Staff Spotlight
Amy Huang, Registered Nurse
Interested in learning more about our training opportunities offered for registered nurses? Today we’re connecting with Amy, Registered Nurse working at the Burns, Trauma, High Acuity (BHTA) unit at Vancouver General Hospital and a recent graduate from our critical care training program!
Working in the Burns, Trauma, High Acuity Unit
Amy cares for a wide and diverse patient population group, providing emotional support to these patients, guiding them on their journey to recovery and helping them to find hope in their futures. The patients she sees on the BTHA unit have suffered a severely traumatic incident or have rapidly deteriorated and require close monitoring. “I enjoy working in a fast-paced environment with my colleagues and the medical team to send patients to the operating room to fix their injuries, graft their burns, or run infusions to stabilize their hemodynamic status,” says Amy.
Once patients have been stabilized, they are transferred to a medical-surgical ward for the continuation of their care, further rehabilitation, and discharge planning. Amy tells us that the most rewarding part of her job is seeing the visible difference from when the patient first arrived onto the BTHA unit, to when they become medically stable and ready for transfer. “I also enjoy the hands-on clinical skills, teamwork, reorientating and redirecting patients when they are disoriented, positive patient interactions, and gratitude from the patient and families,” she tells us.
Some of the most exciting moments for Amy are when she is working closely with her colleagues and everything falls into place perfectly. “The roles fall into place, everyone is helping out whether by working on the patient, running for supplies, entering orders, staying with the family or coordinating with the medical team. It is a fascinating moment to experience, all the determination and teamwork within that one room,” she says. Amy says that the staff on the BTHA unit are supportive, helpful and willing to drop what they are doing to help out if you need assistance.
Critical care training opportunity
Amy has always been fascinated by critical care, saying that her role models were the Critical Care Outreach Team (CCOT) nurses who she had called for patient assistance when needed. “I thought, wow they seem so calm and knowledgeable when handling an acute case, I would like to be like them one day,” says Amy.
Amy had noticed a full-time position and training opportunity for the BTHA unit was posted with Vancouver Coastal Health. “I knew that I was interested in trauma and critical care, but did not have much prior experience with burn and extensive wounds before. I was excited and intrigued about working with this new patient population,” says Amy.
In September 2019, Amy began the Critical Care program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) through the BTHA job opportunity with Vancouver Coastal Health. “The education was great and the program based itself on the oxygen supply and demand framework. We received further orientation in the specialties after completing the BCIT program. It was a lot of information to take in at first, but when you start working on the floor all the pieces start to fall into place,” Amy tells us.
When Amy isn’t at work, she enjoys spending her time traveling and visiting other countries. She even spent a year living in Germany.
Join our team
Explore the current career opportunities for Registered Nurses at Vancouver Coastal Health.