Audrey Wargnier, healthcare professional Inspiring and passionate
After about ten years as a nursing assistant in psychogeriatrics in a nursing home, Audrey Wargnier now works as an animal-assisted therapist, photographer, and trainer for healthcare professionals.
Manon: Hello Audrey! Where does your attraction to care come from?
Audrey: Hello Manon! It's quite personal, as is often the case with tastes and inclinations. It comes from my grandfather. He's the one who instilled in me a love of care and helping others.
We are a family that is very involved in social work and community organizations. My grandfather participated in many scientific committees, created care centers, and was always driven by a spirit of mutual support. My grandmother taught French to children from immigrant backgrounds. As a side note, I'm the only one in my family (5 children, 13 grandchildren) working in healthcare. I was able to tell my grandfather just before he passed away that I was going to become a nursing assistant. He died in the nursing home where I spent my entire career. As a child, I used to go with him to some meetings. I know I was always fascinated by his charisma and how a "simple worker" could contribute so much to healthcare and social services. He was respected by the leading professors, doctors, and political figures of the city of Reims.
Can you briefly describe your career path?
I've had a very diverse professional background. I started my career in sales, then personal circumstances led me to work in healthcare from the patient's perspective. After reflecting on this first chapter, I realized I needed a job that aligned with my professional and personal values. So, I decided to train at a nursing assistant school to learn the basics of the profession and then advance my career. From my very first internship, I knew that the healthcare field was for me! Initially drawn to technical areas like intensive care, I was offered a permanent position in geriatrics, which I accepted with the hope of advancing later on. But I fell in love with geriatrics! My unit was very creative in its approach to caring for patients with Alzheimer's, with certain limitations, of course. It was actually at a conference on Montessori non-pharmacological interventions that I discovered animal-assisted therapy. Immediately captivated, I started by bringing my own dog to the facility to observe its effects on the residents. It was like magic with the animal; the residents were transformed by its presence. At first, I wasn't trained for the job, but I quickly felt the need to strengthen this passion with technical skills, encouraged and enthusiastic by my supervisor and colleagues, from the healthcare assistant to the doctor. After that, it wasn't all smooth sailing, and I encountered difficulties in my profession that most healthcare workers face… What were these challenges and how did you overcome them? I experienced the golden age and the decline of the healthcare assistant profession! For the past few years, the lack of staff has been keenly felt, combined with a lack of training. You can be very motivated, want to change the world of healthcare and help our patients, but it's difficult when there aren't enough of us and the hierarchical system isn't working in our favor. Colleagues with decades of experience eventually leave and are not replaced, or are replaced only by part-time staff. The team is therefore understaffed, and the caregivers don't have enough time to properly care for their patients. I did the math one day: I had 15 minutes per patient each day to do everything, which isn't enough to properly care for elderly people. I also encountered a lack of flexibility in the face of change. Having to develop a project for every new idea hinders the implementation of actions that would benefit patients. This situation no longer suited me, and I experienced a loss of meaning. I felt like I was mistreating the patients, but I still felt this desire to help others and continue my journey in the healthcare field. So, I decided to take the plunge and embark on my own adventure. How did you discover the SafeTeam Academy, and what inspired you to work with our instructional designers? Through the implementation of the personalized cap, a simple and innovative tool. It just goes to show that even with a piece of tape and a marker, you can innovate and improve patient safety! We implemented this tip during the health crisis in our unit. I then looked at the available content from SafeTeam: videos, website, user feedback on the Safety Database… What immediately appealed to me was that the solution is created by healthcare professionals for healthcare professionals, and that it enables concrete changes to improve the quality and safety of care. Beyond the personal touch, I was drawn to the immersive video format of the e-learning courses. I had the opportunity to try some of them, and I can tell you that the content is very immersive; you feel like you're right there in your daily life as a healthcare professional! The simulated care situations are as close to reality as possible to alert and raise awareness among learners, followed by meaningful feedback. Also, the module on compassionate care, featuring an interview with Alice Casagrande, is a benchmark for me! I actually use this interview in training institutes in Reims with healthcare professionals. For me, that's what SafeTeam is all about: meaningful human commitment! What human qualities and technical skills are needed to fulfill the role of a care assistant in a nursing home? The first human quality would be listening, not only to the resident, but also to colleagues. You can't work, move forward, or create alone! And this quality also goes hand in hand with communication. Communicating with others is an art, and it's something that can be learned! Next, adaptability is one of the objectives we work on. I would add raising awareness among caregivers about adapting their approach. Indeed, adapting during caregiving means maintaining meaning in one's actions, in one's duties, in one's role. I would also say, having a good sense of observation and paying attention to all those routine actions that can lead us to mistakes... You can't work, move forward, create alone! I would conclude by emphasizing the importance of attitude, positioning, non-verbal communication, but also word choice and that crucial empathy. Whenever we talk about nursing home staff, we imagine caregivers at the end of their rope, unfit, underqualified. All my training, I acquired during my career in geriatrics. We can't imagine the wealth of technical, human, and relational skills possessed by the professionals working in nursing homes, nor the imagination required to ensure our elders receive the best possible care. The most complex challenge is successfully individualizing care within a group setting. And of course, it's about being willing to question oneself and being open to change. In short: try, innovate, make mistakes, learn, and try again. Finally, what mantra guides you daily? There are no coincidences, only encounters. Depending on the encounters, everything can change for the better or for the worse.
Thank you, Audrey!
To follow Audrey Wargnier, go to her LinkedIn profile.
