Fi Croucher

Biography

I am both a registered general nurse (RGN) and a registered sick children’s nurse (RSCN) and have been nursing babies, toddlers, children & young people since 1994. My principal area of practice was children’s acute medicine, but I have also cared for children on surgical units. I have a specific interest
in children’s high dependency care and critical care nursing.

I am a paediatric advanced life support instructor, teaching on national courses for the Resuscitation Council (UK). With this role, I also take the lead for Infant & Child basic life support training for our student nurses.

I became a lecturer at the University of Bradford in 2013, following several years of attending university to deliver specific teaching sessions from my base within the local acute hospital trust. As a full time lecturer, I take my role very seriously and I am committed to delivering the highest standard of education that I can. I utilise many different teaching approaches to meet the many different learning needs of our students. 

• Lectures
• Seminars
• Debates and discussion
• Clinical skills training
• Formative feedback and support
• Team based learning
• Problem based learning

Teaching

I am a European Paediatric Advanced Life Support (EPALS) instructor with the Resuscitation Council (UK). This enables me to provide a specific source of expertise for the University. ·        

I take an active part in the recruitment of student nurses, making decisions about acceptance or rejection and planning and implementation of the interview process.

I supervise end stage MSc students undertaking systematic reviews since September 2017.

I liaise closely with service providers, clinicians and stakeholders to improve the student experience through attendance at local Trust meetings and have established a regular university update on the agenda. 

I continue to be an effective personal academic tutor, monitoring progress, ensuring disability requirements are met. ·        

I have developed and delivered innovative assessments for the children’s nursing OSCE’s using manikins and practice scenarios to ensure appropriate assessment of module outcomes.

I deliver training to undergraduate and post graduate nurses, from Children’s Nursing, Mental Health Nursing and Adult Nursing. I deliver training and education on a range of topics; some field specific, others which are generic for example; care of acutely ill children, child and Infant resuscitation, palliative care of children, safeguarding,  professional and ethical issues and accountability. ·        

I consider myself to be an inclusive educator that is able to determine different approaches to meet the educational needs of students through the use of student evaluations. Module evaluations score above 4 in the evaluation score for effectiveness and value of learning.

I am also a child nursing clinical skills educator and deliver training on aspects of care that are current and evidence based to student nurses across levels 4-7.

I have peer reviewed teaching sessions for colleagues using the university review template and also received peer review feedback on my teaching. This provided me with evidence of good practice through engaging students and demonstrating good teaching strategies.

Since successfully undertaking the PGCHEP modules I have had the benefit of receiving additional educational input in order for me to develop further. I now have a deeper understanding of aspects such as curriculum design, outcome mapping, inclusive curriculums and a deeper understanding of different teaching ideologies. This deeper understanding has influenced my educational abilities to be more focused on improving the student experience and meeting their needs in order to facilitate their development.

I reviewed how basic life support could be delivered; recognising the student exposure to this whilst on placement would be less than if they were on an adult placement. With this in mind, I sought to deliver a practical training session which focused on retaining specific key skills that would be used in a ward based collapse scenario. This approach and how I delivered it varied from the adult BLS approach which my other colleagues delivered. I considered our approach to best reflect the field specific requirement of a Children’s nurse against those of an Adult nurse. This field specific approach has worked well and I am able to verify whilst the sessions are taking place that the students are developing further knowledge and learning new skills. The students respond to this approach well and are able to immediately recognise further learning and knowledge attainment.