As chief nursing executive and people strategy chief at Toronto’s Humber River Hospital, Dr. Vanessa Burkoski led the organization to become a Best Practice Spotlight Organization® (BPSO®) in 2021. She managed the review process and was a steadfast supporter of nurses during the implementation of two best practice guidelines (BPG): Person- and Family-Centred Care and Delirium, Dementia and Depression in Older Adults: Assessment and Care.
“She was a great connector with people in the entire building,” says Jennifer Yoon, her mentee and former colleague. “She connected very easily with patients and staff just walking in the hallway.”
Following her passing in August 2023, Burkoski’s lasting legacy has been top of mind for anyone who knew and had the pleasure of working with her. Throughout her time on RNAO’s board of directors and as president 2014-2016, she worked hand-in-hand with RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun advancing an expanded role for NPs, promoting RN prescribing (which was announced in November 2023), as well as urging for enhancements to community care and supporting medical assistance in dying.
“She connected very easily with patients and staff just walking in the hallway.”
In 2019, Burkoski envisioned the development of RNAO’s Clinical Practice in a Digital Health Environment BPG (slated for release in 2024) and served as the co-chair alongside Maureen Charlebois on the expert panel. In this role, she provided expertise on research and clinical issues, guided the panel and ensured the BPG was moving towards completion. She always spoke proudly of BPGs, noting in 2015 in RNJ that “the integration of BPGs across health-care organizations is moving the system towards a patient-centred approach. BPGs shine a light on what people need, based on evidence, and what will ensure they get the best health outcomes possible.”
In one of her first RNJ columns as president, she wrote that one of her goals in the role was to empower nurses on the front lines to make the kinds of changes they believe the system needs.
“You are the key to elevating the quality of care provided to patients. You also have the ideas and the know-how to make those changes, both within your own practice and within your work environments,” Burkoski wrote in 2014. “Such changes make our health system more responsive, more effective, more efficient and safer. Your ability to have a say in your own work environment is important. Who knows better than you what is needed to help patients feel better, to heal faster? And the workplace benefits too because we can implement best practices right across the organization, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.”
Prior to her role at RNAO, Burkoski worked as a public health nurse (1984-1990), primary care NP (1990-2002), director of emergency and critical care services (2002-2006), and was Ontario’s longest-serving chief nursing officer (2007-2011). She was an innovator in provincial health programming and policy, a champion for the community, and a leader in strategic advice as well as nursing expertise.
Burkoski was recognized for her contributions to the nursing profession with numerous awards.
In June 2023, she received the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest civilian honour for excellence and achievement in a field and leaving a lasting legacy in our province. At RNAO’s 98th Annual General Meeting (also in June), Burkoski received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her dedication to nursing in the areas of practice, education, administration and research at the provincial, national and international levels.
“She really, truly, deeply loved the profession and she really wanted to do everything in her power to advance it.”
Always a supporter of nurses’ growth and improvement, Burkoski once said that “ensuring nurses have all the tools to deliver the best quality and safest care” was important to her.
“She had such a love for nursing,” Yoon adds. “She really, truly, deeply loved the profession and she really wanted to do everything in her power to advance it.”
To learn more, read RNAO’s memorial page, the formal obituary from her family, RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun’s eulogy, a Q&A in RNJ in 2014, and watch a video recorded for Nursing Week in May 2023 about being a role model for her generation.
Family and friends, with the support of RNAO, have established the Dr. Vanessa Burkoski Memorial Scholarship for Nursing Education, to be managed by the Registered Nurses’ Foundation of Ontario (RNFOO). Read more in the invitation to donate. The RNFOO donation page can be found here.
