Mr Michael Collins

Senior Lecturer, University of Sunderland
Email: michael.collins@sunderland.ac.uk

Communications Officer of the RCN Northern Region RCN Research Society

Background

I qualified as a registered nurse in 1997 having previously spent 7 years in the Royal Navy. My immediate post qualification experience was in general medicine in my local acute trust. I moved to a newly opened Integrated Critical Care Unit in 2000 where I spent 3 years prior to successfully applying for a role in the Trust’s Critical Care Outreach Team. During this time I completed a degree in critical care nursing. Part of my role within the Critical Care Outreach Team included the delivery of teaching sessions to trust staff and it was here I developed an interest in education. In 2009 I secured a secondment to lead the delivery of a University accredited Clinical Skills course at the Trust which in turn lead to my introduction to research as I was asked to carry out small scale research within the hospital. My role with the Clinical Skills Course provided the opportunity to further extend my interest in education and in 2010 I joined the University of Sunderland.

Current role

I am currently module leader for many of the University’s health related continuing professional development courses which include the Clinical Skills Course. As Senior Lecturer in Clinical Skills I have input into a wide range of health related programmes including the recently validated pharmacy programme and healthcare sciences degree.