I had always wanted to become a nurse from the age of 5 years old. When it came to my training, my preferred choice of field was children's nursing. I was very passionate about working with children and had completed my NNEB to become a qualified nursery nurse before this. I started my child nurse training in 2002 at Edge Hill University, I qualified in 2005 and went on to work in Alderhey until 2014 were I mainly specialised in orthopaedics and trauma.
In 2014 I started to develop an interest in public health nursing, I was extremely passionate about social determinants of health and health inequalities. I decided to apply for a band 5 role delivering immunisations to the 0-5 year population. I started working closely with the Health Visitors and knew from their work that this was something I was extremely passionate about, supporting families and children within the community. I then when on to complete my specialist community public health nursing degree (SCPHN) at LJMU and qualified as a Health Visitor in 2016. I worked as a Health Visitor for just over 5 years I absolutely loved my role, and my passion grew for trying to improve the health and wellbeing of the local population I was working in. I enjoyed collaboration with other agencies and professionals, working together to improve public health outcomes has always been important to me. Safeguarding and attending safeguarding meetings were the most prominent role, however other responsibilities included Antenatal contacts, new baby/6-8 week visits, developmental assessments, referrals into multiple services and supporting parental mental health.
From my Health Visitor role, I wanted to progress into a leadership and management role, using my transferrable skills I took on a role as a deputy team manager for a school-based immunisation team. I absolutely loved being a leader and learnt an abundance of new skills and learning.
I loved working with students in my practice and I loved to share my knowledge and skills with them, this joy of educating others is what brought me to my current role as a Nurse Lecturer at LJMU. Teaching is what I had aspired to do for many years and as a lecturer and module lead, I am able to develop sessions that emphasise my love of nursing alongside evidenced based practice. I have recently commenced my PG Cert training in Teaching, Learning and Assessment with a view of completing my master’s in education in the future. I am currently a Module Leader and co-ordinator for YR 3 Practice Simulation.
Degrees
2016, Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom, Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (HV)
2005, Edge Hill University, United Kingdom, DipHE Children's Nursing
Academic appointments
Nurse Lecturer, Faculty of Health and Advance Practice, Liverpool John Moores University, 2023 - present