Donna Cross
126/30 Moratuwa Road
Piliyandala
Sri Lanka

E-mail: Alan.Budden@member.RIBA.org
Tel. Home: 00 941 617541

Curriculum Vitae

PERSONAL DETAILS

Full Name:	Donna Cross			Occupation:	Adult Nurse 
				
Address:	126/30 Moratuwa Road		Date of Birth:	24th October 1970
				Piliyandala
				Sri Lanka			Nationality:	English

		Tel:		Home 00 941 617541		E-mail:		Alan.Budden@member.RIBA.org

EDUCATION

Sep.'82 - July '87	Thorpe Bay High School 
Southchurch Boulevard, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS2 4UY

Sep.'87 - July '90	Southend College of Technology
				Carnavon Road, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS2 4UY.
Obtained 'A' Levels in Psychology, Chemistry, Pure Mathematics & Statistics

Sep.'90 - July '94	School of Health Care Studies, Oxford Brookes University
Gypsy Lane, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BP
Obtained BA Honours degree in Adult Nursing Studies

Sep.’96 - April ’97	Oxford Brookes University
Gypsy Lane, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BP
Obtained accreditation for teaching and assessing (ENB 998)

I chose to study at Oxford Brookes University, as it offered a course leading to qualification as an adult nurse combined with a BA honours degree. This course appealed to me because of the combination of different philosophies. I followed all the expected courses in anatomy, physiology and social sciences, alongside more alternative courses, including aromotherapy and massage. Whilst studying I assisted in setting up a nursing students group to facilitate educational and social activities. I remained the treasure and newsletter editor of this group until I graduated.  My role also included organising lectures, arranging trips and advertising events.

In my final year I undertook a management placement on an infectious disease and HIV unit, working there gave me valuable experience in infection control and communication skills. On qualifying I was able to continue my connection with this unit by working on a part-time basis when the unit was sort of staff.

EMPLOYMENT RECORD

Sep. '94 - Oct. '95	Staff Nurse, Linden Unit, Churchill hospital, Oxford.

This 40 bedded unit specialised in caring for the needs of the elderly. Generally patients on the unit had been hospitalised for extended periods and the unit would be their last home. The ward also took up to four respite patients a week, it was with these patients who I had responsibility as named nurse. Along with caring for the residents day to day needs this involved working closely with community workers and families.

As one of a small team of qualified nurses working on the unit my responsibilities included supervising unqualified staff and mentoring newly appointed staff and students. I was also responsible for holding the unit bleep on occasions. This required dealing with any unexpected eventualities which arrived when the unit Sister was not on duty.

Working in care of the elderly requires both unique skills and a broad knowledge base.  Each individual client will have different needs, which reflect their rich experience of life. Sometimes this required working with the individual to achieve an acceptable solution to their problem and on other occasions leasing with field experts. The specialist areas within elderly care include reminiscence therapy, working closely with occupational therapists and physiotherapists. It is always important to remember in care of the elderly that we are working in the clients home, not a ward or institution. With this in mind I undertook fund raising activities to improve the physical environment of the unit. This also had the added benefit of enhancing staff moral. A very rewarding activity I participated in was working with clients to arrange visits and trips to maintain their contact with life outside the unit.

Oct. '95 - Nov. '96	Staff Nurse, Transplant ward, Harefield Hospital, London.

The transplant unit at Harefield has thirty beds divided over two wards. I worked with adult patients requiring heart and/or lung transplants, from initial assessment to after care. The patients presented with varying reason from cystic fibrosis to effects of war.  Therefore as well as developing specific knowledge of transplant nursing I also developed a wider base of knowledge. This wider knowledge base was also developed, as after patients have received a transplant they tended to come back to the unit whenever they needed hospitalisation, for whatever reason including maternity care, cancer and infection.

Within the unit I had responsibility for tissue viability and discharge planning. This involved assisting with the development and implementation of a new hospital discharge plan, liasing with other departments and ensuring hospital procedures in these two areas were followed.

Whilst working on this unit I undertook three training courses, the Harefield transplant course, the English national board teaching and assessing course and a documentation study day. I believe documentation to be a very important area within nursing, to enhance patient care, improve efficiency levels and increase nurse’s professional status.

Nov. '96 - Aug. '97	Staff Nurse, Accident and Emergency Department, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

This accident and emergency department was separated into four areas, minor injuries, major injuries, GP referral unit and suicide & self-harm unit. I rotated to work in all four of these areas.

On the minor injuries unit, patients with non-life threatening conditions were seen. My role on this unit was to assess patients and assign priority, at busy times dozens of patients would present simultaneously. Patient education and care delivery were also major roles on minor side.

