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Biography
I qualified as a Registered nurse in 1984. It was nurse prescribing which provided the opportunity to work in academia, having qualified as a nurse prescriber I worked as a lecturer practitioner leading the roll out of Community Practitioner Prescribing. I have specialised in prescribing education ever since and have been involved in and led working groups developing prescribing curricula and prescribing standards with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, National Prescribing Centre and the Department of Health. I lead prescribing education prescribing in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham where we offer prescribing education to nurses, midwives and the allied health professions. My doctoral study used case study methods to explore how nurse prescribers integrate prescribing in clinical practice. Post doctoral research has focused on education in particular providing learning support for non medical prescribing students by using e learning technologies such as podcasts and audience response units followed by an exploration of using prescribing buddies to support students on prescribing progrmmes. In recognition for this work I have been awarded 2 University of Nottingham Lord Dearing awards for teaching excellence, 2011 and 2017 and was awarded Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2015. I pursued my interest in quality assurance in education in 2008 quickly developing expertise in professional regulation of education. This has led to school level projects around curriculum approval, moderation and marking. I co led the TESTA project in the School (transforming the experience of students in teaching and assessment) which led to reduction of student assessment in our programmes, revision of the school marking criteria, development of TRubot rubric marking and a new moderation process. This work has been presented internationally and nationally at conference. An initial publication is developed to consider the school level testa daata in context of that of other universities awaiting publication.
Expertise Summary
- Expert in non medical prescribing
- Law accountability and ethics of prescribing
- Use of e-technologies in teaching and learning
- Role of the professional regulator in the quality assurance of health education
- Application of professional standards to higher education curriculum
- Quality Assurance processes in health education
- Community nursing, leg ulcers, wound care, lymphoedema and tissue viability
Teaching Summary
Senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy 2015
Lord Dearing award from the University of Nottingham for excellence in teaching 2011 and 2017.
School lead for non medical prescribing since 2001. In this role I lead curriculum development and delivery of non medical prescribing courses at degree and masters level for nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy, podiatry and dietetics. Non medical prescribing is a 6 month intense part time programme of study leading to a recorded qualification on the professional register that allows the bearer extensive prescribing rights. I lead an established team of expert academics in subjects of pharmacology and therapeutics alongside clinical experts. Teaching and learning is the focus of my research and we use and evaluate the use of inovative e learning technologoes and other inovative respources in our teaching of non medical prescribing. Research has explored the use of podcasts and audience response units in prescribing education.The most significant innovation in terms of changing the way students learn is the use of podcasts for all prescribing course lectures. The mobile learning aspects of this technology are valued by students who listen and listen again to lectures whilst travelling, at the gym and at home. The team pioneered the use of audience response units in the classrooom and have presented on this at a number of key conferences. Individual use of keepads has enabled our studetns to receive individual feedback of their responses and has enabled focussed learning outside the classroom. The impact of their use has been positive for students, shown to improve exam scores. The real impact of the knowledge prescribing students develop is through knowledge transfer by prescribing for patients in clinical settings. Published literature suggests students need support transferring knowledge from academic to practice settings. Prescribing students are paired with a qualified non medical prescriber in the same or similar clinical field. Providing buddy support helps knowledge transfer for students during the course whilst providing continued professional development for completed students as this buddy comments.
In combination the use of these inovative approaches helps students to learn . Our work provided a foundation for the 2015 application to provide prescribing education by distance learning for nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, podiatrists and Chiropodists in Surrey and Sussex. The successful bid drew on my national reputation for prescribing curriculum development and the reputation of the Nottingham University prescribing team for excellent and innovative prescribing education. The tender brings £400,000 into the school.
Research Summary
My Research
The use of e-learning technologies and non medical prescribing
Kinetic learning for non medical prescribing
Supporting achievement for BAME students of non medical prescribing
PhD Supervision
2017: The role of nurses in diabetes care and the impact of the different approaches of nursing role on patients perceived quality of nursing care. Two case studies from the UK and Kuwait. Muna Alshammari.
2019: An Exploration of the Mechanisms of Health Literacy and Patient Empowerment Influencing Chronic Disease Patients' Health Behaviours: Bader Alwaadany.
Current PhD supervision
- Understanding Barriers and Facilitators to Adherence with (Inter)national Surgical Site Infection Prevention Guidelines in Saudi Arabia: A qualitative study
- Developing a pathway to improve outcomes of patients with chronic oedema in the community.
Past Research
BAME students on the non medical prescribing course - What can we do to support them? With Alison Mostyn. Conference presentation, paper in development. 2019
Making the implicit explicit - a guide to the UK health care context for international students. With Dr Catrin Evans, Dr Fiona Bath Hextall, Dr Joanne Lymn, Kathryn Hinchcliffe Smith research assistant. 2011
Evaluation of the usefulness of a buddy system to promote integration of non medical prescribing in a clinical context 2010 - on going. Dr Joanne Lymn associate professor and Oonagh Meade research assistant. 2012
What do students do during medically supervised practice. 2012
Pharmacology podcasts: a qualitative study of non medical prescribing students' use , perceptions and impact on learning. 2011. With Dr Joanne Lymn associate professor and Oonagh Meade research assistant.
The integration of nurse prescribing: Case studies in primary and secondary care. 2009. Supervisors Professor Veronica James and Dr Steven Timmons.2009
Future Research
Practice learning of non medical prescribing students
Consultation, decision making and competence of non medical prescribers
Patient safety and managing the risk of prescribing
Quality Assurance and curriculum for the health professional
Development of prescribing education and practice internationally