Local MP Diana Johnson visits the Faculty

We were delighted to welcome Diana Johnson MP (Hull North) who visited the Faculty on 7 March 2014 to gain an insight into the education of health professionals. This provided an opportunity to explore the challenges faced by students preparing for a career in the health service within higher education and for the Faculty supporting them - through discussion with the Dean, Professor Steven Ersser, Professor Kate Galvin, Professor of Nursing Practice and Mrs Deborah Robinson, Director of Pre-qualifying Studies.  Diana met with students from the Adult Nursing, Operating Department Practitioner, Learning Disability, Mental Health and Child Health fields. In providing feedback Diana indicated that she found the students engaging and vocal on their views about their education and the health service. Diana was then given a tour of the Centre for Clinical Skills by Dr Carol Purcell, Academic Lead, and Janice Nolan, Clinical Skills Support Assistant.

Diana Johnson MP with
Dean Professor Steven Ersser

Visiting students from Singapore

Joseph Tan and Rachel Goon from Nanyang Polytehnic in Singapore had this to say after their visit to Hull:

Joseph and Rachel

We would also like to send you our sincere appreciation for the kind hospitality Hull Royal Infirmary, University of Hull and yourself have shown us during our 6 weeks placement in UK. This invaluable placement in UK have benefited us both tremendously as nurses and served to widen our horizons in the field of nursing in the UK. In the process we have both made some good friends at the hospitals as well as wit some students from Hull university; and have enjoyed ourselves during our tours around the country. 

Rachel and Jospeh
with Dr Jeremy Jolley

Once again I like to extend our warmest appreciation to you and the university of hull for offering us this wonderful experience. We hope that Hull university would continue to support NanYang Polytechnic for future student placements in the years ahead.

The Hull Experience

We had the privilege of hosting a visit by two third year nursing students from National University of Singapore: Mariam Zulfa Hameed Musthafa and Nurul Afiqah Bte Kamel

Afiqah (L) &Miriam
with Professor Roger Watson

Here Afiqah recounts their experience:

Mariam and I were granted the privilege of visiting the University of Hull in the summer. We had never been to the UK previously so all we knew about its healthcare system was what was related to us through books, the internet and friends. Our first-hand experience though was an eye-opener (in a good way). Patient-centred care, especially in long-term care facilities and services, isn't just something that's talked about- it's lived. We were very impressed with the investment of resources into giving patients holistic care within institutions and in their own homes. We saw how the conviction that the chronically ill should continue to lead a meaningful life was held not just by healthcare professionals, but by the community at large. It showed in the way that the community supports hospices with their resources and time. The impact of social consciousness on healthcare is admirable. I bring back these experiences empowered and I hope I can help bring changes to Singapore's healthcare landscape too.

Our visit to Hull was far from simply classes and hospital visits. We managed to see a side of the UK not many first time travellers are treated to. From the seaside to the cow-filled countryside, the staff and students in the Faculty of Health and Social care at the University of Hull gave us a taste of it all. We are very very grateful. Special thanks to Dr Jeremy Jolley for helping make our trip a smooth and merry one! 

Afiqah & Miriam with
Professsor Sally Chan
who was also visiting Hull

Prestigious international visitor to The Faculty

Professor Sally Chan

Professor Sally Wai-Chi CHAN

Sally Chan is the Professor and former head of the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, National University of Singapore. She is the Visiting Professor at University of Hull and Sun Yatsen University and Xiamen University in China. Sally did her basic nursing training and nursing education diploma in Hong Kong, and read her Bachelor Degree in Australia and her Master Degree and Doctor of Philosophy in the United Kingdom.

Sally has been a leader in developing nursing education in Hong Kong, Singapore and China. She has been a leading exponent of the need for graduate education for nurses in the region. As a global nurse researcher and educator, Sally pioneered development of mental health nursing research in Asia. Supported by 58 funded studies, and more than 300 publications in international healthcare journals and international presentations, Sally have developed and sustained international inter-institutional partnerships. Sally’s research programme of mental health focuses on family caregiving, depression, community mental health, and quality of life. Sally serves on editorial board and reviewer panel for more than 20 international refereed journals. She is the editor in chief of the Journal of Nursing Interventions and Singapore Nursing Journal.

