Laura McMillan is a RPN with a passion for Long Term Care. Nursing has allowed Laura to have a positive impact on patients and families, but she says what’s most rewarding is the impact that the patients and families have on her.
Before her current role as the Regional Manager of Clinical Services at Revera Inc., Laura had a wide range of experiences; she enjoys being able to help others and taking time to comfort and reassure families in their times of need.
Laura graduated from the Conestoga College Practical Nursing Certificate program, and has been a nurse for 22 years. When she first started, Laura worked in a variety of different settings including retirement and long term care homes, visiting nursing in the community, also working in the hospital on a post-op floor. She has held roles such as Director of Health & Wellness, Executive Director in a retirement setting, Administrator in Long Term Care, Manager of Compliance and Standards, as well as the Regional Manager position that she is currently in. Work in these roles has involved Laura in policy development, designing educational tools, best practice identification and implementation, budget creation and management, as well as recruitment and retention strategies. Through these experiences, Laura has developed a passion for long term care, which led her to where she is today. Laura decided to pursue a managerial role, because she felt that it enabled her to have a broader impact, and she knew that she could help other healthcare professional realize their dreams and reach their full potential.
Laura is proud to have mentored other RPN’s to help them transition into leadership and managerial roles, helping develop both domestically and internationally educated nurses. She has supported them through their studies, helped them find work, provided insight into career directions, and given them encouragement to help challenge them and reach their goals.
In her current position, Laura travels across Ontario providing support to 10 different retirement residences. In this role she has been involved in projects that have implemented electronic health records and acquired new vendors, she completes audits ensuring that policy and procedures are current and reflective of best practice, monitors patient outcomes, completes root cause analyses, participates in resident and family care conferences, coaches managers and staff, conducts interviews, facilitates orientation and training, works collaboratively with the team to exceed performance goals and achieve high quality outcomes for residents and families.
Laura has continued her education throughout her career by completing a number of management courses offered by Ryerson University, completing her LTC Administrator certificate through the Canadian Healthcare Association, and through courses offered by the RPNAO such as the Influencing Policy, Influencing change and the Introduction to Leadership course. Other certifications and courses that Laura has completed include foot care, business microcomputer applications, and a root cause analysis workshop.
Laura credits her success to her drive to continuously do more, do better, and strive to succeed. She believes that personality has often played and continues to play a role in her ability to thrive throughout her career. Laura believes that “It is not necessarily the education you have, it’s being able to apply what you have learned.”. She continues to support client care by ensuring standards and regulations are being met and by working with the caring PSWs and RPNs she works with everydat in order to collaboratively tailor care to resident’s individual needs. One of the most valuable pieces of knowledge that Laura would like to share is that in order to get to the root of an issue, you must ask why until there are no more answers to be found.
Outside of her work, life is busy for Laura as a mother of three and nana to one. She appreciates small-town life, gardening, and enjoys going for walks and traveling with her husband.