Meet Angus Taylor, registered nurse, emergency, Misericordia Community Hospital

Angus Taylor hadn’t told anyone at work that he’d written his nursing exam. He was too nervous.

Then, at the pre-shift meeting on his first day as a registered nurse (RN), one of the charge nurses congratulated him in front of the team. They had spotted his new designation while doing the team sheet.

“I didn’t know that (my designation) was automatically transmitted to work, so it meant a lot to know that I had the team in my corner and that they cared enough to mention it,” he says.

Today, Angus is an RN in the emergency department at the Misericordia Community Hospital in Edmonton. He has been nursing for two and a half years and has been with Covenant Health for three and a half.

His road to emergency started far from health care. Angus spent 20 years in hospitality before going back to school for nursing.

About 15 years ago, a bad ski accident put him in hospital for just over a week.

“I received unbelievably compassionate and thoughtful care from everyone in the department, and it planted the seed for me to start thinking about doing something to give that experience back to others,” he says.

Angus is the third generation of nurses in his family, going back to his grandmother, so he knew how challenging the job could be. “I went into it anyway because I did want to give something back and was ready for a new challenge,” he says.

Emergency was the plan from the start.

“I’ve always thrived on adrenaline, and this scratched that itch for me,” he says.

Angus joined Covenant as an undergraduate nursing employee (UNE) while he finished school. His first shift in emergency as a UNE was “absolutely terrifying,” he says. He wasn’t sure what size of scrubs to grab, because the sizes are all colour-coded. Bells and alarms were going off. He didn’t know who his buddy would be, or if he was ready for the chaos.

The pre-shift meeting helped. Everyone was laughing and joking, and a couple of nurses came up to introduce themselves, including his buddy for the day.

That buddy was Arla Rae High, and she still teaches him something every shift they work together. She has always stressed safe care, trusting their “nursing intuition” and constant reassessment.

“The amount of patient status changes that have been caught early by following these principles is incredible,” Angus says.

He’d always pictured himself in emergency, but his first summer as a UNE, working full time between semesters, settled it.

“I fell in love with the fast-paced environment and the team here,” he says. “It was a great feeling to know that I’d made the right decision.”

School and the emergency floor don’t always line up.

“Nothing is ‘textbook,’” he says. “Everything you see and do in emerg is taking what you learned in school and trying to adapt it. One of the best parts is that no two days are the same.”

Of Covenant’s values, compassion is the one he sees every shift.

“Every day we deal with people who are having one of the worst days of their lives,” he says. “Our staff are masters of meeting people where they’re at and doing what they can to improve that experience as best they can.”

Few emergency visits are pleasant, he says, but patients and families thank staff every day. “Most often this is because of the care and compassion provided.”

Angus has come a long way since that first shift, when he didn’t know which scrubs to grab.

“(Covenant has) taken me from a UNE to now being an advanced-trained emergency RN,” he says.

Along the way, he’s completed basic and advanced life support courses, plus monitor and resuscitation training. “Managers have been great about letting me advance at my own pace and within my own comfort level,” he says.

Even so, Angus doesn’t feel like he’s found his footing yet. He’s fine with that.

“I am always learning and expanding my scope and skills,” he says. “The day I feel fully comfortable in a role is when I know I need to move on to the next stage of training.”

Next, he wants to help guide the next generation of nurses.

“I enjoy teaching and mentoring, so this will always be a big part of my practice,” he says.

For nursing students and new grads thinking about emergency, his advice is to give it a shot.

“If you’re interested, do it! You’ll know right away if emergency is for you,” he says. “There is also no shame in realizing that emerg isn’t what you want to be doing. The amount of things you will see and learn in the department will help you immeasurably regardless of where you end up.”