Meet the team
SOTN Committee 2012
Forum Chair- Brian Lucas RGN, PhD, ENB219, MSc
Brian has worked in orthopaedic nursing for 22 years as both a practitioner and educator. Currently he works as Lead Nurse Practice and Education at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Foundation Trust in Norfolk.
Brian has been an SOTN committee member since 2006 and Chair since November 2011. He is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing and has written a number of atricles and book chapters on aspects of orthopaedic nursing.
Mary Drozd
RGN MSc BA(Hons) RNT PGCE
Mary currently works as a senior lecturer in the School of Health & Wellbeing at The University of Wolverhampton. Her teaching commitments include developing and delivering the post-qualifying trauma and orthopaedic courses. Alongside this she works as an advanced nurse practitioner in trauma and orthopaedics for one day a week at a local trust, having worked within this specialty for over 20 years.
Mary originally trained in Manchester and moved to Oxford to undertake the Orthopaedic Nursing Certificate at The Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in 1990. However, she enjoyed Oxford so much that she stayed for seven years. During this period she was truly inspired by exceptional nurse leaders at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and was also fortunate to complete her first degree in Oxford.
She then moved to the West Midlands to join her husband; she worked there as a ward manager in trauma and orthopaedics at a busy acute hospital trust for six years. During this time she undertook a clinical Masters Degree at Birmingham University, which enabled her to remain clinical and work as an advanced practitioner.
Her areas of interest include orthopaedic and trauma nurse education and advancing clinical practice. She is currently working with the RCN on venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention for orthopaedic and trauma patients. In addition to this she has just become a reviewer for the International Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing.
Mary can be contacted via email: m.drozd@wlv.ac.uk
Sandra Flynn
RGN ONC MSc Dip N
Sandra is a nurse consultant in elective orthopaedics at the Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust in Chester. She gained an MSc in Professional Practice at the University of Chester in 2005 and is currently entering into her fourth year of study for a PhD entitled "Patients' perceptions of care and caring".
Sandra has worked in the speciality of orthopaedics for 26 years and her current role as a nurse consultant is divided between expert clinical practice, such as minor hand surgery procedures, and nurse-led clinics, developing orthopaedic services, leadership, education and research. Her focus is to help push the boundaries of orthopaedic nursing forward by developing the orthopaedic clinical role, improving the patient journey and essentially patient care.
Sandra feels that becoming an active SOTN committee member is a great opportunity to help represent orthopaedic nursing on a local, national and international scale.
Karen Hertz
RGN, MSc Advanced Clinical Practice, Postgraduate Diploma in Management, BSc (Hons), DPSN, ENB 219
Karen has worked for the last 23 years in orthopaedic nursing in a variety of different roles and still thoroughly enjoys working as part of this specialty. She is currently working as an advanced nurse practitioner at the University of North Staffordshire.
Although since qualifying she has worked in elective and trauma orthopaedic settings, the majority of her experience has been in trauma care. Despite a number of twists and turns in her career, she now uses this experience in her post of advanced nurse practitioner, caring for hip fracture patients.
She has recently completed a Masters Degree in Advanced Clinical Practice at Staffordshire University, which was part of her professional development into her new role.
She has a special interest in falls and elderly care provision in acute wards. She is the RCN representative on the National Hip Fracture Database and is part of the NICE Guideline Development Group for hip fracture care.
Lynne Newton
RGN, MA, BA(Hons), ENB 219, 998
Lynne started working in orthopaedic nursing in 1985, initially to gain some experience before moving on to a different specialty. However, she fell in love with the specialty and went on to do the orthopaedic nursing course at Oswestry. Since then she has worked in a variety of roles on trauma and elective wards. She is now working as a pre-assessment sister for orthopaedics in a district general hospital.
Lynn has been an active member of SOTN for a number of years. During the 1990s she shared the co-ordinator role of the Orthopaedic Research Special Interest Group, now known as "NEBPOT". Lynne’s particular interests at present are elective orthopaedics, hip fractures and traction. Since she has been on the committee Lynne has taken on the role of newsletter and website Editor for SOTN.She is married with two cats and one very lively border collie! If you have any news items for the webpages or newsletter please email lynne: lynne.newton@bedfordhospital.nhs.uk
Hannah Pugh
Hannah currently works at University College London Hospital as an orthopaedic trauma sister. Having trained 'up north' she has spent her qualifies years working within both elective and trauma environments, including five years at a major trauma centre in central London.
As well as being on the SOTN committee, Hannah is also secretary for the London Orthopaedic Nurses Group (LONG), is a reviewer for the International Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing, has published and presented both nationally and internationall and is currently working on an MSc in advanced nursing practice.
Outside of work time it is all about family, friends and 'the cat'!
Sonya Clarke
Msc, PGCHE, PGCert(Pain), BSc(Hons), RN (child/DIP), RGN
Sonya currently works as a senior teaching fellow in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen's University, Belfast (QUB). Her teaching commitments include developing and delivering the post-qualifying certificate and specialist practice trauma and orthopaedic courses across the lifespan.
Sonya originally trained as an RGN within an elective regional orthopaedic hospital in Belfast before specialising within children's orthopaedics where she graduated with a BSc (Hons) Specialist Practitioner in Orthopaedics at QUB. She practised as a staff nurse and ward sister within a wide range of orthopaedic settings until 2000 before assuming a lecturer practitioner appointment between Musgrave Park Hospital, and Queen's University Belfast. In 2003 Sonya was appointed as a teaching fellow within the undergraduate children's nursing team but continued to teach into the post qualifying trauma and orthopaedic courses.
Her areas of interest include orthopaedic and trauma nurse education for the child, young person, adult and older person which denotes a high scholarly output. in addition to this she on the advisory committee plus regularly reviews and supports new authors for the International Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing.
Sonya can be contacted via email at: sonya.clark@qub.ac.uk