Network Staff
Click on the links or scroll down for more information:
Jean Ker (Clinical Lead - 2 sessions per week)
Jerry Morse (Regional Champion - North - 1 session per week)
Janet Skinner (Regional Champion - South and East - 1 session per week)
Anna O'Neill (Regional Champion - West - 1 session per week)
Jeanette Stevenson (Educational Projects Manager)
Felicity Garvie (Project Administrator)
Sarah Race (Project Officer - Mobile Unit)
Andrea Baker (Educational Resource Developer)
Clinical Lead: Dr Jean Ker
(one day per week for the Network)
Jean Ker is Director of the Institute of Health Skills and Education at the University of Dundee. She is the founding chair of the Scottish Clinical Skills Network, which is committed to ensuring educational standards of skills practice across the healthcare professions. She has had the opportunity to work in medical education and primary care development in Bangladesh, Moldova and Latvia for the World Health Organisation and the British Council, and was awarded the University's 'Innovations in Teaching' prize in 2005 for the design, implementation and evaluation of the interprofessional ward simulation exercise.
In September 2007 Jean was appointed National Clinical Lead for the Managed Educational Network for clinical skills in Scotland, which is the first country in the world to develop a national strategy for clinical skills. In this role, Jean is responsible for ensuring consistency in standards of practice in clinical skills across all health care practitioner groups in both primary and secondary care settings. Priorities for skills education and training are closely linked to the National Patient Safety Alliance evidence-based interventions as well as the remote and rural skills agenda.
Jean led a collaboration with NHS Tayside, one of the four UK pilot sites for the Safer Patient Initiative, to develop a programme for junior medical students to learn about improvement methodology and the use of patient safety tools. This led to the development of an integrated patient safety curricular programme which is currently being implemented and evaluated.
Jean is also working with colleagues in the Patient Safety Research Network Scotland to explore the impact of a patient-centred approach on patient safety in the primary care setting which links into her experience as a general practitioner. She practises at a local health centre one day a week.
Regional Champion (North): Jerry Morse
(one session per week for the Network)
Jerry has been based at the Clinical Skills Centre at Foresterhill in Aberdeen since August 2004. Prior to this he spent 10 years in the Middle East where he was the Critical Care Trauma and Disaster Co-ordinator for the Military Hospital in Riyadh. The post was a combination of clinical experience and providing education in the Middle East. This unique experience has been invaluable in the development of his career path. Now working for the University of Aberdeen Medical School as the Clinical Skills Manager, as well as assisting in the delivery of clinical skills and core curriculum teaching to medical school undergraduates, he is able to continue his interests in Resuscitation and Trauma and helps direct and instruct on a range of National Resuscitation courses across Scotland and in the wider United Kingdom.
With an additional interest in the use of simulation in clinical skills education, he has been assessing and trialling the possibility of taking medium facility simulators and in particular the Laerdal SimBaby out into the work place - be it the ward, operating theatre or outpatient department, and in so doing providing familiar surroundings for training, thus maximising the learning experience for the individuals concerned. He is pleased to note that all the initial trials have been highly successful and together with another colleague in the Aberdeen Sick Children's Hospital has presented a poster and is in the process of writing a paper regarding the possibility of "moving mountains in simulation". It is because of his belief that there is an increased educational benefit in taking simulation into the workplace and the need for standard transferable core skills thoughout the country that he is committed to the Scottish Clinical Skills Strategy and the exciting times ahead, as together a new frontier is forged in how Clinical Skills are delivered within a National framework.
Regional Champion (South and East): Dr Janet Skinner
(one session per week for the Network)
Janet's clinical interests include the management of vulnerable adults in the Emergency Department, including the elderly, frequent attenders and patients with mental health problems. Her educational interests include the transfer of clinical skills from simulated environments into the workplace.
Janet graduated from Edinburgh University Medical School in 1994 and pursued higher training in South East Scotland in Emergency Medicine. Early in her SpR training she developed an interest in medical education and completed the Dundee distance learning Masters in Medical Education. Janet was able to spend a year out of her SpR training as a Fellow at the Medical Teaching Organisation at the University in Edinburgh, during which time she conducted a needs assessment around integrating Complementary and Alternative Medicine into the Edinburgh undergraduate medical curriculum.
In May 2007 Janet was appointed to a joint University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian consultant post. Half of her time is spent as a consultant in Emergency Medicine at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and half as Director of Clinical Skills at the University of Edinburgh. Janet's clinical skills post has a remit that includes trying to co-ordinate developments in skills teaching across NHS Lothian, which is one of the reasons she was interested in becoming a regional champion.
