A Nurse First

Bent rules

• Sigma Nursing • Season 6 • Episode 3

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A three-hour bus ride, a two-hour walk, and a last-minute chance to take the nursing exam changed everything for Tameka Duncan-Baker. This pivotal moment of support and opportunity transformed her life and career, leading her to become Jamaica's first formally trained clinical nurse researcher.

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I was introduced to nursing when I joined a service club in high school. They took us to a golden age home for one of our activities. And I saw the clients there and I saw how the caregivers at that time there were practical nurses and they only had one staff nurse on duty. And I saw how they respect her and I saw how she treated them. And I said, you know, I can see myself doing that. I didn't know the different world or avenues or different career path. I just saw bedside nursing and I think in love with bedside nursing. And I made a decision from I was 12. This is it. This is exactly what I want to do with my life. Welcome to A Nurse First. This is Tameka Duncan-Baker telling her own A Nurse First story. Nursing has come out far away for a little island, Jamaica, far away. I'm from a very poor community. My father died when I was four and I was raised by a mom who did little farming here, sell things here. I didn't know how I was going to afford the education. And my mom was very worried that she wouldn't be able to provide this for me. And I was adaman that I don't want to do anything else. I finished school and I got a job and then that job paid me enough that I could save some money and I did. And I took the bus from the rural area, the countryside, and I came to Kingston, the big city. I heard that if I applied to the University Hospital of the West Indies, they would provide me the education. But I will be bonded. I would have to work with them for a minimum of three years before I leave. And that was my ticket. Here I am somebody saying, if you come, I will train you and all you have to do is work for me for three years and I'm going to work for you for something that I want to do. It's a win win. And you're going to give me a stipend while you're training me so I can feed myself. When I heard, I dropped what I was doing and I just ran. So if I was to be lost, I'm going to be lost. Of course I was lost. The bus took me way past the hospital, the university hospital where the interviews for the nurses was going to be held. So I had to walk. So I walked for two hours. I'm scared to ask persons for directions because suppose they give me the wrong thing. And I gave up several times on the journey, but there was just something inside of me to say, you come too far. The bus ride alone to come to Kingston was three and a half hours. I'm crying and I'm walking and I'm crying and everybody's looking at me. This strange girl walking and crying until I got there. And you can imagine how I felt when the receptionist said to me, no, we're closed. The last exam is tomorrow. Applications are closed and you don't even have anything to show. There's no birth certificate, there's no school leaving certificate, there's no immunization card. I said, miss, if you send me home, I'm going to fall by the way, because there's nothing much in the country and this is my one shot and I know I can do this and I really want it if you just give me one chance. All I'm begging is one chance. Let me do this exam. I didn't even know that there was an entry exam. So you must know how naive I was. I thought I was just coming to apply and do an interview. So I said, let me do the exam. And then her supervisor came. She came and she heard my story and she says, no, we have to give this girl an opportunity. You can imagine. When she said yes, I was crying again. I just know that tomorrow, 8 o'clock and there is no way I'm gonna be able to go back to Kingston, to the country, in St. Elizabeth, to come back to Kingston. So I said, okay, I'm gonna stay right here. And they were closing up and she said, oh, you're okay? I said, yes, I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm just waiting because I know if I said it to them, they were gon toa say I couldn't stay there. I said I was just waiting. Another student saw me and she said I could stay with her in her domaw. And I just stayed there, got up, did the exam. Long and short of it, I passed. And then I got the documents and I started my journey as a student nurse. And the passion grew and grew. The hard work and the long wait paid off. Tamika had her chance. She eagerly gained experience through rotations in medical, surgical, burn and psychiatric units. Yet the way of feeling like she didn't truly know how to help her patients, particularly those struggling on the psychiatric unit, took a heavy emotional toll. The vision she had for her impact as a nurse began to feel distant. I became very depressed because I did not know how to help those persons. I thought I was a failure in nursing then because I can't help. But then a senior nurse said to me, that's just not where your calling is. So don't be discouraged. I said, you know what? let'me take myself outside of the hospital and do primary health care where I can meet the people in their environment and I can make a change. I can educate them about how to live right life style changes, how to navigate the resources. I said, that's where I'm supposed to be. I don't want to meet them when they're sick and is either I help to save them or I'm not. So I did public health. After I did the public