Thursday 17 November 2016

Meet Ruth our SLDNN Student Sub-Group Secretary!





 Ruth Hirst is a second year student studying Learning Disability nursing at Edinburgh Napier University. She is pleased to have joined the student sub group as member and secretary after seeing the commitment and value of the group at the most recent SLDNN conference.

Ruth initially took a different career path with a degree in Graphic Design but after personal experience of people with learning disabilities and sensory impairments, she decided to go back to university to become a nurse and has not looked back since!

Ruth looks forward to being part of the student sub group and the exciting journey in becoming a learning disabilities nurse.

Tuesday 15 November 2016

Hello to you all and a warm welcome to all and especially new students



Introduction and Background of the SLDNN Student Sub-Group

We are a group of Edinburgh Napier and Glasgow Caledonian Learning Disability Students. We are a Sub-group of the Scottish Learning Disability Nursing Network (SLDNN). The SLDNN are a professional network of Learning Disability Nurses who represent all NHS areas in Scotland. The Network aims are promoting high quality standards and strengthening the learning disability nursing profession and improvement of care for people with a learning disability. The SLDNN steering group committee meet up regularly.
By request of the Scottish Government who fund the SLDNN the SLDNN Student Sub-group was set up in 2014 to: open the connection and information sharing with the Network and to support the steering group. Their initial task was to join together and strengthen the relationship between Glasgow Caledonian and Edinburgh Napier Learning Disability Student Nurses. The Sub-group consists of students from both Universities who meet regularly. It is a great opportunity for Student Nurses to show our commitment, enthusiasm and talents, we have had great pleasure to have been asked to help organise, chair and present the morning at the SLDNN Annual Conference.
Check out last year’s summary of the conference on our blog page.

Networking enables us to participate in continuing to learn and to make improvements for people with Learning Disabilities and Nurses. The Learning Disability Nursing community is fairly small and has passion and a shared goal. To keep ourselves knowledgeable, share information and be current we are using different social media platforms.

Request to join:
SLDNN Students facebook page
Scottish Learning Disability Nursing Network (SLDNN) facebook page
Twitter - SLDNN Students @SLDNN_Students
sldnn @sldnn

See who else people are following - make connections with others.
Please uphold professionalism when posting, asking for advice or responding in these social media sites.

We will be recruiting for 1st years in the new year, find out more about what we have been doing check out of blog page and meet the committee members;
sldnnstudentsubgroup.blogspot.co.uk
We will keep you updated with developments and date/theme of the SLDNN Annual Conference 2017.

Thank you and Goodbye
We would like to congratulate all the 3rd years who qualified this year and to thank them so much for all their effort, hard work, commitment and enthusiasm they contributed to the Student Sub-group. Special thanks go to Corrinne Taylor, Sian Pearson and Zoe Lightbody from GCU who set up the group, they were successful in joining with ENU to create this committee. We thank them for giving their time and talents and paving the way forward for this committee and giving students a platform to get involved and learn from others.

Kind Regards
Julie Irvine Chairperson ENU and Danielle Docherty Chairperson GCU

Monday 17 October 2016

Where is everyone now?


So lots of things have been changing within the Student Subgroup of the SLDNN recently, this post will hopefully provide a little insight of where everyone is and what everyone is doing.

Firstly, as well as saying goodbye to a few members we have a few new members whose faces we will hopefully be seeing on our blog within the next little while.

As the years go by our members get closer and closer to qualifying!! So let's catch up on what year every one is in now and what their new role is within the Student Sub Group of the SLDNN


Danielle Donaghy- Is now a 3rd year student at Glasgow caledonian University and our new GCU chairperson!

Julie Irvine- Is now a 2nd year student at Edinburgh Napier University and our now ENU chairperson!

Ruth Hirst- Ruth is now a 2nd year student at Edinburgh Napier University and is the group's Secretary.

Audrey Colvil- Audrey is now a third year at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Emma Fordie- Emma is now a second year at Edinburgh Napier University and is our voice in  the SLDNN Conference Subgroup.

Jack Souter- Jack is now a second year at Edinburgh Napier University and is now in charge of our SLDNN student subgroup blog.


Meet Emma the latest member of the SLDNN Student Subgroup!

