Rachel Thrumble

“After working in neonatal intensive care for 18 months, this course was part of my career progression. My personal goal was to obtain a deeper understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the neonate and how this affects their journey in through the neonatal unit environment. I was also looking forward to spending time in a tertiary unit (on placement) and discovering the care offered to the neonate in such a unit.”

“The course provided me with many light bulb moments”, she recalls, fondly. “Due to my extensive nursing experience I already had an established library of knowledge and skills, some of which were transferable into neonates some of which were not. The course allowed me to build a foundation of knowledge regarding neonates and understand what previous knowledge I could apply and what was not transferable.”

“As a direct result of the course, I developed a poster based on a piece of work I did for an assessment and entered this into a poster competition at the National Neonatal Nurses Association conference. Out of 18 poster entries from across the country, I won!”

In the future, Rachel plans to continue developing her skills and knowledge in the clinical field of neonatal nursing. She has also developed in interest in teaching others, and plans to develop this idea further.

“I would recommend the course to anyone thinking of studying it. The course is not easy, and time management skills can be challenged when juggling full time work, studying, placement, family life and ‘me time’, but it was worth the hard work.”