Welcome to my ePortfolio. My name is Kelly Lafontaine and I’m the Assistant Clinical Manager on Inpatient Orthopaedics at the Ottawa Hospital. Additionally, I am a Master of Health Studies student at Athabasca University. I live and work in Ontario’s capital city and I am passionate about my nursing career.

I obtained my Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Laurentian University in Sudbury Ontario. Since graduation I have worked in several areas of nursing in different parts of North America. Most of my front line clinical practice was in the Emergency Department while my management experience has been on Inpatient Medicine and Surgery units at the Ottawa Hospital.

Employed in Nursing in Ottawa I hold a professional licence with The College of Nurses of Ontario or the CNO, which the governing body for Registered Nurses in Ontario. (https://www.cno.org/). I also hold a membership with the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario or RNAO, the professional association representing nurses in Ontario (https://rnao.ca/) and the Canadian Association of Medical and Surgical Nurses or CAMSN, a national nursing group providing recognition for excellence and competence in practice. (https://medsurgnurse.ca/).

The Ottawa Hospital is funded through The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. (http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/) The ministry is responsible for administering the health care system and providing services to the people of Ontario. The Ottawa Hospital’s vision outlines how this service should be delivered.

Working at the Ottawa Hospital I support this vision which is “to provide each patient with the world-class care, exceptional service and compassion we would want for our loved ones”. (www.ottawahospital.on.ca) My professional values as a nurse reflect the four core values of the Ottawa Hospital which are: “compassion, a commitment to quality, working together and respect for the individual”. (www.ottawahospitial.on.ca) As a nursing leader I strive to practice these values daily as they are key professional obligations. I believe I am responsible to the hospital, the public and my staff to lead by example and uphold the vision and the core values of my employer.

I’ve created this ePortfolio to share my academic and professional accomplishments to date plus my future aspirations. Over the course of my post graduate studies, my hope is to build and improve this ePortfolio and use it not only to plan my studies in a goal oriented manner, but to assist in reaching my next career step in Leadership at The Ottawa Hospital.