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| Me (in the middle) with international staff from NUH |
My name is Kate McNamara. I'm a registered nurse working in Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) in the Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham. I trained in Galway in the Republic of Ireland and moved to Exeter straight after graduating in 2012, where I worked in the Royal Devon & Exeter Foundation Trust for 2 years before moving to the lovely Notts in 2014. I live here with my partner Gareth (who is a former Roosevelt Scholar & a huge part of why I'm doing this scholarship, although that sounds like I just want to get away from him for 4 months...)
I have been in my current post for over 2 years now and really enjoying working in ENT and Head & Neck but, as anyone who knows me will know, I'm never happy in one spot for too long! Because I currently love where I work that's a bit of a problem so I've had to find other ways to keep my itchy feet (& mind!) happy which resulted in my becoming a Non Medical Prescriber in the last year and also applying for this Scholarship funded and supported by the League of Friends Charity based in QMC.
The theme for this year's scholarship was 'Exploring Excellence in International Nursing' and seeing as this is something that struck a chord with me personally, I decided to apply.
I am focusing on some of the problems and issues faced by overseas nurses who come to work and live in the UK. Because we have a huge number of African nurses working in the NHS, and Nottingham specifically, I chose to visit Zimbabwe. We are recruiting from the Philippines so I decided visiting a country where our nurses are currently coming from would be sensible. I am also going to spend a few days in Lusaka in Zambia before heading to Zimbabwe as a former nurse in our directorate trained and worked there and has helped me to set up some visits. From the Philippines I will fly to North America where I plan to visit hospitals and Universities in cities with hugely diverse populations to see what we can learn and perhaps implement in Nottingham.
It is also about soaking up the culture and customs of each place I travel and experiencing the daily lives of the people and places I visit.
I am hugely grateful and honoured to have been awarded this scholarship by the League of Friends, it really is a once in a lifetime chance and I intend to grab it with both hands!
So, that's me!
Head over to the My Trip section for more info about my itinerary (Gareth made my blog, if it was me there wouldn't be so many fancy sections) and hopefully anyone who wishes can check in and see how my travels are going as I research and try every type of food possible as I make my way around the world!
Slán go foill 😊
