Prior to entering academia, I had extensive knowledge of the clinical care required for children and young people in a variety of settings (neonatal units, paediatric intensive care and general children wards). Whilst working clinically, I also mentored students studying pre and post registration nursing and this commitment to providing and promoting excellent nurse education that meets contemporary and future healthcare demands for children, young people and their families eventually led me to seek a career in academia.
Since 2004, I have been a senior lecturer in the children's nursing team and have taught pre and post registration nurses at BSc and MSc level, midwives and paramedics. I have also held a variety of positions such as child team skills lead (pre 2008), branch/field lead (2008-17), assessments tutor (2016-17) and currently have a remit for quality within the children's nursing team (2017 onwards). I have also been involved with several curriculum developments, acting as the child curriculum lead for the current and previous two curricula.
I am currently an external examiner with Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen) and prior to that was an external examiner at Huddersfield University (September 2013 to October 2017). Additional scholarly activity includes reviewing manuscripts for the Journal of Clinical Nursing, Journal of Child Health Care, Sage Open Nursing Journal of Nursing Ethics, Nurse Researcher and Oxford University Press.
I have researched and published on the preparation of first year children's nursing students for their first clinical practice placements (ChiPPS). Following on from that study, I was involved in a project to support Student Learning in their Community Experience (SLICE). I have also undertaken a study into the value of an international learning opportunity for students (OIL). Currently I am leading on a study to evaluate the potential value of using a customised workshop to generate students' knowledge and confidence to care for children and young people with mental health issues (EWES) and am currently working on an extension of this project with children's and mental health nursing students (ChiMES). In addition I am also involved in a systematic review regarding research productivity amongst nurse academics with the HERE group.
Senior Lecturer
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