Ellie Stevens

• Leading a Special School Nursing (SSN) Team within a large Special School. Coordinating daily operations in a dynamic, fast paced and often unpredictable environment.
• Manage a caseload of 75 CYP predominantly with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD) and complex health needs, to ensure that every individual receive a high level of safe care within school.
• Developing, implementing and evaluating complex and individualised care plans.
• Undertake complex clinical decision making with high risk patient group. Assessing deteriorating CYP, escalating to ambulance crew where appropriate.
• Utilising a wide range of skills to provide direct nursing care and training/assessing competencies of school staff, SSN team members and student nurses (Medication administration, Enteral feeding, Tracheostomy and Nasopharyngeal airways, Tissue viability assessment and wound management, Respiratory assessment and management (chest physio, suctioning, nebulisers), Seizure and Dystonia management, Intermittent catheterisation, Stoma care, Non-Invasive Ventilation, Pain assessment).
• Creating an effective learning environment and adjusting teaching to different learning styles/needs.
• Coordinating and conducting whole school staff training days (presenting training to an audience of 60-70 people), facilitating small group sessions, teaching and assessing individual competencies.
• Creating and leading Transcribing and Medicines Management Training to Children's Community Nursing (CCN) and SSN teams within the Trust.
• Working alongside managers and the trusts learning & development team to pioneer a new online platform which delivers training of delegable skills to school staff in 9 regional special schools.
• Leadership and Management skills - providing line management (appraisals, 1:1's), facilitation of clinical supervision, oversee SSN rota across two SSN teams, managing staff sickness/shortages to ensure safe skill mix and staffing levels, supporting with recruitment to the SSN team, undertaking audits, reviewing and supporting the development of new policies and procedures.

• Leading an environment which promotes continuous learning, evidence based teaching and staff development within a Children's Community Nursing Team.
• Identifying, supporting and assessing the development of specialist skills and knowledge required to deliver high quality care to CYP with a variety of health needs (acute and short term conditions, long term conditions, those with complex health needs, technology dependant, and those with life limiting and life threatening conditions including palliative and end of life care).
• Providing high quality training using a variety of methods (simulation, face to face group sessions, individualised bespoke learning).
• Supporting practice assessors and supervisors within the CCN team.
• Networking with clinical nurse specialists, universities, and other organisations/professionals to create learning packages.
• Working alongside, supporting and mentoring the CCN team to provide a high standard of 24/7 end of life care in the home.
• Mentoring and Assessing CCNs undertaking the Specialist Practice Qualification (SPQ).
• Adapting and acquiring leadership and management roles of the CCN team leader due to sickness during the covid pandemic.
• Facilitating safeguarding supervision sessions
• Working alongside the CCN leadership team to review clinical incidents, audits and feedback from appraisals and 1:1s to identify learning needs.
• Monitoring the effectiveness of teaching and training within the CCN team.

• Managing a caseload of approximately 70-80 CYP with a variety of nursing needs, including those with life limiting and life threatening conditions during palliative and end of life care.
• Providing knowledge and skills to CYP and their families to enable them to manage their own health conditions and empower them to make informed decisions about their care.
• Carrying out complex nursing skills and administration of medication to prevent hospital attendance/admissions.
• Supporting technology dependant CYP at school/home.
• Completing Continuing Health Care (CHC) assessments.
• Coordinating and chairing multidisciplinary, and team around the child meetings.
• Providing expert high quality care during 24/7 palliative and end of life care.
• Management and Leadership roles including rostering staff, facilitating 1:1's and appraisals, staff recruitment, supporting telephone advice for trust on-call service, chairing meetings,
• Teaching, mentoring and assessing junior members of staff and student nurses.

• Working alongside NHS Trust Managers and other stakeholders to set up a new service within the Southampton CCN team - Children's Outreach Assessment Support Team (COAST).
• Actively involved in recruitment, training and support of nurses joining the new service.
• Helped to develop, implement and audit safe nursing pathways and protocols using best available evidence.
• Manage a caseload of BCYP with acute health conditions (triaging referrals from ED/GPs, telephone and face to face assessments, safely escalating care where appropriate).
• Utilise my own expertise and autonomous decision making skills to provide high quality care to CYP with a variety of acute conditions.
• Support nursing colleagues to develop expert assessment skills and build confidence in autonomous clinical decision making.
• Continuously promoting the service through presentations at conferences, training sessions for doctors in ED, speaking at GP surgeries.
• Collating feedback and data to assess and monitor the safety and effectiveness of the service.

• Attended a full time, one year MSc Advanced Clinical Practice Community Pathway - Community Children's Nursing (CCN) at Surrey University.
• On completion I gained the CCN Specialist Practice Qualification (SPQ) with Distinction at Masters Level (Level 7).

Modules included:

- Research Methods for Evidence Based Practice

- Principles in History and Physical Assessment

- Promoting Health and Wellbeing

- Transition to Advanced Practice

- Community Children's Nursing

- V100 Nurse Prescribing

• Providing a very high standard of nursing care to BCYP in a busy regional Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
• During this time I successfully completed a comprehensive PICU course.

• Assisted in delivering high-quality care to sick and premature babies in a busy 36-bed neonatal unit.
• Developed nursing skills in intensive care settings, including various ventilation techniques, nitric oxide therapy and care of surgical neonates.

• Following completion of my Paediatric Nursing Degree I undertook a paediatric preceptorship rotation for 18 months. This included General Paediatrics, Outpatients and Neonatal nursing.
• Successfully applied for an 'E grade' position on the Neonatal Unit.
• During this time I went on to complete my Special care, High dependency and Intensive care of the Neonate modules.