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The University of Sunderland Apprentice District Nurses of the Future.

On Monday the 20th of June, we saw The Apprentice District Nurses come together at The University of Sunderland to deliver a poster presentation of their research proposals and service improvement plans for their course module.

The presentations were part of their assessment in which they were looking for feedback, comments, and ideas to help shape their final assessment. The event was attended by employers who provided excellent feedback and were able to be involved in the development of the district nurses of the future.

Tracy Scott, who works as a District Nurse Apprentice working as a team lead in Longbenton at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, won first prize for her poster, which focused on Bereavement Support.

She said she was ‘surprised but pleased’ that she won first prize.

“My poster highlighted that we only have one chance to get bereavement support right and that there is a need to address education around this need.”, Tracey said. “It is a subject often that resonates with people everywhere.”

Tracy Scott’s Poster on Bereavement Support

Kelly Taylor, a District Nurse Apprentice from Sunderland and South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust designed her poster based on the concept of condensing shifts and a 4-day week and to look at the impact this has on job satisfaction and fatigue.

“I think this was an appealing idea to my audience who came to view it as a lot of staff are feeling burnt out and seeking a better work-life balance.”, Kelly said.

Lindy Turnbull, the District Nurse Programme Lead said, “Preparing the posters helped the apprentices to develop their ideas for advancing District Nursing Practice and presenting their posters allowed them to talk about their ideas and get formative feedback. It was great to see Patient, Carer and Public Involvement Participants, supervisors, assessors and managers from practice and academic staff all talking with apprentices about their ideas for research and service improvement.”

Speaking to employers

“There were some brilliant ideas and several of the apprentices have been asked by their employers to take their ideas forward within the workplace. Employers will also be asked to look at the posters and vote on the idea most likely to advance District Nursing Practice. An additional prize based on the employer’s vote will be awarded on the Apprentices final day at University in September.”

The University of Sunderland hosts events for our apprentices to involve employers as much as possible throughout the apprenticeship process. This ensures that apprentices get work-related projects within their academic studies. Combining both academic and on-the-job learning helps to further their workplace development and helps shape the community that they work with.

If you want more information on apprenticeships, send an email to apprenticeships@sunderland.ac.uk and one of our team will be happy to speak to you.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by University of Sunderland .