CAREERS
RESOURCES
Liz Charalambous explains why she continues to study
CQC secondments www.cqcjobs.co.uk/join.php NHS clinical audit tinyurl.com/Clinaudit
Benefits of higher learning
the job,’ she says. ‘My passion for quality care is even greater now than when I was a staff nurse.’ While inspections in the acute sector continue, a similar regime is now being introduced in mental health and community services. To meet its commitments, the commission recently offered two-year secondments to clinical staff such as nurses around band 7 or equivalent.
Secondments
CQC deputy chief inspector of hospitals Ellen Armistead, also a nurse, explains: ‘Secondments offer people an opportunity to get a flavour of life inside the CQC, to understand our role and inspections and how we learn from good examples. ‘At the same time, we get people who have relevant NHS experience and who can use their clinical perspective in our inspection teams. ‘We need people with a host of skills, such as audit and risk management skills, and to be committed to holding providers to account’ NS Tamsin Newton Snow is a freelance journalist
Having been a nurse for 30 years, while studying for a degree through the Open University, I am now studying for an MSc and have my sights set firmly on a doctorate. The reason I continue to study is simple: I want to be the best nurse I can possibly be. I want information to help the patients in my care and I aspire to deliver it through change. My ward manager encouraged me to apply to my trust’s Learning through Education fund. I am lucky in that I work for a visionary leader who role models good practice and encourages others to aspire to excellence. As a result of the course, the changes in myself (see box) are reflected in my practice. I now see nursing through a political, socio-economic and cultural lens. I reflect on incidents and, instead of blaming myself for shortcomings in our service, I search for solutions to problems. For example, chiropody – once the mainstay of good older people’s care – is no longer available in hospitals, so nurses now provide this service. Another example was our need for extra people to interact with patients to prevent delirium. In collaboration with volunteer services at Nottingham RESOURCES Master’s degree in advanced nursing at the University of Nottingham tinyurl.com/UoNMSc Postgraduate education funding tinyurl.com/HEECAT
Minor injuries Assessment and management of minor injuries is a two-day workshop for CONFERENCES nurses and other professionals who need to develop look and feel techniques for assessing commonly presented minor injuries in adults. The course includes clinical history-taking and recording; developing confidence in decision making and current patient management rationales, and applying them in the clinical setting. Sessions will be held in Birmingham on March 18-20; in London at on June 10-12; and in Manchester on July 13-15. tinyurl.com/n2swm7k Health technologies Westminster Health Forum will hold a seminar on the future for health technologies: innovation, funding and regulation on March 18 in central London.
My studies have helped me to: Stretch and challenge my intellect. Encourage discussion with others, including international students and pioneering thinkers. Find explanations through theories and models for what I previously took for granted. Question and search for explanations. Find new ways to benefit patients. University Hospital Trust, we have recruited a thriving team of people who donate their time generously. Balancing study, work and a personal life is a challenge with much burning of midnight oil to complete assignments. For me, the positives well outweigh the negatives; the rosy glow I feel when I pass an assignment spurs me on to the next. For anyone considering studying for a master’s degree, I would heartily recommend it NS Liz Charalambous (pictured) is a staff nurse at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, and is studying for an MSc in advanced nursing at the University of Nottingham
Discussion will be informed by case studies in monitoring long-term conditions; the use of apps in improving health outcomes; wearable technology; innovation in diagnostics; and telehealth and telecare. www.westminsterhealth forum.co.uk Research conference The 2015 RCN International Nursing Research Conference and Exhibition will be held on April 20-22 at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham. Abstracts are invited on topics such as innovations in methodology, organisational interventions and advancing the understanding of patient or user experience, and informing debate in health policy or public health. The deadline for abstract submission is midnight January 30. tinyurl.com/mxz2547
NURSING january :: vol uses 29 no 22 :: permission. 2015 65 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 27, 2015. For personal use only. 28 No other without Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
RESOURCES
Liz Charalambous explains why she continues to study
CQC secondments www.cqcjobs.co.uk/join.php NHS clinical audit tinyurl.com/Clinaudit
Benefits of higher learning
the job,’ she says. ‘My passion for quality care is even greater now than when I was a staff nurse.’ While inspections in the acute sector continue, a similar regime is now being introduced in mental health and community services. To meet its commitments, the commission recently offered two-year secondments to clinical staff such as nurses around band 7 or equivalent.