Emma Fordie is currently a second year student studying at Edinburgh Napier University. 
She joined the student sub group towards the end of her first year of study, joining classmates Julie and Jack. 

Her first experience of the sub group was the 2016 SLDNN Conference and the enthusiasm shown by the current sub group members during their part in the day inspired her to get involved.
Prior to studying, Emma worked for the inpatient LD service within NHS Lothian where she enjoyed several years providing day services to individuals receiving care in the assessment and treatment units.
Going back to study, now with a family at home was a very scary thought for Emma, but she embraces the ability to broaden her skills and knowledge within Learning Disability nursing through both study and practice placements. Emma is very excited about a career in nursing and looking forward to the future!

Wednesday 29 June 2016

#SLDNN16 Conference Summary

SLDNN16 was yet again another great display of Learning Disability Nursing across Scotland and also focused on the great work being carried out in both pre and post registration nursing. The theme of “Lifelong Learning” was informative and thought provoking. This blog post will contain a brief summary of the day and some highlights of what each speaker discussed.

The Scottish Learning Disability Nursing Network 2016 Conference began with Steve Wright welcoming those in attendance and going over housekeeping. Steve thanked the conference planning group for working together to put together the conference and thanks went to the SLDNN Steering group for their continued work within the SLDNN. Steve left going over the social media information to the students who were presenting on this. Steve introduced the chairs for the morning of the conference Corrinne Taylor 3rd Year, GCU Co-chair of the SLDNN Student Sub-group and Julie Irvine 1st Year, ENU Co-chair of the SLDNN Student Subgroup. Steve encouraged everyone to be active on social media and enjoy the day.

Morning remarks came from Corrinne and Julie who welcomed all in attendance and introduced the days Twitter hashtag #SLDNN16. They encouraged tweeting throughout the day and that we would feedback how many people we could have potentially reached with the good practice going on across Scotland at the moment.

The first presentation which was on “Social Media in pre and post registration LD Nursing” came from the SLDNN Student subgroup members, Jack, 1st year ENU and Audrey, 2nd Year GCU. Jack and Audrey discussed the two biggest forms of social media Facebook and Twitter and briefly touched on how they work and the differences between them. They discussed fears surrounding social media and provided the attendees with solutions to alleviate those fears. Jack and Audrey highlighted the benefits and the challenges and that it is vital we “think before we post”. The presentation was engaging and very well presented. Jack and Audrey encouraged the room to get involved on Twitter and use the hashtag #SLDNN16 throughout the day.

Jamie McDermott, GCU presented to conference on “Interprofessional Education (IPE) at Glasgow Caledonian University: Learning with, from and about each other”. Jamie discussed the ongoing commitment to Interprofessional education from GCU and that it was established in the curriculum from the early 2000s. Jamie talked about his background in Occupational Therapy and his own experiences of interprofessional learning. Jamie discussed the ever changing landscape of IPE and the vast amount of disciplines and cross university working that makes this module possible. The majority of the feedback the students have given of the current IPE modules in the new programmes in GCU have been received positively and viewed as beneficial in developing transferable skills.

Zoe Lightbody, Corrinne Taylor and Sian Pearson all 3rd year from GCU presented “3 Years on: A student’s perspective”. Zoe introduced the presentation and explained their involvement since 1st year and what the SLDNN Student Subgroup has managed to achieve in that short time. She highlighted the challenges in communication between the universities at times and the highlights of getting to work collaboratively with the only two universities in Scotland that deliver LD Nursing. Corrinne discussed the benefits of placements in a variety of health boards and also international placements. As students have had the opportunity to study in Malawi, Lourdes and Norway, it developed their skills as practitioners. Sian encouraged the room to remember the reason that they started the course and remember their inspiration. She highlighted the excitement felt by all to qualify and start their new journey. The Student sub-group was wished well in their future and that the students who will take it forward are extremely passionate and motivated individuals.