health, I applied for a job in a rural area because I preferred the countryside because I could relate to a, low income. Guess what? They did not place me. And I didn't know why, because I was an exceptional student and I was good and recommendations. But God did not have that plan for me. That was my plan. And I said, oh my goodness, what am I gonna do? A professor saw me in my brown uniform because I made the uniform too, because, I'm speaking it into being. She said to me, tamika, I need you. Your personality fits my research. I'm going to do some research on, on pregnant teenagers. You have compassion, you know how to relate to teenagers. And I said, research? I ain't got toa do no research. I said, no, that's not. No, no, that's, that's paperwork. That's, that's not. No. I'm a clinical person. She says, TAMIKA M. It's not that. It's not questionnaires and just being, you know, it's not tedious work. I thought about it, I prayed about it and I took the offer. And would you believe after getting to read the protocols and seeing what they want to do with the information and see how it can change policies and make recommendations, I said, but hold on. This is public health. This is public health. I was, I had to change my mindset. The challenge I face with being a clinical research professional is because we're from the developing country and because are we weren't formally trained, we did not have a voice or we weren't taken seriously. We were second guests half the time. I have to appreciate the truth in that statement and at the same time be respectful enough to say we are more is getting my voice to be taken serious. And I realize for me to accomplish that, I have to have the black and white. I have to be certified and it's on paper. And that's when I decided, no, I'm gonna seek out formal training. And then I found that I could do research. Clinical nurse Research training and I applied to the association of Clinical Trial Professionals. It'non organization a ah, non profit organization based in America. And they offered the training and I became certified. So to my knowledge I am the first to be actually certified, the first actual formally trained research nurse in Jamaica. And not only certified by, I am an active member of an association that gives information, research information across the board. It provides job opportunities for us, and it provides the information how to treat our patients, how to advocate for them, how to explore the world of research. So now I'm seen as somebody with knowledge and experience. Youve navigated a challenging path to becoming a clinical nurse researcher and now you are wrapping up your PhD journey. And to think what the world would have missed out on had that supervisor turned you away that one day back in Kingston. But beyond your personal journey, why is clinical nurse research so vital for the future of healthcare in Jamaica and beyond? It's very, very important because the work we do is the one that will change the future. The work we do is so valuable that persons who are suffering with chronic illnesses can have hope to say that something we're working on, something to make their life, the quality of life better. So therefore I would say if you want to make a change in primary health care, this is one of the areas that you should look into because it sets hope for the future. I didn't know about clinical research nurse because Jamaica doesn't offer it as a course any at all. I'm going toa use my doctorate to get a foot to open that door, to use that title of doctor, to meet with heads to other stakeholders like your Minister of Health, your Minister of Education, your president of the nurses association, principal of the University and city with them and make an elevator pitch to say why we need to invest in this area of nursing and show them the importance and how impactful being a clinical research nurse is to health and quality of life to our patients. We need to offer this course. It's just as important as a registered nurse or a registered midwife or a public health nurse. It'just as important. It's not okay to just sit down here and have persons from overseas come here and do site training and te us what to do. Because even though they, they're the ones with the information, we here are the ones who knows her clients and the culture, because you have to know the culture and the clients and how they think our nurses are capable and why not be a part of that force? Everybody should be given an opportun ##ity if it's even just one. Everybody should be given a hope because it makes a difference. And I don't think you should define somebody by where they're coming from, their background, you know, or their circumstances. You're defined by your thought process, how you see yourself. And I'm so grateful to the lady for saying yes to bend the rules for me. And I visit her and I checked in with her along my training and I'm saying, I'm making you proud. And she said, yes, you are. I gave you an opportunity. You're now doing it for yourself. So you, it's about you, what you want. So I said to her, thank you because you released me now from me feeling obligated to do good or to do well for her. And she released me to say, you're here to do good for you, to be the best you so you can impact on others and look how far you've come. Thank you for listening to A Nurse first from Sigma. If you loved this episode, do us a favor and subs ##cribe rate and leave us a review. It is very much appreciated. For more information About a nurse first and Sigma, visit Sigmanursing.org. until next time.