Elizabeth JennerElizabeth A Jenner

PhD, MEd, BSc(Hons), RGN, Hon.DipHIC, FRCN

Dr Elizabeth Jenner is an expert in infection control nursing. Over the last 35 years she has been instrumental in developing the clinical specialty, both through advancing the role in practice and devising and delivering education and training programmes for infection control nurses.

After secondary education at St Paul’s Girls’ School, she became a student nurse at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital (1963-1967) where her father had trained as a physician. Her interest in the prevention of infection was sparked by participating in some of the earliest experiments conducted by Professor Reginald Shooter and colleagues who studied the spread and control of hospital staphylococci.

After qualifying as an RGN, she worked in Canada for two years but then returned to the UK to take up a ward sister’s post at Bart’s. However, her latent interest in infection control was aroused when she worked as an agency nurse in the Protective Isolation Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Surrey. Her career as an infection control nurse (ICN), which lasted 20 years, began in 1971 when she was appointed to the role at the Royal Free Hospital. She subsequently also developed infection control programmes at the Whittington and St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington.

Throughout her clinical career in the specialty, she was heavily involved with the Infection Control Nurses’ Association of Great Britain (ICNA), serving as Educational Co-ordinator (twice), Vice Chair and subsequently Chair, 1978-1982. She was later made an honorary member of the association.

Whilst at the height of her clinical career in the specialty, her knowledge and expertise were utilised by the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Nursing Officer for England and Wales. She served on expert advisory groups for slow viruses, hospital infection and HIV/AIDS. She also acted as a Consultant to the World Health Organization, Geneva and advised on the development of a global programme on nosocomial infections as well as undertaking lecture tours and facilitating workshops on HIV/AIDS and the prevention and control of infection in Russia, Azerbaijan and Africa.

Paradoxically, her own training in infection control was undertaken in Canada and the USA as, at the time she was a novice, there were no formalised training programmes available for ICNs in the UK. This deficiency spurred her to work collaboratively with other members of the Educational Sub-Committee of the ICNA to develop a foundation course in infection control nursing, a programme which was subsequently validated by the former Joint Board of Clinical Nursing Studies and later by the English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting.

In 1991, having reached the top of the clinical career ladder available at the time, she changed careers and moved into higher education. As a principal lecturer in infection control at the University of Hertfordshire, she found herself eminently placed to develop and deliver specialist programmes for ICNs. The BSc(Hons) Infection Control, first validated in 1993, remains a unique course in the specialty and continues to attract students from all over the country.

Her own academic achievements include a first class honours degree in Nursing Studies (University of Surrey, 1987) and a Masters in Education with Distinction (University of Hertfordshire, 1994). In 1999, Elizabeth received an Honorary Diploma in Hospital Infection Control awarded to “Persons of Distinction in the Field” by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (University of London). She was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing in 2002.

Her current extracurricular activities include reviewing papers submitted to the Journal of Hospital Infection and the American Journal of Infection Control and serving as a member of the External Reference Group for the National Patient Safety Agency’s Hand Hygiene Project ‘Clean Your Hands Campaign’.

For the past nine years, Elizabeth’s part-time research activities have focused on exploring healthcare professionals’ sub-optimal hand hygiene practice. In 2005, she was awarded a PhD by the University of Hertfordshire for her thesis entitled ‘Healthcare professionals’ hand hygiene: predicting and improving practice’.

Publications

Elizabeth has published widely and delivered papers at many national and international conferences. Details of recent publications and conference presentations, most of which have emanated from her PhD follow.

  • Topics on infection prevention and control. In: Drennan V, Goodman C (Eds) Oxford Handbook of Primary Care Nursing, London, OUP, In press.
  • Jenner EA, Fletcher B(C), Watson P, Jones F, Miller L, Scott GM. Discrepancy between self-reported and observed hand hygiene behaviour in healthcare professionals. Journal Hospital Infection, Accepted for publication.
  • Foreword to Wilson J, Infection Control in Clinical Practice, 3rd edn, 2006, London, Elsevier.
  • Jenner EA, Jones F, FletcherB(C), Miller L, Scott GM (2005) Hand hygiene posters: motivators or mixed messages? Journal Hospital Infection, 60(3), 218-225.
  • Jenner EA, Jones F, Fletcher B(C), Miller L, Scott GM (2005) Hand hygiene posters: selling the message, Journal Hospital Infection, 59(2), 77-82.
  • Jenner EA, Watson PWB, Miller LR, Jones F, Scott GM (2002) Explaining hand hygiene practice: an extended application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour, Psychology, Health and Medicine, 7(3), 311-326.
  • Jenner EA, Watson PWB, Miller LR, Boniface DR, Jones F (2001) A survey of student nurses’ attitudes to hand hygiene practice, Proceedings from the British Psychological Society, 9(1), February, p.68.

Conference presentations

  • Psychological influences on hand hygiene behaviour. Invited paper. 8th Annual Conference on Practical Aspects of Infection Control, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Sheffield Hallam University, 27 June 2005.
  • Jenner EA, Miller L, Morgan J (September 2002) Teaching hand hygiene – a practical approach. Poster session presented at Fifth International Conference of the Hospital Infection Society, Edinburgh. Abstract book P12.05, p.78.
  • Jenner EA, Watson PWB, Miller L, Jones F, Scott GM (September 2001) Using a model to explain hand hygiene behaviour: a psychological approach. Paper presented at the 15th International European Health Psychology Society conference at St.Andrews, Scotland. Abstract book p.45.
  • Jenner EA, Watson PWB, Miller L, Jones F, Scott GM (June 2001) Explaining hand hygiene practice: extending the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Invited paper presented at ‘Infex’ conference organised by the Infection Control Nurses in the Oxford Region.
  • Jenner EA, Watson PWB, Miller LR, Boniface DR, Jones F (April 2001) A survey of student nurses’ attitudes to hand hygiene practice. Paper presented at the RCN triennial international research conference, Glasgow. Refereed abstract, No. 272, p.62.
  • Jenner EA, Watson PWB, Miller LR, Boniface DR, Jones F (September 2000) A survey of student nurses’ attitudes to hand hygiene practice. Poster session presented at British Psychology Society, Division of Health Psychology Annual Conference. University of Kent at Canterbury. Refereed abstract. Poster number 78, p.55.
  • Jenner EA, Watson PWB, Miller LR, Jones F, Scott GM (July 2000) Can a theoretical model explain hand hygiene behaviour? Paper presented at a Symposium on Hot Issues in Handwashing at the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, London. Findings reported briefly in Health and Hygiene (2001), 22(1), 12.