Clare Mcgroarty

I am a lecturer in Adult Nursing working on the Pre-Registration and the Trainee Nursing Associate programmes.

I qualified in 1995 having completed my Diploma in Nursing at De Montfort University. Having spent time working in General Medicine and General Surgery, I went on to work for the National Blood Service (NBS). During this time, I got involved in some National trials, presented at an International Conference, and was a part of establishing one of the first Locality Based Teams within the service. I left in 2007 as one of their Area Lead Nurse’s. It was whilst I was with the NBS, that I completed my Degree in Nursing Studies.

Having left the NBS, I went into the commercial world, working as Clinical Educator/Trainer/Specialist for different companies. These various roles required me to visit hospitals up and down the country working with other professionals such as Operating Department Staff, ITU staff, SCBU staff, A&E staff. This allowed me the opportunity of working within areas that I had never had the fortune to work in during my time in clinical practice. It also afforded me travel overseas, and I was lucky to visit some amazing countries as part of my job. I even got a personal tour guide provided when I visited Egypt.

Whilst I have worked commercially, I have always dipped back into clinical practice, and have gained experience in elective orthopaedics, home parenteral nutrition, and haemodialysis.

I am due to embark on my MSc in Human Factors for Patient Safety in Sept 2021, so will be a similar position of many of our students in that I will be fretting over my time management of studies, worrying about the assignment brief and if I have enough words.

I enjoy seeing the students’ progress and develop in confidence from their first year to qualifying. I find that I learn just as much from them, as they do from me. And they tend to keep me on my toes.