Sally has been appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to the Primary Care Consultation group for Revision of ICD-10 Mental and Behavioral Disorder. She is the President of Sigma Theta Tau International Singapore Upsilon Eta Chapter; Chair, East Asia Forum of Nursing Scholars; Co-chair, Nursing Professional Discipline Forum of the International Psychogeriatric Association. Her leadership is also evident in her appointment to the Expert Group on Mental Health Services by the Hong Kong Government Food and Health Bureau to formulate the blueprint to reform mental health services; and member of the National Task Force of Ministry of Health, Singapore.

Sally has been awarded the ‘International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame 2013’ by Sigma Theta Tau International Honors Society of Nursing in recognition of her significant and sustained contribution to research which improved the nursing profession and the people it serves. She has been awarded the ‘Teacher of the Year’ in 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, and the ‘Master Teacher’ in 2007 by Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.  Sally will be inducted in Washington DC in October as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Sally contributed to the Faculty Research & Scholarship seminar series; the title of her presentation was:

Mental Health of Child-Bearing Women - Experience Sharing

Abstract 

Research activity in nursing field is growing expecially in the Asian region. There is an expanding role of nursing in the development of evdience based health care practice and policy. Traditionally, nurses carried out small local projects rather than a persistent ongoing research programme that ends up in cumulative knowledge providing evidence for practice. In this presentation, Sally will present her research programme on mental health of child-bearing women. She will illustrate how she used a research development framework in building this research programme and present results of some studies in the programme. She will also discuss how she collaborated with colleagues from different disciplines and institutions in this research programme. 

Students from India visit Hull

Two students from Sumandeep Vidyapeeth University, Gujerat in India visited the University of Hull for two weeks between 3-14 June 2013.  Many staff in the Faculty and in clinical practice gave up their time to welcome the students and host visits to different areas of practice.  These were the first students to visit on an exchange scheme from Sumaandeep and we will send students there in due course.  The scheme is organised by Sarah Gribbin.

Sumandeep students Ruby Roy
and Nisha Patel in Hull

Canadian visitor to the faculty

The Faculty is looking forward, this week, to welcoming Dr Amandah Hoogbruin from Canada.

Amandah Hoogbruin, RN, PhD has been using complementary and alternate therapies (CATs) such as, reiki and qi gong for more than 27 years.  As a clinician, educator, and researcher, she addresses how spirituality and traditional/indigenous healing practices including yoga and other CATs contribute to clinical evidence about healing and health. Scholarly pursuits include working with indigenous populations and/or other relevant stakeholders to promote an integral approach to health & healing in a sustainable world vis-à-vis promoting optimal healing environments; and the essential contribution of technology and informatics to create an equitable, more humane society.

Dr Hoogbruin will deliver a seminar on12 June 2013

Menopause & Hot Flashes:  Yoga to the Rescue

Nearly 60% of menopausal women seek medical attention for debilitating symptoms (i.e., fatigue, sleep impairment, emotional instability, headaches and musculoskeletal pain), and hot flashes are  the most common, and distressing symptom among post-menopausal women.  Yoga has been reported to reduce vasomotor and other menopausal symptoms, and decrease indices (i.e., sympathetic activation and obesity) and other factors that contribute to such symptoms.  The purpose of this seminar is to present current theory and evidence to substantiate the promise of yoga to rescue women who suffer from menopausal symptoms.

Caring Science, Lifeworld Led Care and Medical Humanities

The Faculty of Health and Social Care will be hosting two leading lifeworld research experts from Linnaeus University, Sweden 11 – 15 February 2013 as part of an Erasmus exchange. The purpose of the exchange is to build links in lifeworld led care and to forge collaboration for research, teaching and curriculum development, with a particular focus on learning from Swedish ideas about ‘Caring Science’.

