Catherine Jackson is one of the lead nurses for Digital Technology at Sheffield Children’s NHS Trust. In this short spotlight, she shares all the information on her background and achievements regarding the Florence Nightingale Foundation’s Aspiring Digital Leadership Programme.

Catherine is a paediatric nurse by background and has worked on a neonatal unit and on the Children’s Ward at Barnsley. She spent 8 years outside of the NHS, working in a Children’s Hospice as a Clinical Nurse Specialist as well as a non-medical prescriber.

Transition to Digital Healthcare

However, once Catherine’s Children’s Hospice was going through the process of changing paper records to electronic, she became more active within the world of Digital Healthcare. Initially, she spoke to some of the digital engineers who developed the database the hospice was procuring. The database team mentioned to Catherine how digital nursing was starting to become a much bigger thing than it ever was. This conversation opened her eyes to the world of digital nursing, where a couple of years later it became her specialty. In the beginning Catherine was quite nervous of this change of career path, however, she soon fell in love with it.

Subsequently, Catherine then enrolled onto the Florence Nightingale Foundation’s Aspiring Digital Leadership Programme in November 2022. This opportunity was sponsored by System C, to help individuals gain valuable skills and experiences. Catherine told us, ‘[the programme] made me come out a different person than when I went in,’ and that it helped her reach her true potential by raising her confidence. The Aspiring Digital Leadership Programme also helped her learn invaluable information which inspired her to begin a brand-new digital journey within nursing.

Impact of The Leadership Programme

The Florence Nightingale Foundation’s Aspiring Digital Leadership Programme can help provide individuals with lots of unique opportunities whilst also providing invaluable support to help them navigate through the evolving digital landscape. Catherine believes that the programme helped her socially as well as mentally. She claims that she was able to learn many different techniques and strategies from the programme, which helped her in elevating her social and presentation skills. The Aspiring Digital Leadership Programme also helped Catherine to feel more comfortable in standing up and talking about herself. As a result, she began to feel more grounded and vocal, because of the support from the Aspiring Digital Leadership Programme.

The programme also helped Catherine away from her professional life. She managed to gain lots of confidence, and she was able to record a demo of a song. As an aspiring singer in her spare time, Catherine always wanted to record something just for herself. The programme helped her confidence and she felt ready to go into a recording studio and make her dreams a reality. It did not stop there either, she even continued her singing into a choir, where she sang her first ever solo. She jokes that she felt like she came out a totally different person however, the Florence Nightingale Programme was created exactly for this reason to help individuals develop and fulfil their potential.

Looking to The Future

Catherine now looks to the future and how she can continue to shape her life and career as a digital clinician. She wishes to push forward and complete the Florence Nightingale Scholarship to develop her skills so she can make sure that the digital changes are not only being led by nurses, but also for children and those who have paediatric experience.

‘I would encourage anyone to do it, because I felt like some people, from talking to them were put off!’

Next Steps

You can learn more about the Florence Nightingale Foundation’s Aspiring Digital Leadership Programme.

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