The Bradford Alumni Hysteroscopy conference
On a snowy March day a group of passionate Lead Nurse Clinician alumni and trainees attended the Annual Nurse Hysteroscopy Conference held in the STEM Centre at the University of Bradford.
The conference is in its 13th year and has been occurring annually since 2003, a year after the first 8 nurses qualified. There are 94 Nurses and 7 GPs that have qualified to undertake and manage outpatient services, with 32 currently in training across the UK and Ireland.
The University of Bradford provides a unique Masters level programme that develops the skills and knowledge of nurses to enable them to take on specialised diagnostic and therapy role for women with Blood loss problems.
The content is endorsed by the British Society of Gynaecology Endoscopy of which the course leader Dr Julia Pansini-Murrell is an Honorary Fellow. Hysteroscopy occurs specifically in outpatient settings, and has changed the face of women’s health services over the last 15 years.
The conference was opened by Professor Sian Jones from Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust, who has been co-leading the programme for the last 15 years. The focus of this year’s conference was twofold. The morning picked up on outcomes from a National Audit completed in 2015 and saw new audit results on the management of women’s experiences, the potential for pain management through hypnosis and a workshop on improving service user information.
The afternoon was generously supported by industry partners from Hologic, Ethicon, Karl Storz, Actavis, Gedeon Richter and Smith and Nephew, who brought in the very latest equipment and devices to treat gynaecological disorders.
Being able to undertake new operative techniques moves nurses’ role from a diagnostic one to a full “see and treat” service for women. The session launched a package of operative training packages for new skill development that meet professional standards for competency development.
The STEM facility was ideal for this session, with attendees able to rotate round a total of 8 clinical work stations.
The conference closed with a farewell speech to Professor Jones who will be retiring from clinical practice shortly, but who will remain associated with the Post Graduate Development programme.