Regional Champion (West): Dr Anna O'Neill
(one session per week for the Network)
Anna graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1983. She worked in a number of different acute care settings in Glasgow, including the Southern General Hospital and the Royal Infirmary before travelling to London, where she gained her Certificate in General Intensive Care at the Middlesex Hospital in 1985. On returning to Glasgow, Anna worked in Respiratory Intensive Care at Glasgow Royal Infirmary whilst undertaking a Masters programme at the University of Glasgow. She became a Registered Nurse Teacher at Strathclyde University in 1993 and completed her Doctor of Philosophy at Glasgow Caledonian University in 2001.
Anna is currently Programme Director for the MSc (Med Sci) Health care, which is a multiprofessional programme, and is currently Deputy Head of Department as well as being Deputy Director of Clinical Skills within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Glasgow.
From 2002 - 2003 Anna was seconded to NHS Education for Scotland and published the report: "Preparation for practice: Clinical Skills Nurse Education" on behalf of NES. From 2004 - 2008 she was an external Examiner at Kingston University/St George's Hospital Medical School for the BSc in Nursing and from this year will be Examiner for Oxford Brookes University for the Masters/Advanced Practice Programme.
She is a peer reviewer and editorial board member of the journal Nursing in Critical Care, is Secretary of the Scottish Clinical Skills Network and the Nursing Representative on the Management Board of the Scottish Clinical Simulation Centre in Stirling.
Educational Projects Manager: Jeanette Stevenson
Prior to joining the CS MEN, Jeanette's work experience includes seven years in Scottish Higher Education: as a school administrator and then as project manager and co-ordinator for a forum across 10 universities and colleges. In these years she managed busy offices and their staff and gained a good understanding of the sector. She then took a 20-month contract to overhaul a small, private language school in Malaysia. As part of that role she managed relationships with clients, including some of the world's most successful companies who are based in Penang's Free Industrial Zone.
Since returning to the UK, Jeanette did some temporary work at the University of Dundee for the UNESCO Centre in Water Law, Policy and Science, before taking the post of EPM for the Clinical Skills Managed Educational Network.
Jeanette is currently working towards an MBA at the University of Durham, which she hopes to complete in December 2009. She has a particular interest in project management, organizational behaviour and management of change.
Project Administrator: Felicity Garvie
Before the MEN office was established in April 2008, Felicity was already working with Jean Ker and Beverley Beasant on the Scottish Clinical Skills Strategy and had been employed by NHS Education for Scotland, based at Ninewells Hospital for several months.
From 1999 onwards, Felicity worked at the new Scottish Parliament providing administrative support to several high profile politicians. Her particular passion was the Free School Meals campaign which she was parliamentary coordinator of for five years, helping to pilot two such bills through the legislative process.
Felicity has provided executive-level secretarial and marketing support in a variety of sectors including the whisky industry, insurance, publishing and a law firm throughout her career in Scotland and Germany. After gaining an Honours degree in English Literature and German at Sussex University, she moved to Cologne to use her language skills and stayed there for 18 years.
Project Officer - Mobile Unit: Sarah Race
After gaining a BA Honours Degree in Business Management, Sarah worked in the Commercial Department of Manchester United F.C. before joining Event Marketing Solutions Ltd as a Senior Account Executive. In this role she managed a team of staff coordinating several major events throughout the UK and Europe for corporate clients using mobile exhibition units. During this time the company won two national awards for a Scottish Executive campaign promoting renewable energy in Scotland. Many remote and rural areas were visited in Scotland, educating members of the public on renewable energy. This work has given her important experience for her current post within the CS MEN team.
Recently, Sarah has returned to the UK from an 18-month stay in Georgia, USA, where she worked as a member of the Concierge team at the 5-star Sea Island Resort Golf Club and Hotel.
Sarah is an accomplished horse rider and travelled to Poland in 2003 to support the British Young Rider Team which won Gold at the European Championships and regularly volunteers her administration skills to the equestrian organisation British Eventing.
Educational Resource Developer: Andrea Baker
Previously Andrea was employed as a Research Fellow in the Scottish Dental Practice Based Research Network, based at the University of Dundee and funded through NES. Her interests were in the evaluation of the training that dental students, newly qualified dentists and dental care practitioners received. Project reports informed curriculum development and subsequent dental educational practices. She had a special research interest in the transition from undergraduate student to dental professional with respect to clinical confidence and clinical decision-making.
Originally a biologist with a special interest in plant and tree physiology, she combined bringing up a young family with running a software company which specialised in producing scientific and educational software. She also has links with the Learning Enhancement Unit at the University where she used to tutor undergraduate students.
