William Tessier (Nursing, 2016) found the transition from being a student to working in a busy hospital on Montreal’s South shore tough. That’s why he started researching ways to ease what’s called ‘transition shock’ for students coming into the profession.
“There’s a huge gap between school and the hospital setting,” he said.
Tessier said he was interested in the health field but not sure what he wanted to do before Cegep. Once he started the nursing program at Champlain, he felt it was a good fit for his interests.
“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but I really enjoyed the program so I stayed,” Tessier said. “We became good friends because we were a small cohort of about 30 students.”
After graduation, Tessier worked for five years at Pierre Boucher hospital in Longueuil. He’d done a stage there during his program and was hired on as soon as he graduated.
While working part-time at the hospital, Tessier completed both his Bachelor’s and a Master’s in Nursing at Université de Sherbrooke.
Now a lecturer at Université de Sherbrooke, Tessier did his master’s research project on the topic of transition shock and how to reduce the amount of burnout and turnover in high pressure fields of nursing.
“I started looking at how to help decrease the transition shock for new nurses when entering the profession. If we can decease the transition shock, then we can decrease the turnover, especially in critical care settings and ICU.”
As part of his work with the Association des infirmières et infirmiers d’urgence du Québec and as the spokesperson for Alliance pour l’avenir des soins infirmiers au Québec, Tessier has been advocating for transition programs which will help new nurses feel more supported at the beginning of their careers.
In his role as spokesperson for the AASIQ, Tessier has given a number of media interviews and recently published an op ed in LaPresse about his vision for the future of nursing in Quebec.
Tessier’s advice for current students and recent grads: “Careers are long and you never know what’s going to happen in the next few years so be open to new things.”
