Elizabeth Smith, Queen’s Nurse and Infant Feeding Nurse in NHS Ayrshire and Arran writes about her struggles with feeling isolated after qualifying as one of Scotland’s first ‘degree nurses’. She explains how the Queen’s Nurse Development Programme helped her identify this and move past it. I love being a nurse, and I love working in…
Switch
A Journey of Discovery
Siobhan Keay is one of the 2021 QN Candidates and works as an Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Nurse Consultant in NHS Lothian. Her blog reflects on the trepidation that came with applying for the Queen’s Nurse programme and the value of being open and honest both, when applying for, and when embarking on her nine-month journey…
Challenges in Leadership
Nikki Forsyth, Queen’s Nurse and Health Visitor in NHS Grampian, is currently acting up as Team Lead for Health Visiting and School Nursing. Nikki shares some of the challenges she has encountered in this role and explains why setting boundaries is an important part of leadership. This is the second in a three-part blog series about Nikki’s secondment,…
The Art of Communication
Hilda Campbell is an Honorary Fellow of QNIS, a Network Weaver and the CEO of COPE Scotland. This blog accompanies the COPE Scotland tips for effective communication, a free resource that can be downloaded at the bottom of this page. Honest, open communication is the only street that leads us into the real world.We then…
Learning and Leading the Human Way
Roddy Millar is the Founder and CEO and editorial director at IEDP Ideas for Leaders, and has worked with the foremost leadership researchers and developers for the last 20 years – making their work more accessible and valued. He is driven to make organisations more human. His blog discusses the importance of embracing human learning…
Mapping the Direction of Travel
Chris Davis was previously the PBS Project Manager for the Learning Disabilities Managed Care Network (LD MCN) which covers NHS Borders, Fife, Forth Valley and Lothian. Now a Clinical Educator in Adult Acute Mental Health Nursing with NHS Lothian Chris talks about the challenges of adapting the LD MCN service to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.…
Then and Now
Alison O’Donnell reflects on her return to a nursing role as part of the COVID-19 vaccination team. I retired as a lecturer in nursing from the University of Dundee in 2014 but kept on my nursing registration as I was still co-supervising two PhD students as an honorary lecturer until 2017. When my registration came…
Journeying Towards Compassionate Communities
Alison Bunce is the Programme Lead for Compassionate Inverclyde, a volunteering project that runs several services tackling loneliness and isolation within the community. Alison was awarded the Queen’s Nurse title in 2019. You can read her profile here. I have been in post as a Senior Palliative Care Nurse for just over five years now.…
Making meaningful changes for those in Scotland’s care homes
Andrea Wyllie is the Chief Executive of Greenock Medical Aid Society; she shares her experience of reintroducing indoor visits to care homes during the pandemic. Although this work brought significant media attention and presented many challenges Andrea knew that the meaningful difference for residents and visitors meant it was necessary. At the start of the…
Asking Women What They Want and Nurses/Midwives What They Know
Michele Stranger Hunter was the Founder and National Program Director for One Key Question in the USA. Her work on reproductive and preconception health is respected internationally. OKQ has become ‘best practice’ and successfully implemented in more than thirty states. Scotland must create its own approach and solutions based upon our cultural, policy, and professional…
