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As a young black midwife, I started my Masters with the hopes of having a career as an academic. Without the support from the Nightingale Fund, I would not have been able to complete my Masters.
The support I received allowed me to study for my Masters fulltime whilst working part time as an Assistant Lecturer, a role I would not have been successfully appointed to without evidence of postgraduate study. This is also the case for my current role as a Midwifery Teaching Associate.
I truly appreciate and am grateful to all those on the Nightingale Fund board and secretaries who treated me with so much kindness and respect throughout my application process.
As a relatively new Health Visitor, when I commenced my Public Health Nursing training, I observed how unsure many community professionals appear when supporting parents of premature infants.
I feel my dissertation will increase awareness of the long-term needs that these families have and highlight the community support they may require from a range of healthcare professionals.
I hope my work will contribute to paving the way to enhancing community care for future neonatal families, by listening to those who have experienced and lived through taking a premature infant home.
I believe that ensuring these parents are appropriately supported at home will directly impact on premature infants’ wellbeing and may impact on their long-term health outcomes.
I would like to say a huge thank you to The Nightingale Fund for the grant I received, which enabled me to undertake this module and in turn complete my MSc. I am keen to get my review published and will continue being an advocate for parents of premature infants in the community.
Completing non-medical prescribing has been pivotal and enhanced my nursing practice by allowing me to assess and prescribe within my clinical area of expertise.
This has improved patient care, by allowing timely access to medication and providing more efficient service delivery to patients by completing episodes of care. I am currently supporting 2 experienced nurse practitioners, who are currently studying non-medical prescribing by supervising prescribing practice by sharing my own skills and knowledge of prescribing practice.
By contributing to my colleagues, learning and development, this contributes to a more proficient work force and nursing profession by supporting patients within primary care with urgent care needs.
I am a Registered Nurse in Critical Care, currently undertaking a self-funded Master’s degree in Supportive, Palliative and End-of-Life Care. The grant greatly reduced the financial burden on my family and enabled me to commence post-graduate study.
I have, thus far, completed research into the legal and ethical implications of withdrawing life-sustaining treatment in a Critical Care environment, including the role of a nurse in the transition to end-of-life care; and research into anxiety experienced at the end-of-life in a Critical Care environment, including the manifestations of anxiety, screening and diagnostic tools, pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, and collaborative working in palliative care for effective symptom management. Four key elements requiring improvement have been identified throughout my first year of study: Critical Care Nurse education, communication, palliative care symptom recognition and management, and psychological support for relatives. I endeavour to undertake primary research as part of my Master’s degree, and devise a service improvement, to improve the palliative care knowledge of nurses working within Critical Care.
I am so deeply grateful for your generous investment in my education, which is not only contributing to my post-graduate study but my career progression and future successes. I sincerely thank you.
The transforming lives through innovation module allowed me to explore the topic of innovation through the lens of design and creativity.
The module has introduced me to various design methodologies, methods and tools that could be useful for our practices. Utilising a well-known design thinking model was critical as the strategy allowed me to approach problems from a completely different perspective. I have been involved in multiple activities that supported my research and encouraged me to analyse how my knowledge and skills can be augmented by applying design approaches to problem-solving, particularly how design approaches can help unlock interdisciplinarity.
The experiences enabled me to develop essential skills, such as agility, communication, critical thinking, design, empathy, prototyping, research, resilience and teamwork. These skills are vital to the capacity and capability of being enterprising and entrepreneurial that I can use to influence policy, strategy, and leadership in my workplace.
Thank you and your organisation again for supporting me with this module.