King’s student midwife scoops national award
By RCM on 10 March 2017 Student midwives RCM Annual Midwifery Awards
A student midwife from King’s College London has won a national award at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Annual Midwifery Awards. Katharine ‘Siobhan’ Pearson is a student midwife at the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery. She picked up the JOHNSON’S® Student Midwife Award at a ceremony in London on 7th March 2017.
Siobhan - a third year midwifery student - was nominated by fellow students for her efforts to improve the experience for midwifery students at the University, through her role in the Nightingale Student Council (NSC).
Among her many achievements, Siobhan has used her NSC role to advocate effectively on behalf of her fellow students. This included collecting feedback, comments and suggestions from the student body and feeding these back to the faculty members via the NSC, all done in her spare time.
Siobhan also tirelessly helps students with tips for job interviews, and has been on hand to offer support with the implementation of the new pan-London documentation for clinical practice.
Her input has also helped develop the teaching of clinical skills, based on student feedback. This has had a positive impact on students’ academic and clinical progress.
Nominating her, student colleagues said “Siobhan has demonstrated her commitment to midwifery through her integral role in the NSC. She seizes every possible moment to further her knowledge in her own time, and she champions great maternity care in all that she does, embodying the RCM mission statement through her support of colleagues and families, and influence within the student council and clinical area.”
The award judges said they were “… impressed with Siobhan’s dedication, commitment and passion in the support she gave to her fellow students. Her ability to see solutions rather than just problems is a quality that identifies her as a future leader in the profession.”
Siobhan said: “I am so proud to have won the RCM student midwife of the year award. I had no idea my fellow students were nominating me, and to bring back the trophy is a testament to their support for me, as well as my own very real passion for midwifery. I want to thank the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery for all they have done to help me – especially my tutors and lecturers.”
Kirstie Kernutt, Professional Advisor on JOHNSON’S®, said: “Johnson & Johnson are proud to support the Student Midwife Award, which recognises and rewards the hard work and dedication of student midwives. We would like to congratulate Siobhan and all the nominees and wish them all the best for the rest of their midwifery studies.”
Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “Siobhan is a shining example of a committed, dedicated go-getting student midwife. It’s so inspiring to see student midwives like Siobhan and she is a beacon for us all to emulate. The future of midwifery is surely in safe hands with many more hardworking and caring student midwives like her across the UK.”
“I congratulate Siobhan on this achievement and thank her and her fellow midwifery students for their dedication, skill and commitment to learning as well as the care they show to mothers, babies and their families.”
Siobhan was presented with the award at the Royal College of Midwives Annual Midwifery Awards at a ceremony in The Brewery, London on the 7th March 2017. The ceremony was hosted by journalist and broadcaster Natasha Kaplinski.
For more information on the awards visit http://www.rcmawards.com/.
To contact the RCM Press Office call 020 7312 3456 or email pressofficer@rcm.org.uk. To contact the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery, King’s College London, call 020 7848 3062 or email sylvia.christie@kcl.ac.uk
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Notes to editors
King’s College London
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (2016/17 QS World University Rankings) and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 27,600 students (of whom nearly 10,500 are graduate students) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 6,800 staff.
King's has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) King’s was ranked 6th nationally in the ‘power’ ranking, which takes into account both the quality and quantity of research activity, and 7th for quality according to Times Higher Education rankings. Eighty-four per cent of research at King’s was deemed ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (3* and 4*). The university is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of more than £684 million.
Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery
The Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery is the direct descendant of the Nightingale Training School established at St Thomas’ Hospital in 1860. It is the world’s first school of nursing.
It develops the leading-edge nurses and midwives of tomorrow – practitioners, partners, and leaders in their field. The Faculty is ranked as the number one faculty for nursing in the UK (QS World University Rankings 2017) and third in the world.
It has 200 staff and nearly 3,000 students, spread across four departments: Child and Family Health; Midwifery; Adult Nursing; Mental Health Nursing. It also has a strong postgraduate research programme, with activities that meets the needs of a wide range of healthcare professionals seeking continuing professional development. The Faculty is at the forefront of health services, policy and evaluation research.
JOHNSON’S®, an Alliance Partner with the RCM since 2004 is proud to work with the RCM, supporting midwives in their work to care for mothers and babies. JOHNSON’S® partnership with the RCM is highly valued and we are pleased to be able to sponsor these awards celebrating the hard work and dedication of midwives. For more information about JOHNSON’S®, visit the RCM's Alliance Partners section.
The RCM is the only trade union and professional association dedicated to serving midwifery and the whole midwifery team. We provide workplace advice and support, professional and clinical guidance and information, and learning opportunities with our broad range of events, conferences and online resources. For more information visit the RCM website at https://www.rcm.org.uk/.