International Nurses Day 2023
LSTM nurses, making a difference in global health
This year’s International Nurses Day is all about the contribution that nurses make and at LSTM we have asked our teams to tell us about the difference that they make every day as we showcase some of the work undertaken in the last 12 months.
Jane Rowles – Senior Nurse Well Travelled Clinic
We make a difference by preventing disease:
- WTC travel health nurses use their knowledge and expertise to prepare travellers for their overseas trips to countries where disease risks are high.
- Preventing disease by vaccination or giving advice about how to take other measures to prevent the many non-vaccine preventable diseases.
- The consultation is a good opportunity for the nurses to check that travellers are up to date with all their routine UK vaccinations too, especially now, as during the Covid pandemic, the routine vaccination schedules were interrupted.
Ann Conduit – Occupational Health Advisor – Well Travelled Clinic
The difference we make at WTC Occupational Health;
- Our aim is to protect and maintain the health of all employees with whom we are contracted to provide OH services for.
- This includes local NW Businesses as well as LSTM. We also have contracts with Charities and Businesses who send employees to work overseas and offshore.
- Our work involves picking up early signs of disease which may be caused by work through carrying out regular health surveillance such as Audiometry and Lung Function testing.
- We carry out preplacement screening and routine fitness for work medicals to ensure employees are safe and medically fit to perform their roles.
- In this way we can make a difference to people’s working lives – our mantra in this field of nursing is ‘Good work is Good for you’. (Dame Carol Black – 2008)
LSTM offers global healthcare-focused study programmes for nurses all over the world
Diploma in Tropical Nursing
Our three-week clinical and global healthcare-focused professional diploma for nurses all over the world, will prepare you to work in humanitarian settings. Developing resilience strategies and studying inequalities of health, you will be taught by passionate and knowledgeable experts. The diploma runs twice a year.
Funding opportunities may be available from the Royal College of Nursing.
Professional Diploma in Travel Health (ONLINE)
Nursing and health practitioners globally can study this fully online programme. Four modules can be studied part-time alongside work commitments to develop the knowledge to advise travellers before and after their trips and holidays. The diploma has start dates throughout the year.
Funding opportunities may be available from the Royal College of Nursing.
The Nursing team at LSTM's Liverpool Vaccine Group
Over the past 12 months the Liverpool Vaccine Group research nurses have been working across multiple clinical studies focused on vaccinations to prevent respiratory infections. The team are currently running the largest human challenge study globally, seeing 4862 research appointments in the Accelerator Research Clinic (ARC): Pneumo 2 study (PREVENTING PNEUMOcoccal disease through vaccination – study 2). The team have attended recruitment events across Liverpool to promote taking part in clinical trials resulting in over 5000 people signed up to the ARC volunteer database in the last 12months
In addition to the human challenge studies, 2000 participants were recruited to the STOP RSV study by the LSTM PLUS team across Merseyside and Bristol. This work has been presented to Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and the European Society For Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) conference in Lisbon.
At the CRN North West Coast Research and Innovation Awards in June 2022, LSTM PLUS were proud to be nominated for the collaboration award and delighted to win the Covid-19 research and innovation award for work carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic. This was a partnership of clinicians, nurses and scientists across Merseyside, coming together to implement clinical trials during the Covid Pandemic.
Testimonial from a research participant in the Pneumo2 trial:
The team are all fantastic and so friendly and put me at ease from the first day I met them. They explained the process to me at all stages and I was always made me feel comfortable. Even though I am essentially only volunteering myself I feel part of the team and that I am making a difference.
“The team are all fantastic and so friendly and put me at ease from the first day I met them. They explained the process to me at all stages and I was always made me feel comfortable. Even though I am essentially only volunteering myself I feel part of the team and that I am making a difference.
I’d recommend anybody to take part as your contribution is vital to improving care and saving many lives.”
To register your interest and hear about upcoming research please follow the link: https://bit.ly/437cVV1
Over the next 12 months the team will be setting up a new TB challenge model sponsored by LSTM aiming to accelerate vaccine and treatment testing for this neglected disease. The first phase 1 vaccine study at LSTM is also planned for summer 2023 which will be recruiting healthy adults to test a MERS vaccine in partnership with Oxford Vaccine Group and the Clinical Research Unit at Liverpool University Hospital Foundation Trust. Throughout the upcoming year the research nurses will continue to attend public engagement events to talk to potential trial volunteers and recruit to the Volunteer database. The nurses strive to ensure that every participant has a great experience taking part in research, all this amazing work would not be possible without our clinical trials volunteers.
Research nurses and health care assistants are the backbone of the clinical team, they are integral to the success of our research. Our nursing team includes staff from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Well-Travelled Clinic, Clinical Research Network and Liverpool University Hospital Trust. Working together we aim to improve vaccinations and treatments for future generations globally.