Secondments
CQC deputy chief inspector of hospitals Ellen Armistead, also a nurse, explains: ‘Secondments offer people an opportunity to get a flavour of life inside the CQC, to understand our role and inspections and how we learn from good examples. ‘At the same time, we get people who have relevant NHS experience and who can use their clinical perspective in our inspection teams. ‘We need people with a host of skills, such as audit and risk management skills, and to be committed to holding providers to account’ NS Tamsin Newton Snow is a freelance journalist
Having been a nurse for 30 years, while studying for a degree through the Open University, I am now studying for an MSc and have my sights set firmly on a doctorate. The reason I continue to study is simple: I want to be the best nurse I can possibly be. I want information to help the patients in my care and I aspire to deliver it through change. My ward manager encouraged me to apply to my trust’s Learning through Education fund. I am lucky in that I work for a visionary leader who role models good practice and encourages others to aspire to excellence. As a result of the course, the changes in myself (see box) are reflected in my practice. I now see nursing through a political, socio-economic and cultural lens. I reflect on incidents and, instead of blaming myself for shortcomings in our service, I search for solutions to problems. For example, chiropody – once the mainstay of good older people’s care – is no longer available in hospitals, so nurses now provide this service. Another example was our need for extra people to interact with patients to prevent delirium. In collaboration with volunteer services at Nottingham RESOURCES Master’s degree in advanced nursing at the University of Nottingham tinyurl.com/UoNMSc Postgraduate education funding tinyurl.com/HEECAT
Minor injuries Assessment and management of minor injuries is a two-day workshop for CONFERENCES nurses and other professionals who need to develop look and feel techniques for assessing commonly presented minor injuries in adults. The course includes clinical history-taking and recording; developing confidence in decision making and current patient management rationales, and applying them in the clinical setting. Sessions will be held in Birmingham on March 18-20; in London at on June 10-12; and in Manchester on July 13-15. tinyurl.com/n2swm7k Health technologies Westminster Health Forum will hold a seminar on the future for health technologies: innovation, funding and regulation on March 18 in central London.
My studies have helped me to: Stretch and challenge my intellect. Encourage discussion with others, including international students and pioneering thinkers. Find explanations through theories and models for what I previously took for granted. Question and search for explanations. Find new ways to benefit patients. University Hospital Trust, we have recruited a thriving team of people who donate their time generously. Balancing study, work and a personal life is a challenge with much burning of midnight oil to complete assignments. For me, the positives well outweigh the negatives; the rosy glow I feel when I pass an assignment spurs me on to the next. For anyone considering studying for a master’s degree, I would heartily recommend it NS Liz Charalambous (pictured) is a staff nurse at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, and is studying for an MSc in advanced nursing at the University of Nottingham
Discussion will be informed by case studies in monitoring long-term conditions; the use of apps in improving health outcomes; wearable technology; innovation in diagnostics; and telehealth and telecare. www.westminsterhealth forum.co.uk Research conference The 2015 RCN International Nursing Research Conference and Exhibition will be held on April 20-22 at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham. Abstracts are invited on topics such as innovations in methodology, organisational interventions and advancing the understanding of patient or user experience, and informing debate in health policy or public health. The deadline for abstract submission is midnight January 30. tinyurl.com/mxz2547
NURSING january :: vol uses 29 no 22 :: permission. 2015 65 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 27, 2015. For personal use only. 28 No other without Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
