical care.