I’ve wanted to keep a blog for quite some time; I have been vlogging recently but the challenge to keep a blog for this month’s 30 day challenge for NHS Horizons ‘transforming the perceptions of nursing and midwifery’ has come as a perfect opportunity to finally put metaphorical paper to pen (it is actually thumb to phone key pad as I am in the back of an Uber, driving back to California State University, Long Beach where I am currently on an exchange placement).
So why the title ‘Craig’s Considerations’? Well, I like the fact it alliterates, however, the word ‘considerations’ is really what I want the blog to focus on. I want to really think about what nursing means to me, what I want to aspire to be professionally, what I admire and perhaps don’t in others, what my hopes are for the future of nursing, and what I hope it is not going to be. The by-line “diary of a Hufflepuff nurse” is pretty self explanatory: I am the biggest Harry Potter fan and would like to think that I am a typical Hufflepuff in that I value hard work, patience, loyalty and fair play.
I have often kept a diary at various points in my life, using it to reflect and straighten out my thoughts when times have been difficult in my personal life. I think this has merit and perhaps this blog will feature some of that, but more than anything else I want it to be an absolute celebration of nursing – because I love being a nursing student and I cannot wait to be a nurse.
Published by Craig Davidson RN BSc (Hons) (he/they)
#HelloMyNameIs Craig. I am a Registered Nurse (Adult) working as a Senior Asylum-Seeker Health Nurse at the Asylum Health Bridging Team for Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership.
I graduated with a first-class BSc (Hons) Nursing Studies degree from Glasgow Caledonian University in August 2020 where I received the Ross Hall Prize for academic excellence and achievement upon graduation. I am currently undertaking a postgraduate qualification in integrating mental health and professional practice at the University of Dundee.
I passionately believe in social justice, eradicating health inequity, and achieving equality, diversity, and inclusion in all health and social care settings. I sat on the NHS Scotland Pride badge initiative working group.
I am a former Scottish representative on the Royal College of Nursing's (RCN) Students' Committee from 2018 to 2019. And assumed the chair's tenure in 2019. I also helped establish the RCN Newly Registered Nurses Network as a working group member. Additionally, I completed Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing's Nightingale Challenge for novice nurse leaders, before going on to become the European regional hub co-chair for the Nursing Now Challenge.
I co-host the award-winning podcast, "Retaining the Passion: Journeys Through Nursing", with my friend and fellow registered nurse Clare Manley. We discuss and hope to shed light on critical issues affecting the nursing profession and society more broadly by speaking to guests about their lived experiences. At the Health and Leadership Academy's 2020 Conference, we were awarded a prize for our work "Leading in Difficult Times". We were also shortlisted as finalists at the RCN's Nursing Awards 2021 in the "Innovations in Your Speciality" category. The Nursing Standard included us in a list of "Podcasts for nurses: five of the best to keep you learning while you listen".
As a nursing student, I was a Student Nursing Times editor. I was also a member of the Scottish Government's Country Specific Working Group for the Year of the Nurse and Midwife 2020. In 2018, @WeNurses included me in their list of #100OutstandingNurses, one of only three student nurses included. At the National Student Nurse Congress 2019, I was shortlisted as a future nursing leader. I was also honoured to be the Student Nursing Times' Student Nurse of the Year (Adult) Award recipient in 2019.
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