Prize-winning nursing graduate hailed a '˜role model'

Jean Evers, Head of the Department of Public Health and Wellbeing; Karen Whitehurst, Practice Educator at East Cheshire Community Trust; Jodie Carr; Professor Annette McIntosh-Scott, Pro-Vice-Chancellor/Provost, and Conleth Kelly, Senior Lecturer in District Nursing. Photo: Jon Lingwood.

Jodie Carr received The Philip Goodeve-Docker Memorial Prize, a Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) Award at her University of Chester Nursing graduation ceremony, in recognition of her hard work and innovation in practice.

The 26-year-old qualified as a Registered Adult Nurse in 2013 and, for the past three years, has worked in the community in East Cheshire.

She recently completed a Specialist Practitioner Qualification (SPQ) in District Nursing at the University of Chester and oversees the care of patients as a district nursing sister.

Jodie said: “I am overjoyed yet humbled to have been put forward for this prize as it was not something I had ever expected I would be in receipt of.”

While studying the SPQ, Jodie developed a ‘Diabetic Pocket Guide’ for managing the blood sugars of diabetic patients.

Jodie explained: “Its purpose was to teach student nurses the basic, but essential knowledge and skills, of caring for patients with diabetes, and recognising signs which require intervention and appropriate management.”

Her work has now been presented to the lead nurse and senior managers within East Cheshire NHS Trust and is currently going through approvals so that the guide can be taken forward to be used within clinical practice.

Jodie’s practice teacher, Karen Whitehurst, added: “Jodie is a role model who continues to drive change forward, not only for patient care but also for the development of colleagues and students in practice.”