Nursing and Community Health marks two major milestones on 75th anniversary of the NHS
Glasgow Caledonian University’s Department of Nursing and Community marks two major milestones in providing educational training for NHS staff as the service celebrates its 75th anniversary today (July 5).
The Department, in partnership with NHS Education for Scotland (NES), is celebrating the success of the first cohort of Non-Medical Cystoscopy Advanced Clinical Nurse Specialists (ACNS) to complete a university approved post-graduate diploma (PgD).
Cystoscopy involves using a thin camera called a cystscope to carry out bladder investigations such as those used for early detection of bladder cancers and other urology conditions, and thanks to the partnership, the NHS now has nine new specialists in Scotland, including one covering remote areas in the Highlands and Islands.
School of Health and Life Sciences’ Department of Nursing and Community Health Business Lead and Adult Nursing Lecturer, Maria Renwick, said: “This is a massive achievement that aligns to the Scottish Government’s Transforming Nursing Roles Programme, and its vision for nursing career development and service delivery to meet demand.
“This partnership with the NES highlights our commitment to widening access to post-registration education and supports the development of specialist roles within practice to ensure the delivery of NHS Scotland’s ‘One for Scotland’ approach to quality person-centred care.”
The Department has also just trained all sexual health practitioners in Scotland’s 14 NHS health boards, from the Highlands and Islands to Dumfries and Galloway, on a new injection technique.
In collaboration with NHS Scotland Sexual and Reproductive Health, doctors and nurses were given educational training on Ventrogluteal and Vastus Lateralis intramuscular injecting of medicines in the School of Health and Life Sciences’ state-of-the-art simulation centre.
Martin Murchie, Lecturer in Adult Nursing with a specialist background in sexual health, said: “It’s very exciting. One of our key research groups in the Research Centre for Health (ReaCH) is Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses, which has a whole host of sexual health experts. This collaboration links with our research themes and strengthens our civic partnerships, and we’ve been utilising all the fantastic knowledge we have here to collaborate with NHS partners to improve the patient experience.
“This technique of Ventrogluteal and Vastus Lateralis injection is more comfortable and quicker for the patient, and more cost effective for the NHS. This technique aims to reduce the transmission of sexually transmitted disease.
“As part of the educational training we included a train-the-trainer approach providing ongoing support for staff, alongside annually updated training resources.”
Photos show first cohort of Non-Medical Cystoscopy Advanced Clinical Nurse Specialists (ACNS) to complete a university approved post-graduate diploma (PgD) and staff training sexual health practitioners in the simulation centre.