Completing a degree during a pandemic is a great way to prepare yourself for a career in which every day brings a new challenge.
That’s one of the reasons why the 2022 graduating cohort of nursing and midwifery students from UHI feels ready to serve their communities.
More than 100 graduates walked across the stage at a ceremony in Inverness on Thursday, and excited graduates spoke about the challenges they faced in recent years.
From distant placements in new communities to learning how to be a nurse in a virtual world, students said their experiences gave them tools they’ll need to adapt on the job.
Lockdown learning and dedication through adversity
Samuel Thomas walked away from Thursday’s ceremony with much more than his bachelor’s degree in nursing.
His lecturers and colleagues also named him Nursing and Midwifery Student of the Year and UHI Student of the Year, in addition to his earning the Chancellor’s Nursing Award.
He spent time on placements in Fort William and Caithness. He said that he chose UHI so that he could focus on serving Scotland’s rural areas.
“You learn a lot more in rural placements. I really don’t think I would have had the same experience in the centre of Glasgow.
“You’re forced to utilise your skills a lot more and that’s really useful. Teams band together a lot more in a small area.”
During his time at UHI, he researched male attitudes towards the nursing profession. Motivated by the personal tragedy of losing his mother at age 17, he now wants to help rural residents in similar situations.
“My experience of the superb teaching from my lecturers has inspired me to balance a clinical career, currently as a community staff nurse, with further postgraduate research examining nurse’s preparedness to deliver end-of-life care in rural communities.”
From Greece to Buckie to Stornoway
Another graduate with a plan to help others in her community is Vasi Chrysanthakopoulou, who graduated on Thursday with a bachelor’s in mental health nursing.
Originally from Greece, she moved to Buckie to be with her fiancé Shaun Fleming in 2015 and started her nursing degree in 2019. Her first placement was in Stornoway in the dead of winter, and she fell in love with the region.
“Although it has not always been easy, I have never second-guessed or regretted my decision.
“I would like to dedicate my working life to mental health services and I have secured a post as a staff nurse at a dementia ward with the local hospital. I would not have been able to do this without the help of some amazing lecturers at UHI and my personal academic tutor, Sam, especially deserves a medal and a halo!”
She said that learning during the pandemic taught her that digital and virtual health has a role to play in nursing, but nothing will replace person-to-person care.
“We still see now that Covid-19 has exacerbated a lot of mental health issues. But mental health struggles or not, we all need support.”
First nursing and midwifery doctorate
Dr Ronie Walters made history on Thursday by becoming the first PhD candidate to graduate from UHI’s department of nursing and midwifery. She began her research remotely from Orkney before moving south, she said.
“I chose to undertake the PhD for a personal challenge. I love learning and, after finishing my master’s in applied positive psychology, it was the next goal to aim for.
“Now I have completed my PhD, I am enjoying a varied career working as a research fellow in the health psychology department at the University of Stirling, lecturing on social psychology with the Open University and providing freelance training, research consultancy and coaching services.”
Her research focused on how health literacy–how accessible and understandable treatment information is to patients–affects recovering cardiac rehabilitation.
She graduated alongside her husband, Stephen, who earned a bachelor’s in mental health nursing.
Conversation