Lise-Lotte Ozolins (RN, MNsc, PhD) is senior lecturer in the School of Health and Caring Sciences at Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden. Lise- Lotte leads a Lifeworld based Health Care Clinic where undergraduate students undertake key placements. Her research focuses on the phenomenology of touch in health care and how phenomenology can support the understanding of Caring Science. She is a key member of the European Academy of Caring Science and is pursuing collaborations in Lifeworld- led Care and Education.

Ulrica Horberg is Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Caring Sciences at Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden. Ulrica leads the Lifeworld Centre for Health, Care and Learning (HCL). Her research interests include: forensic psychiatric care and how families can be a resource for care in this context, learning in health and social care and the intertwining of theory and praxis. Ulrica is a key member of the European Academy of Caring Science and is pursuing collaborations in Lifeworld- led Care and Education.

More information about the European Academy of Caring Science is available here: www.pubcare.uu.se/care/eacs

Seminars

During their visit they are undertaking a Seminar as part of the Cross Faculty Seminar Series in Medical Humanities, on Wednesday 13th February in Derwent Room 3 at 4.30pm.

The phenomenon of touch in healthcare contexts – a complex caring movement

A Swedish doctoral thesis by Lise-Lotte Ozolins explored the phenomenon of touch and described its meaning from a lifeworld perspective in the healthcare context. The intention was to deepen the understanding of the meanings of touch in the field of caring science. Based on 54 variations, in the form of interviews in varied healthcare contexts, touch showed a powerful and complex phenomenon. To understand more of the complexity a philosophical illumination was carried out to highlight questions of interest in the caring of patients, such as; how could it be understood that touch can be both awakening of rhythm and balance in life, as well as intruding and frightening? How can carers in touch with patients support wellbeing in a meaningful caring space? Texts from Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Les Todres were helpful to expand the understanding of caring touch. The philosophical illuminations shows how the reversibility of touch, and thus also the movement between individuality and being a part of humanity, between being in focus or in the background, to feel or be felt, between to see and to be seen, cuts through all the meanings of the phenomenon and is basic to understanding the character of the phenomenon of touch. Touch means a flowing movement in a phenomenal field that stretches between what may be described as liberating and restraining. The phenomenon of touch may be described as a complex caring movement; an interplay between lived bodies as a foundation to understand health, suffering, well-being, and care.

To be strategically struggling against resignation – The lived experience of being cared for in forensic psychiatric care

The paper focuses on the forensic psychiatric care of mentally disordered offenders from the patients’ experiences of their life situation in forensic psychiatric wards. To be referred to care in forensic psychiatric services can be seen as one of the most comprehensive encroachments society can impose upon a person’s life, as it entails a limitation of the individual’s freedom with no time limit. The paper is based on a study with the aim to describe patients’ experiences of their life situation at forensic psychiatric wards, with a focus on care. Eleven qualitative interviews have been carried out with patients at one of six main forensic clinics in Sweden. The analysis was based on the Reflective Lifeworld Research approach, founded on phenomenology. Results show how forensic psychiatric care can be non-caring with only moments of good care. By use of different strategies, the patients struggle to adapt to the demands of the caregivers in order to gain privileges. At the same time the patients are lacking meaningful and close relationships and long to get away from the system of forensic care. Being cared for entails a struggle against an approaching overwhelming sense of resignation. The paper highlights the need for more knowledge, understanding and support in order to provide health promoting and, in other respects, good care to patients in forensic psychiatric care.

South African visitor to the faculty

At the end of 2012 the Faculty hosted a visit by Professor Mavis Malaudzi Head of Department in Nursing at the University of Pretoria.

Professor Malaudzi met many of the staff with a view to establishing collaboration between her department and the Faculty.  Earlier in the year Professor Steven Ersser, Dean of the Faculty visited Mavis and colleagues in Pretoria and further visits by academics from Hull are planned.



Professor Malaudzi delivered a Faculty seminar on the concept of Ubunto and Ethics.  Ubuntu is a South African philosophy about relationships and allegiances and Professor Malaudzi's seminer examined the application of Ubuntu to the nursing curriculum.