Education
Published: October 30, 2023 | Updated: 14th February 2024
Lewis-Manning Hospice Care is backing the next generation of nurses as they award scholarships for palliative and end-of-life care to five local students.
Christina Keeping, Julia Copson, Jessica Ransome, Emelia Sargeant and Tina Smith are all in their final year of study on the BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing and Registered Nurse Degree Apprenticeship course at Bournemouth University.
They were selected for the scheme from 24 applicants after making the shortlist and taking part in an interview with Bournemouth academics Dr Sue Baron and Professor Sue Green, and Lewis-Manning Trustee Dr Jackie Dominey.
Each will receive £3,000 in funding to support their professional development throughout the 2023/24 academic year, alongside mentorship from Dr Dominey, Dr Baron and Lewis-Manning.
They’ll also have the opportunity to network and shadow a member of the Lewis-Manning clinical team.
During their first meeting as a group, Christina, Julia, Jessica, Emelia and Tina shared their passion for palliative and end-of-life care and why they chose to take up nursing.
For Julia, it was personal experience: “Sadly, I’ve lost both of my parents in the past five years.
“My dad died quite suddenly and was supported with end-of-life care for his final five days. My mum had a very different experience and was supported with palliative care for three years.
“Everyone has such different experiences with death, which inspired me to seek to study this further and apply for the scholarship.”
Jessica, on the other hand, spent a month as a student nurse on an elective placement in the Philippines, working in A&E and on the Internal Medicines Ward.
She added: “I observed people’s different experiences of dying – it taught me so much.
“I’ve also worked locally with elderly people and people with dementia for over four years now, as I’m so passionate about supporting them at this later stage in life.
“One of my ambitions is to encourage more students into caring for and supporting older people, as I believe this is so important.”
The Lewis-Manning scholarship scheme is now entering its third year and is run in collaboration with Bournemouth University and The Burdett Trust for Nursing – established in 2002 to help fund research and leadership in nursing and support local nurse-led initiatives.
Dr Sue Baron said: “The Lewis-Manning Scholarship provides an amazing development opportunity for our final year nursing students.
“I’m yet again extremely impressed by the talent and passion shown by our students, and the hopes and aspirations expressed by this year’s applicants and award winners for their professional development during their final year.
“One of the goals for this year, identified by our award winners, is to work together to develop educational resources to support and enable health professional students to feel appropriately and better prepared for delivering supportive, palliative care to anyone who needs this.
“One of these resources will focus on enhancing understanding of and health professional students’ ability to raise awareness about the importance of Advanced Care Planning.
“To assist with this, the scholars are looking forward to learning about Lewis-Manning’s innovative Advanced/Anticipatory Care Planning as part of the charity’s Hospice at Home service.”
Read more – Biz Gallery: Kate Adie kicks off launch of Lewis-Manning Hospice Care’s ‘An Audience with….’ programme
