Staff Nurse Lois Gaffney wins Student Nurse 2022
We are delighted that Staff Nurse Lois Gaffney has won Student Nurse 2022 at the first RCN Scotland Nurse of the Year Awards held in Edinburgh earlier this week.
Staff Nurse Lois Gaffney won the prestigious Student Nurse 2022 award in recognition of the work she has undertaken to encourage others to take up nursing as a career in a remote and rural setting. Lois supported colleagues through her role on the Nurse Workforce Wellbeing Group of NES, and her aim is to ensure all student nurses on Shetland receive a high standard of support with both emotional and academic needs. She was nominated for the Student Leadership Programme run by the Council of Deans, and now regularly supports other students virtually to change mind sets from ‘What if I fall?’ to ‘What if I fly?’.
Lois also won the Excellence in Care award for excellence in practice education in 2021, in recognition of the work she did to support student nurses and healthcare support workers during the pandemic.
Lois completed her nursing degree with the Open University in 2022 and now works as a Staff Nurse on Ward 3 at the Gilbert Bain Hospital. Lois is passionate about encouraging patient movement to reduce lengthy hospital stays, and also on creating valuable respiratory teaching resources for supporting colleagues whilst caring for those with asthma, COPD, or other respiratory conditions.
In receiving the RCN Student Nurse 2022 award, Lois said: “I am ecstatic to have been awarded RCN Scotland's Student Nurse of the year 2022. I had, and still have, such a huge support network around me in Ward 3, my family and friends, and the rest of NHS Shetland. The power of this support should never be underestimated and is the staple in managing a nursing degree. I would like to see all student nurses receive a high standard of support to allow them to flourish into confident and competent practitioners”.
Kathleen Carolan, Director of Nursing & Acute Services said: “Lois is an inspirational nurse and I am delighted that she has received the national recognition that she deserves. The work that Lois has done and continues to do to support student nurses and other colleagues to learn, be well and thrive at work shows what an important role model she is and her commitment to learning, leadership and improving patient care”.