Meet the team
SOTN Committee 2010
New year, new committee
We are having our first meeting in January, which is being facilitated by the RCN. Also, each new committee member has been provided with a mentor as part of the international e-mentoring programme and a more detailed report on this project will be available in the summer of 2010.
Elaine Collins (Chair)
RGN, MBA, OND, ENB 998
Elaine Collins currently works as a regional director of nursing for NHS Direct in the West Midlands. Elaine joined NHS Direct in June 2007. Prior to this she worked at the Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust as Deputy Director of Nursing.
In March 2010, Elaine will be moving to a new post as Head of Clinical Services for Nuffield Health, Bristol St Mary's Hospital. This role will involve providing clinical direction in order to deliver safe, high-quality patient care.
Whilst working in an acute trust, Elaine worked clinically in trauma and orthopaedic nursing before moving to nursing management, where she gained experience in managing areas, to include trauma and orthopaedics and emergency care.
In her current role, Elaine is responsible for advising on all aspects of professional nursing and health information practice and standards within the region, including delivery and achievement of all clinical performance targets.
Elaine has a Masters Degree in Business Administration and has completed the King’s Fund National Nurse Leadership Programme. She is currently SOTN's National Forum Chair and Honorary Chair of the Association of Maltese Orthopaedic Nurses (AMON).
Amanda Broom
RGN, ONC, City & Guilds FAETC
Amanda qualified in Bath as an SRN in the early 1980s, followed by completion of the Orthopaedic Nursing Certificate in 1985. She then worked in Exeter, Standish and Cheltenham, before returning to Bath in the early 1990s for a short time in trauma. She returned to elective orthopaedics, again in Bath, for a further 10 years before gradually developing into an educational role, firstly within orthopaedics, and more recently, in managing CPD activity across the Trust. She is now responsible for the Band 6 Development Programme, as well as support and involvement with other development programmes.
Amanda has been an active member of the Bath Orthopaedic Nurses Group for over 10 years and was elected onto the SOTN National Steering Committee in 2006, leading on an international collaboration with the Association of Maltese Orthopaedic Nurses on enhancing the care of hip fracture patients.
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.
Within the committee Mary is leading on updating and further developing the orthopaedic and trauma nursing competencies. A meeting is organised for 12 March 2010 at RCN headquarters. Representation is needed from Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Could people interested in contributing to this focus group, please contact Mary at 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.
Brian Lucas
RGN, ENB219, MSc
Brian has worked in orthopaedic nursing for 22 years as both a practitioner and educator. Presently he works at Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust, London, as an advanced nurse practitioner, assessing patients with chronic hip or knee pain referred by their GP and reviewing patients after total hip or total knee replacement surgery.
Brian is a SOTN committee member, chair of its London group (LONG) and its nurse practitioner special interest group (ESPITON). He is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing and has written a number of articles and book chapters on aspects of orthopaedic nursing.
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. She is married with two cats and one very lively border collie puppy!