Page 17 - QARANC Vol 19 No 1 2021

I was lucky to have the once-in-a- lifetime opportunity to be a student on the Florence Nightingale Army Leadership Scholarship. The scholarship is designed to build confidence and competence. Their mission is to ‘pioneer change and improvements in patient and health outcomes, through nursing and midwifery clinical and research leadership, honouring Florence Nightingale’s legacy’ (Florence Nightingale Foundation).
As a QARANC SNCO, I wanted my leadership to reflect both my military and clinical roles, as often our clinical leadership is not visible when we stand in military uniform. The scholarship created a clinical pathway to demonstrate my clinical leadership which now complements and marries to my military leadership. This experience has had a professional and personal impact. I understand vulnerability and kindness, as I soon realised that leadership does not have to be regimented. It made me more aware of how I can be perceived, other people’s communication styles and how they may interpret the information that I am relaying.
As a direct result from the scholarship, I have led a Quality Improvement Project (QIP) at Joint Hospital Group North, developing a Critical Care Healthcare Assistance Competency Workbook. The project has now taken a collaborative approach with the aim to get the workbook established military wide by
summer 2021. I was also
successful in obtaining
a part time role with
the South Tees
Accreditation Quality
Care Team. The team
supports healthcare
professionals in
practice enabling them
to understand how they
deliver care effectively
and establish what
works well and where
to further departmental improvements. It also
provides leadership
and boosts staff morale
and more importantly the
project focuses on putting
the patient at the heart of everything that we do.
In the rich cultural and diverse society in which we now work and live, I may not be able to individually change attitudes, engrained views and the experiences that individuals have. The scholarship has given me the tools to be a better equipped role model that strives to inspire those around me, in the hope and belief that they can then do the same for their peers and colleagues throughout their careers.
I now recognise we need to practice our behavioural skills and fine tune our leadership, in the hope that we can create new ways of thinking. We must engage in collaboration, creating new
The Gazette QARANC Association 15
The Florence Nightingale Army Leadership Scholarship
visions to allow successful changes however big or small. Together we can inspire, invest more in partnerships to create a bright future benefiting our patients and colleagues.
I would thoroughly recommend this scholarship to everyone. I have learnt a lot about leadership even after 17 years of service. It has changed how I interact with others and has given me the insight as to why people behave in certain ways and how to be a compassionate, professional and inspirational leader.
Staff Sergeant Lindsey Collinson Critical Care Nurse Specialist
Joint Hospital Group North
Staff Sergeant Lindsey Collinson – merging clinical and military worlds