RNAO nursing student Negin Feiz Arbabi is speaking out about how her studies at York University were interrupted by a five-month strike, which lasted from March 5 to July 25. The strike prevented her and her peers from completing 100 clinical hours in preparation for practice. Feiz Arbabi, who was in her last year of a concentrated two-year nursing program at York when the strike took place, says she was under a lot of stress during her last placement, noting she was put into situations where she had to figure things out on her own. In one case, she had to dress an artificial opening in a patient’s abdomen. “I had never done it before. Some of the nurses on the unit were too busy to go through it with me,” she says. “I was stumbling over what I was doing. I’m sure the patient picked up on my discomfort.” In response to the lost clinical hours for nursing students, York’s advisor and deputy spokesperson released a statement, saying: “…their nursing course is not based on completing a minimum number of training hours. Rather the nursing program is competency-based.” (CBC News, Sept. 21) RN