Dr Jacqueline McCallum from GCU presented to conference on the Scottish National Approach to Practice Assessment (SNAPA). Jacqueline was part of the development of the Scottish Ongoing Achievement Record (OAR) placement documents and there was a lot of interest from attendees to learn more about the Scottish OAR. 11 universities across Scotland formed a unique partnership to collaborate on the Scottish OAR with the objective of having one approach across Scotland. The Scottish OAR contains the same information from NMC and is reviewed annually by the working group. It can be changed for field specific objectives/each university placement flow. There was challenges in development but each university were committed to providing a succinct approach of placement documents. LD Student nurses from GCU and ENU piloted the Scottish OAR and it was positively evaluated. There is work being completed in Robert Gordon University to identify if there is a way of making the Scottish OAR electronic which will make it more accessible for students and mentors alike.

The afternoon was chaired by Susanne Forrest, Programme Director for Nursing NHS Education for Scotland. In Susanne’s post she leads in a number of areas including mental health, learning disabilities and dementia and also a wider portfolio. Susanne expressed her interest in hearing from the rest of the day’s speakers.

June Brown, the Associate Nurse Director from NHS Grampian and presented to conference “How anyone, anywhere can make a positive difference”. June discussed that she was asked to discuss how a learning disability nurse could become an associate nurse director. June asked the simple question of, “why not?”. June discussed her passion for the learning disability nurse role and that she was proud to have a background in LD Nursing. June discussed her background in Learning disability, from working in Birkwood, South Lanrkshire to Wellwood in Aberdeen. June spoke about seeing an opportunity and rather than focusing on what she couldn’t do she focused on her strengths and identified learning that would improve her knowledge base. June discussed the importance of having someone to talk things over with who can challenge your thought processes and push you to achieve your ambitions. June was very encouraging and positive throughout her presentation and encouraged all those in attendance to continue learning. 

Lyndsay Marshall, staff nurse from NHS Ayrshire and Arran presented “A New Life/ Still Learning”. Lyndsay discussed the beginning of her career as a newly qualified staff nurse and how she been able to apply her interest into further professional development. Lyndsay participated in NES’ training which looked at positive behavioural support as a way of supporting individuals with perceived challenging behaviours. Lyndsay was able to lead and be the catalyst for change in the environment she works in which has improved the client’s needs. It has also given staff a new focus and although they were initially hesitant and weren’t “sure what changes if any” they would see. Staff have found it to be very useful, with some saying “the service has more emphasis on giving people control over the things in their lives”. Lyndsay sees her future in learning as much as she can from her environment and aims to achieve a Band 6 role. She talked about her confidence growing across the years. Lyndsay was passionate and inspiring and it was clear to all of conference that this is just the start of a lengthy career for her in LD Nursing.

Chris Cunningham from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde presented “The Developing Role of the Band 5 Community Learning Disability Nurse (CLDN). Chris discussed his journey and that he started in the community straight from university. Chris discussed the challenges facing the role as a result of current changes within the health board however continues to seek to gain professional development. Chris has an interest in autism and transitions from children to adult services for people with learning disability and hopes to develop these throughout his career. He encouraged the room to take opportunities to learn from other health boards/countries.

Serena Allan from Royal Blind was the final presentation of the day and she spoke on “Delivering Better Care”. Serena talked about the care home she currently is charge nurse in supports elderly individuals with visual impairments. She spoke of the changes that she has seen over the years and how attitudes can impact on a day. She rightly said “you can’t have a good day with a bad attitude and you can’t have a bad day with a good attitude”. Serena talks about the benefits she has found from FISH! Philosophy that encourages you to choose your attitude. Serena was open and honest when discussing her professional development, and encouraged conference to seek to find something that we can do to improve ourselves, be that as leaders or as practitioners.

The day was rounded off by the SLDNN Unsung Hero Award. This year’s recipient of the SLDNN Unsung Hero award was Sarah Shovlin from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Sarah has championed the needs of people with learning disabilities and has worked tirelessly over her career to promote the needs of her clients. A massive well done to Sarah from all at SLDNN.

The day was as usual motivational and inspiring. We understand how easy it is to get caught up in the daily demands of the job, but conference was a great way to reset and refocus. For those who were not able to attend, we hope this brief overview can provide a snapshot of the conference. We hope you were able to follow the day on Twitter. From assessing the statistics of our hashtag #SLDNN16, we were able to reach over approximately 40'000 people. This hopefully demonstrates how much of an impact social media can make. We were able to share the great work going on within learning disability nursing across Scotland across the world and hopefully going forward the amount of people we can reach will only grow. 




