I came of age just as birth control made it possible to be sexually active without becoming pregnant. Quite by serendipity, this was when I was hired to coordinate an alternative education program for pregnant teens. Six years, and six hundred pregnant teens later, my feelings, experiences and values coalesced into a lifelong commitment to…
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Spotlighting a Blind Spot
In March 2022, the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland conducted an online survey about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). This was a Year 1 activity of Healthier Pregnancies, Better Lives (HPBL) – a QNIS programme supported by Cattanach and The National Lottery Community Fund. All community nurses and midwives anywhere in Scotland were eligible to participate…
What Invisibility Looks Like
In March 2022, the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland conducted an online survey about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). This was a Year 1 activity of Healthier Pregnancies, Better Lives (HPBL) – a QNIS programme supported by Cattanach and The National Lottery Community Fund. All community nurses and midwives anywhere in Scotland were eligible to participate…
Earth Day 2022: Appreciating nature is an investment in our planet
Back in 2018, I came up with the idea to transform the Action for Children garden in Stornoway as part of my Queen’s Nurse project. The revamped garden was officially opened by NHS Western Isles Chief Executive Gordon Jamieson in August 2019 and has since flourished delighting staff and service users alike. The Queen’s Nurse…
Earth Day 2022: Cycling my bike is an investment in our planet
I have enjoyed cycling ever since I was a child. Coming from Cornwall it was just as easy to get around on a bike as any other mode of transport. I began to use my bike for my commute to work while based in a large hospital in the south of England, because, finding a…
Speaking About Drinking
In March 2022, the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland conducted an online survey about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). This was a Year 1 activity of Healthier Pregnancies, Better Lives (HPBL) – a QNIS programme supported by Cattanach and The National Lottery Community Fund. All community nurses and midwives anywhere in Scotland were eligible to participate…
Boundaries matter for self-care
As nurses, we are all too familiar with the need to set professional boundaries within our role. Details of these professional boundaries can be found in the NMC code, but those aren’t the boundaries I want to discuss in this blog. This piece is about the boundaries we should set to ensure we do not…
FASD is becoming more of a concern for community nurses and midwives
In March 2022, the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland conducted an online survey about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). This was a Year 1 activity of Healthier Pregnancies, Better Lives (HPBL) – a QNIS programme supported by Cattanach and The National Lottery Community Fund. All community nurses and midwives anywhere in Scotland were eligible to participate…
Preconception health was a Ruairidh success!
Some transitions are more than memorable; they are life-changing. Graduating from university last year would have been a treasured memory under any circumstances, and yet, what made it transformational wasn’t that I achieved a first-class honours degree in Food Nutrition and Health at Abertay University. It was Ruairidh’s birth. With my degree in one hand…
Experience of the RCN Nursing Awards
The deadline for entries to the 2022 RCN Nursing Awards has been extended. Applications and nominations must be received before Wednesday 20th April 2022. The prestigious RCN Nursing Awards are open for entries, offering Queen’s Nurses an opportunity to share their practice nationally and internationally and shine a spotlight on nursing excellence in the community.…
