An NSNF Members' Success in Gaining A Travel Scholarship

Florence Nightingale Foundation Travel Scholarship

The Florence Nightingale Foundation (FNF) supports nurses and midwives with scholarships, mentoring and perhaps, most importantly, to give them some recognition they so richly deserve. They raise vital funds to support professionals in enabling study at home and abroad, and promoting innovation in practice. This supports nurses and midwives in extending knowledge and skills, enabling them to meet changing needs and improve patient care.

 

Alison McLoughlin, an academic stroke research nurse, employed by the Centre for Health Research & Innovation at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHTR), has recently been awarded one of these prestigious FNF scholarships. Through the generosity of the Atkinson Morley Amandus Neuroscience Club she is able to undertake her study

 

“A nurse’s role in assessment and treatment of acute stroke- what can America teach us?”

 

Alison recognises the importance of high quality research, and its integration into practice, for improving care and outcomes for patients and carers. Her role is distinctive due to its academic collaboration with the Clinical Practice Research Unit (CPRU) at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN). The CPRU led by Professor Caroline Watkins is the only nurse led stroke research unit in the UK.

 This collaboration has also meant that Alison is fortunate to be one of the first eight UK students to undertake the Neurovascular Education and Training in Stroke Management and Acute Reperfusion Therapy- Advanced Practice (NET-SMART) course. The NET-SMART  Fellowship originated as a United States Health Resource Services   Administration (HRSA) funded project. NET-SMART and its sister course NET SMART- Junior are both endorsed by the Stroke Specific education Framework (SSEF) and offer distance-accessible education that aims to develop expertise in acute stroke nursing care.

 These programmes, made available to UK Students through UCLan’s CPRU, were developed by program director Professor Anne Alexandrov. Anne is Assistant Dean and Professor at the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing and Program Coordinator for the UAB Doctor of Nursing Practice Program. She also holds a joint appointment as a Professor of Neurology at the UAB Comprehensive Stroke Research Centre.

With the support of Professor Alexandrov, and colleagues at both the CPRU and LTHTR, Alison has organised an intensive and rewarding itinerary, focusing on the nursing role in assessment and   treatment of acute stroke.  This support was fundamental in enabling her to apply and secure the scholarship. Alison will gain  valuable experience by spending time at these USA stroke centres:

· Comprehensive Stroke Centre University of  Alabama Birmingham (UAB).

· Christi Hospital on St. Francis Wichita, Kansas.  

· University of Colorado Health Science Centre.    

Her visit will conclude with attendance at the International Stroke Conference 2014 in San Diego. Alison hopes that by disseminating her experience and learning from this scholarship opportunity, that it will show others the opportunities there are to develop their knowledge and skills to provide high quality evidence-based care to those at risk from, or who have already suffered, a stroke. She hopes this scholarship opportunity will help her to engage in developing future research in stroke nursing and clinical care.

 

Alison will provide updates on her trip through the National Stroke Nursing Forum’s blog, so look out for them