District Nursing student wants others to follow in her footsteps

A degree in PgD Advancing District Nursing Practice has helped a GCU student develop both her practical and academic knowledge, whilst gaining confidence for her future career.

Cheryl McMurray only returned to education in her early 20s when she decided to complete an Access to Health course at college. Her experience set her on the path for a career in nursing and led to her completing a BSc (Hons) Nursing (Adult) degree at GCU. Following her initial stint at GCU, Cheryl went on to work as a Community Staff Nurse in Drumchapel for five years.

“It had been a big decision for me to go to return to education at that point in my life because I had two kids by then.

After being in my role for a few years I was then thinking about going back to university once more and doing the PgD in Advancing District Nursing Practice, but I kept talking myself out of it. Eventually, after a bit of encouragement from my managers, I just decided that the time was right,” explained Cheryl.

The PgD in Advancing District Nursing Practice is designed to help registered nurses who want to build on their existing experience and develop new skills, something that Cheryl found she immediately benefitted from on her return to GCU.

She said: “The course has been good, I’ve really enjoyed it. I obviously work in community nursing – that’s where I want to be – and the course is very specific to that, so it’s a good fit for me.

“There are so many new skills I’ve developed as a result, but also in areas I didn’t expect to. The Leadership Module really helped me and it has actually led to me thinking about things differently in my current job as a District Charge Nurse because I’m not just going in and task orientating, I really am thinking about the bigger picture.

“District Nursing is really becoming more complex with a lot more patients. I was happy to just sit and do my job after my Undergraduate degree, but there comes a point where you just have to push yourself that little bit further. Being involved in this course is something that will greatly benefit me in future.”

Cheryl admits the coursework has also been demanding and recently faced the challenge of delivering her very own poster presentation to GCU lecturers and NHS board members as part of her Professional Leadership and Change Innovation Module.

She explained: “Learning at Masters level is difficult, especially for myself when I’m not particularly academic. It’s one thing being good at your job but making that step to completing assignments is certainly challenging.

“The poster presentation involved us coming up with a new idea that would make practicing easier for us and patients.

“Mine actually came from a scenario I faced within practice. I was working one weekend and someone from a local care home had phoned asking us to check on someone who looked like they might be entering the end of life stage. The phone call overall was very vague and when we got there we basically realised that the person was approaching end of life, however there was no need for District Nursing input in this particular situation.

“It is definitely a scenario we face frequently, especially out-of-hours and at weekends. It impacts us massively because we’re having to do these visits that aren’t necessarily required.”

'Carers who care' - a district Nursing innovation to improve palliative care within HSCP care homes was inspired by Cheryl’s experience and was well received on the day of the assessment.

“I figured this would be a really important topic to focus on as it would help the carers understand the situations when they would require support from a District Nurse if a patient is deteriorating. The idea was it would help carers feel more confident in dealing with patients in palliative care, while also cutting down the amount of unnecessary visits, particularly on evenings and weekends, that a District Nurse would have to carry out.

“It was a really nice module for us to finish on, but I did find creating the actual poster quite challenging. We actually had a session with Dr Lina Petrakieva from the Learning Development Centre at GCU around how best to make it, which really helped. I was really proud when it was all finished and actually quite surprised that it did in fact look like a real poster!

“I was definitely nervous by the time it actually came round to presenting. We were basically under exam conditions and there were lots of important people there from the NHS, so you did feel like you had to do really well. Thankfully, it all went to plan and I would definitely say I enjoyed the overall experience of sharing the work that I had been doing.

“Everyone passed, which was a major bonus for the celebration part of the day in the afternoon!”

Cheryl is now set to graduate from the PgD Advancing District Nursing Practice programme, and is keen for others to follow in her footsteps after experiencing the benefits of a change in career in her 20s.

She said: “I would honestly encourage anyone to do this course. I’ve been saying to lots of people in my work to make sure they apply.

“It’s crazy to look back on my whole journey because it wasn’t even like I wanted to become a nurse from a young age. I had my kids and I was working in a school, but I decided I needed a change. I completed the Access to Health course and decided to go down the nursing route. Never did I think I would find myself in this situation.

“I don’t come from an academic family and university just isn’t something people from my background really find themselves doing. I’m glad that I’ve taken this route and that I will now be in nursing for the rest of my life because I really do love my job.”

Find out more about the PgD Advancing District Nursing Practice course

By Ross Clark       
Got an SHLS or GSBS story? Email me at Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk or message me on Twitter