Previous events

Our series documenting the nursing experience of the ongoing pandemic continues.

In this edition, we hear from two nurses with different experiences in mental health care during the pandemic. Douglas Hamandishe is a mental health nurse and digital influencer. Roland Dix is a Consultant Nurse in Psychiatric Intensive Care & Secure Recovery at Gloucestershire Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust. They were interviewed by Catherine Gamble, Head of Nursing Education, Practice and Research at South West London & St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust.

This event took place online in February 2021.

In another edition of our Inclusion Cafe Book Club, we chat to Rachael Ridley, the first openly trans nurse in the country.

Interviewed by Craig Davidson, Rachael shares her experience of health care and approaching medical professionals about transitioning. 

The event was chaired by Janan Nuri and took place online for LGBT+ History Month, in February 2021.

This second event in our series documenting the ongoing pandemic looks at the nursing response in care homes.

Hear from two nurses with different experiences working in and managing care homes during the pandemic. Interviewer Susan Aitkenhead, Director of RCN Scotland, speaks to Dr Jane Douglas QN RN, Chief Executive of QME Care and the Scotland Rep on the RCN's Independent Health and Social Care Sector Strategy Programme, and Duncan MacDonald, House Manager at an Erskine Care Home.

This event took place online in February 2021.

What can picture postcards tell us about the history of nursing, and images and stereotypes of nursing over the years?

Julia Hallam curated the Pictures of Nursing travelling exhibition and digital resource, for the National Library of Medicine, NIH, Washington, DC. Hallam tells us more about the years 1890 - 1910, a period known as the golden age of the postcard, and traces the dominant trends in the public image of nurses and nursing that emerge at this time.

This event was held online in February 2021.

Hear from the team at the Florence Nightingale Comes Home project at the University of Nottingham. 

Homes can be both comforting and troubling places as Professor Paul Crawford, Dr Anna Greenwood and Dr Richard Bates share in their new book, Florence Nightingale at Home (Palgrave: London, 2020). In this talk they share a new understanding of how Nightingale’s experiences of domestic life and her ideas of home influenced her writings and pioneering work, and explore the legacy of this for nursing today.

This event took place online in January 2021.

For International Men's Day, hear from Gary Jones about his 40 years in A&E nursing, through a time of dramatic changes in the NHS.

This event took place online in November 2020.

The first in our new series of online events recording the nursing experience of the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic.

In this first event, hear from two people involved in health care in different capacities during the early days of the pandemic. We hear from Chris Carter, who was seconded from his role as senior lecturer at Birmingham City University to be the second Matron for Critical Care at University Hospital Lewisham, and Rose Gallagher, the RCN's Professional Lead for Infection Prevention and Control who has been providing specialist advice throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. The interviewer is Dame Professor Anne Marie Rafferty, RCN President.

This event was held online in November 2020.

For Black History Month 2020, this talk explored BAME leaders in nursing, past and present.

Who were the Black nurses earlier in the twentieth century who led the way for future generations? Chaired by Estephanie Dunn, RCN North West Regional Director, we heard from historian of nursing Dr Claire Chatterton about the history of Black nurses in the UK, and Yvonne Coghill CBE, head of the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard programme, on the legacy of this history today. 

This event was originally held online on 30 October 2020.

For World Mental Health Day 2020, Peter Nolan shares the story of Jack, a Prisoner of War who became a mental health nurse.

In this online event, Peter shares reflections from an oral history covering Jack's time in captivity, the shooting of his boyhood friend, Alfie, and the hard labour he had endured while suffering from extreme weakness due to starvation. Peter recounts experiences that Jack had long buried inside him and which aroused strong feelings of anger, regret and contrition.

This event was hosted online in October 2020.

Can you sort your Sairey Gamps from your Florence Nightingales? 

In this online event the team from Crimson Tea Parties give us a history of nursing through fashion. Susanna Cordner (London College of Fashion) and Stephanie Wood (Victoria & Albert Museum) explain what nursing uniforms can tell us about the image of nursing, and how nursing attire has featured beyond the hospital, from fancy dress to haute couture.

This event was held online in September 2020 in aid of Bloody Good Period:

https://actions.bloodygoodperiod.com/d/donate

Nurse and poet Romalyn Ante talks with nurse, poet and author Molly Case.

Romalyn Ante left her home country of the Philippines in 2005 when her mother, a nurse in the NHS, brought the family to the UK. Now a Specialist Nurse Practitioner, Romalyn reads from her debut poetry collection Antiemetic for Homesickness. 

This event begins with a reading by nurse and author Molly Case, followed by a conversation between our speakers as they explore what writing and creativity means to them as nurses.

This talk was hosted online in September 2020.

Nursing did not begin with Florence Nightingale. But what was it like before?

In this online talk Professor Alannah Tomkins, University of Keele, joined us to share her research into the nurses before Nightingale. Her talk challenges the image of drunken, misbehaving nurses in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, revealing a diversity of employment experiences that did not generally end in disgrace. Alannah is introduced by Pauline Walsh, RCN Education Forum.

This talk was hosted online in September 2020.

A new bi-monthly online book club for RCN members to learn more about diversity in nursing and beyond.

At this first meeting, we heard from Young Historians Kaitlene Koranteng and Debrah Igbinedion. They told us more about the Young Historians Project - a youth-driven initiative, centring young Black people in the production of Black history in Britain - and chatted with former RCN president and clinical nurse specialist Dr Cecilia Akrisie Anim CBE, about migration and her nursing journey. The event was chaired by RCN Professional Lead Ruth Burey.

This first book club was held online on 2 September 2020.

In September 2020 the Royal College of Nursing Library and Archive Service hosted an online workshop exploring the unexpected role libraries play around user wellbeing.

This recording captures a talk by Catherine Gamble, RCN Professional Lead for Mental Health. Cath gives an overview of the context we are now living in, the mental health challenges for the nursing workforce, and some hints and tips on how librarians can support students and library users in stressful times.

This conference was hosted online on 3 September 2020.

Hear from speakers Christine Hallett, Olivia Gordon and Amanda Gwinnup at the University of Huddersfield, as they explore nursing from 'Spanish' influenza to COVID-19.

This new research looks into the mirage of safety and control presented by those who nursed during the influenza pandemic one hundred years ago, as well as the toll this mask of resilience took upon those nurses. A century on from that, the speakers examine what we can learn from this amidst COVID-19. 

This event was originally held online in August 2020.

Hear about the pioneering work of Cicely Saunders and what her legacy means for end of life care today.

Hospice pioneer Cicely Saunders championed better end of life care by acknowledging the emotional impacts of dying. In this talk, hear from researcher Joseph Wood who explains Saunders' concept of 'total pain.' Our second speaker Heather Richardson, Joint Chief Executive of St Christopher’s Hospice, talks about Saunders' legacy and end of life care today.

This event was originally held online in July 2020.

Two hundred years on from Florence Nightingale's birth, Professor Anne Marie Rafferty explores what we can learn from Nightingale's legacy.

In light of the challenges that 2020 has brought society and health care, RCN President Anne Marie Rafferty explores what we can learn from Nightingale's work and how her legacy continues to shape the profession today.

This event was originally held online in July 2020.

 

This talk celebrates the 27 nurses added to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) for the 2020 Year of the Nurse.

Hear from a group of nurses and historians who wrote the new entries for the ODNB, a joint project between the RCN and the UK Association for the History Nursing (UKAHN).

This event was originally held online in June 2020.