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Learn how Bethan became a Clinical Nurse Educator, what her role involves and why she loves it.

Setting: Social care provision, supporting people in their own chosen establishments.

Overview of current role 

I’m the sole adult clinical nurse educator at KEYFORT for the North East and North West of England.

My daily activities include:

• delivering bespoke, up-to-date and high-quality nursing training to the support workers
• managing their refresher training, competencies, clinical observations and supervision during assessments
• liaising with people we support to ensure their needs are up to date so I can monitor any changes, update care plans, training, support workers, and liaise with the wider multi-disciplinary teams to ensure their treatment and management plans are pertinent to their needs.

I manage all medication at KEYFORT. Any medication or health incidents recorded, I investigate these to ensure continuity and deliver extra training if required. I’ve developed a more efficient way to audit medication whilst simultaneously moving medication management online which is working well and captures any anomalies.

I work closely with local hospitals and specialist teams as well as ICB and social services to ensure advocacy is exercised, and care plans and treatments are reviewed. I’m then responsible for cascading this to support workers and planning any further assessments for competence.

My role means being responsive to the needs of the people we support and engaging them or their family members in developing the education of the support workers which has helped to build a trusting rapport and they feel safe and secure in the delivery of their care, knowing they made informed and independent choices. 

How did I get here

I started nursing in 2015 and wanted to be a midwife. I was told I needed to complete my nursing degree first then complete the midwifery top up. However, the top up ceased before my graduation. I thoroughly enjoyed nursing and I could not believe how much I had learned. I’ve always been a socialist, I’ve always been hands-on and I’ve always loved learning about the body. It was probably inevitable I would become a nurse! The inspiration that first piqued my interest was, my mam had a baby when I was 15. I was mesmerised by pregnancy, the changes, the health, the risks and how they were mitigated. My mam had a home birth by accident, and I helped deliver my baby brother. It was magical.

My future aspirations are definitely to remain in education. I love most domains of nursing but have particular interests in women’s health, brain injury, palliative care and diabetes. I want people to feel in control of their conditions, I want people to feel supported and I want healthcare education to be accessible to everyone. One of my favourite mottos is “No decision about me, without me”. 

Qualifications

• Adult Nursing BSc Hons.
• Active and Effective NMC Pin

Knowledge and skills 

Alongside my Adult Nurse Degree, I work in a primary care setting delivering nursing care in a GP practice, to keep myself up to date with clinical hands-on experience. I’ve participated in extra-curricular activities such as core immunisation, cervical screen sampling and GP forum days where guest speakers are invited to talk.

I didn’t need any additional training before joining my clinical educator role, however, it definitely helped working on the wards including palliative care and acute medicine. I feel like I have knowledge of the bigger picture of how transient care works, being discharged from hospital wards to home and all the work hat happens in-between.

Delegation and autonomy skills are key to being a clinical nurse educator in social care. I must trust support workers to carry out skills that I’ve delegated to them and build trust and rapport with the people we support, their families, support workers and wider professionals. 

What brings me joy

I love the flexibility of my role. I love the opportunities I have to learn, network and develop my knowledge. I love all of the different people I get to meet and speak to. More importantly, I get to engage and immerse myself in how other people live and manage their conditions at home and to share that knowledge with others.

I watch support workers come through recruitment nervous, sometimes terrified to operate ventilation machinery, I deliver training and we press all of the buttons on the training ventilators, and then I watch them flourish throughout their careers. It honestly brings tears to my eyes!

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