On another note, I'd just like to take the time to say that it has been an absolute pleasure for Corrinne, Zoe and I to be involved in the SLDNN Student Sub-group over the last 3 years, and we would like to thank the Steering group for all their guidance and opportunities over the years. The students who are in the subgroup are so enthusiastic and we have no doubt they will go on to do great things. We wish them all the best going forward. 


Sian

Monday 13 June 2016

#SLDNN16 Conference this Friday!

With conference just ahead I thought I'd pull together some quick information for those who have a confirmed place. Registration is from 0930am. There is currently maintenance on the train lines so please have a look at Scotrail's website for information about the disruption to services. 


Conference is being held in The Teacher's building in Glasgow. Check out the link below for directions.

http://teacherbuilding.theiet.org/about/location.cfm


For those of you who do not have a place at conference, there will be a summary posted here following conference and you will also be able to follow the tweets from the day under the hashtag #SLDNN16. 

The theme for this year's conference is Lifelong Learning and we will be looking at the journey and experiences of Learning Disability nurses from pre registration to post registration. There are both students and professionals presenting on the day and we look forward to hearing about the great work being undertook across Scotland within our field!

See you all on Friday

Sian







Thursday 2 June 2016

Two Weeks to go! #SLDNN16

There's just over two weeks to go until #SLDNN16 and we are confident that conference will be an informative, engaging day. This year we want those in attendance to be as involved as possible, and we're going to use the powers of social media to do this, particularly Twitter. Below is some information about what it is Twitter does, how is it useful and how to start using it.



By tweeting along on the day, you will be sharing the information from all the speakers in attendance to people around the world, and also promoting some of the current best practice in Learning Disability Nursing around Scotland. 

I have linked an article from Twitter on how to sign up for an account if you want to participate tweeting along on the day:

Remember the hashtag #SLDNN16 in all your Tweets so everyone can see them and if you have any questions feel free to ask! 

Sian 





*copywright of screengrab does not belong to SLDNN Students Blogspot* 

Sunday 10 April 2016

Meet Danielle our newest sub group member from GCU



Danielle Donaghy is currently a second year student at Glasgow Caledonian University studying Learning Disability Nursing.  Danielle recently joined the SLDNN student sub group alongside her classmate, and is looking forward to being involved in this year’s annual conference in June.  

Prior to starting the course, Danielle was a locality support worker for five years, supporting individuals with disabilities within the community, and still continues to support a young man through SDS (Self-directed support).  Danielle wanted to continue to help individuals reach their full potential and therefore applied to university to train within a nursing role instead.  Danielle has previously completed an honours degree in Business from Stirling University but soon realised that this wasn’t for her and that working within the care sector was much more satisfying and that she thrived in providing care and support to those who needed it.  


Danielle continues to learn through her personal work commitments as well as on placements and enjoys applying her new knowledge and skills within various nursing environments.  Danielle hopes to progress onto the post graduate course next year in Health Visiting and is very excited for her future career within nursing.  

Meet Julie Our new member of the student subgroup from ENU




Julie Irvine is a 1st year student at Napier.  She is really pleased to be part of this enthusiastic sub group.  Her background is working with Multiply Disabled Visually Impaired adults.  Julie has particular interest and enthusiasm for communication, she enjoys the challenge of working creatively to enable individuals to make informed choice.  Latterly working in day services she worked hard to encourage participation and has been fortunate to experience and promote a shift from service led to service user led services/care.  Out of her comfort zone she a bit daunted but is keen and excited to extend her knowledge and skills to benefit the health and wellbeing of people with learning disabilities.        
 

Meet Jack Our new student subgroup member from ENU



Jack Souter is currently in his first year at Edinburgh Napier University, living in Edinburgh is a massive change for Jack after just finishing his 6th year at School in Ayr. After volunteering with a Sunday school group with various children with Learning Disabilities for years Jack always new LD nursing was the goal.

Although moving out and starting a new life in Edinburgh has been a massive step every day is a new adventure, with lots of new experiences. He wouldn’t change it for the world.