The major injuries unit saw acutely ill patients generally requiring admission to hospital. Due to the location of the hospital patients would present for varied reasons including road traffic accidents, agricultural accidents, boating accidents and acute exacerbation of chronic illnesses. Due to the close proximity of a major motorway, an airport, a major shopping centre and large accommodation complexes all of us working on the department were trained to implement a major incident plan. Resuscitation was often carried out on this side and I was involved in resuscitation and major trauma incidents.

When working on GP referral unit I worked with patients referred to the unit by their family doctor. This was the only unit in the department where we would know in advance the patients we were expecting. Many of the patients seen on this ward were long term sufferers of chronic illnesses, a large proportion required surgical assessment and preparation. At times of chronic shortages of staff or beds around the rest of the hospital it was this unit that nursed extra ITU patients. The majority of individuals who had suffered a CVA were admitted to hospital via this unit.

The area that I found very interesting to work was the suicide unit. The unit housed ten to twelve patients who had deliberately undertaken acts of self-harm. Oxford had an unusually high incident of paracetamol overdose cases, therefore I became well versed with administering parvolex. As well as overdoses of medication we saw attempted hangings, individuals who had jumped from a great height and self-mutilation. The purpose of this unit was to deliver medical care whilst assessing the risk of repeated self-harm. When medically fit people were transferred or followed up by the mental health team as the individually required.

All patients that present in an accident and emergency department arrive unprepared for hospital treatment. Therefore much of the nursing care involved making arrangements for someone to look after the patients home, arrange for transport home, but mainly listening to individuals concerns about their condition. This was often complicated as individuals were under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Language difficulties and cultural differences were an important concern as Oxford has a multicultural community and sees many international travellers.

Whilst working here I undertook an extended skills course in suturing, venopuncture, canulation, plastering and triage.

July '94 - Aug. '97	Staff Nurse, Staff Bank, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

As a nurse on the staff bank I was able to gain an insight to many specialities of nursing through short period of work. Areas in which I worked included orthopaedics, general medical, admissions, general surgical, care of the elderly, intensive care, and vascular surgery.

Working in a variety of settings enabled me to observe and work with many different management styles and record systems, this has given me many different ideas of useful techniques. I have also developed a flexibility to work within different organisational structures.

Jan. '97 - Present		VSO Lecturer, Department of Nursing, Open University of Sri Lanka, Nawala.

This position involved writing a proposal for introducing physical examination as a practicum to the BSc nursing program. This proposal needed to be from the perspective of the nurse and enable students to develop skills in this area, and to be able to use these skills in practice. I have also been running workshops in academic and professional skills focusing on primary health care for the undergraduate nurses. My work also involves leasing with external staff.

On arriving in Sri Lanka I undertook a six week training programme with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas), this involved cultural and language training.  During this time we explored the cultural differences between England and       Sri Lanka and began to learn spoken Sinhala.  The course involved lectures and visits to cultural sites here in Sri Lanka.  This area is a field of interest that I have continued to develop during my time here.

OTHER RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

I have undertaken voluntary work in a variety of settings, including fund raising sales, parachute jumps and spending time with patients. Two of my major time commitments have included, setting up an activity group for hospitalised patients and leading week long residential conservation projects for the National Trust. During the conservation projects I was responsible for the budget, menu, work roster and generally ensuring that the ten or twelve volunteers enjoy their week and return for future projects.

INTERESTS

My major interest is stress, and it's effects, both on the health of patients and moral of staff. Increasingly research is detailing the effects that long term stress can have on health and work performance.  Deaths of patients, violence, irregular working hours and role conflicts make nursing a very stressful occupation.  Therefore it is important for nurses as individuals and nursing teams as a whole to have coping mechanisms.  It is these coping mechanisms and how they effect stress levels, which I am particularly interested in. Within the patient, stress can both cause and increase illness levels, as well as physical, many mental health problems can be alleviated by managing stress levels.

Documentation is an area of work that I am also particularly enthusiastic about.  Whilst working in care of the elderly I was fortunate to be involved in piloting computerised care plans. Though generally I have used written documentation. Nurses undertake a great deal of work that goes unrecognised as they do not document it effectively, at best this reduces the professional image of nursing, and at worst reduces the quality of care. My interest lies in using documentation to enhance quality of care, promote the image of nursing, and save time.

Another area of interest related to both documentation and stress is communication.  I am interested in this field because of its massive potential.  It can be used to reduce pain, elevate anxiety and share information and much more.