Reflections on Practice: People in Context

Street nurses Caroline Brunt and Janine Stevenson, nursing ethicist Paddy Rodney, and nursing-practice consultant Mary Adlersberg talk about the importance of learning and legitimizing nursing harm-reduction practices.

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The nurses meet Becky, give her a mouth pieces for a crack pipe, and chat about her pregnant daughter, Liz. Later, they meet Tracey in a hotel and discuss her upcoming test results.

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Natural helper Tina and peer outreach worker Earle Crow talk about how they bridge the gap between the street community and the nurses.

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Street nurse Liz James explains how to work with someone who’s in an unsafe situation but doesn’t want help.

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Bevel Up follows street nurses as they reach out to people working in the sex trade, and people who use drugs in the alleys and hotels of Vancouver’s inner city. Most importantly the nurses reflect on the attitudes they bring to their work—attitudes that can make or break their relationships with the people to whom they provide practical, non-judgemental health care on a daily basis.

The Bevel Up Educational Playlists offer viewers a dynamic way to learn through more than four hours of additional footage, interviews and a Teachers Guide. The interactive resource gives students and instructors in the healthcare field access to the experiences of practitioners who work with people who use drugs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

For more information, images, and clips, click here.

Street nurses Caroline Brunt and Liz James visit a recovering Becky and then head home.

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Street nurses Caroline Brunt and Liz James talk about how providing health care on the street is like throwing people a lifeline.

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Community health nurse Wendy Bradley (Yukon) and nurse educator Gayle Carriere (BC Interior Health Authority) describe drug use in rural areas and how they deal with the challenges of working in isolation and confronting stigma.

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Street nurse Caroline Brunt explores how detox or a supervised-injection site provide realistic first steps towards better health care.

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Street nurse Liz James reminds us that sex workers who use drugs are “just people” with stories and experiences like everyone else. Liz explains that the key to creating a safe and open health-care relationship is to be compassionate while still asking frank and direct questions.

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Street nurse Janine Stevenson and nursing ethicist Paddy Rodney reflect on the complexities of boundaries when dealing with uncomfortable or unsafe situations.

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*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter.