Sandra joined Middlesex University in December 2013 and is a registered Teacher with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
Sandra qualified as a Registered Psychiatric Nurse in Ireland in 2003, working for a short period in inpatient rehabilitation before moving into services in the community in Ireland. In 2010, Sandra registered with the NMC as a registered nurse in mental health; since moving to England Sandra has worked as a lecturer. Within the Department of Mental Health, Social Work and Integrative Medicine, Sandra holds the additional roles of Institutional Link for Barnet Enfield and Haringey University Trust, as well as service user educator co-ordinator for the mental health team. Sandra holds a Diploma in Mental Health Nursing, as well as a BSc (Hons) in Nursing, and an MSc in Nursing (Education).
Languages Spoken
Learning & Teaching Interests
Sandra teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Sandra's particular areas of teaching interests are on recovery and social inclusion in mental health.
Research Outputs & Interests
Interests
Nurse education Culturally competent compassion
Conferences
15th Annual Conference of ENTER: Parallel session on 'Service User Collaboration in training and education: the experience in Middlesex University' (co presenting with Jacqui Lynskey) Barcelona, 16 and 17 June 2014.
3rd European Festival of Psychiatric Nursing: Symposium on 'Taking Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) to the Next Level in Mental Health Nursing: Quality, Inclusion and Excellence (with Nicky Lambert and Laura Foley, Middlesex University). Barcelona, 6-9 November 2014.
Pezzella, Alfonso and Foley, Laura and Connell, Sandra and Papadopoulos, Irena (2015) Teaching intercultural communication skills. UNSPECIFIED.
Funded Research & Knowledge Exchange Projects
Project team member: Erasmus+ - IENE4: Strengthening the Nurses and Healthcare Professionals Capacity to Deliver Culturally Competent and Compassionate Care.
Engagement & Impact
Sandra is the service user educator co-ordinator for the mental health team. This means working to ensure service user representation across teaching, assessment and recruitment on mental health programmes.