Third-year who is a passionate student advocate and blogger is Tweeting about daily life and nursing issues this week
MDX third-year children's nursing student Zoe Carciente has been chosen to Tweet from the @NHS account this week, which is curated by a different person each week.
A blogger for the Student Nursing Times and other platforms and an active Twitter user, Zoe was encouraged to put herself forward for the role by a nurse consultant at the Whittington Hospital where she has had placements during her nursing degree. She applied only last Tuesday and agreed to take on this week's slot.
"The NHS comms team told me to take it as it comes, make it as personal or as not personal as I want" she says. As well as her student routine, she's Tweeting about her life as a mum of two, sorting out her daughter's pet rabbit and dashing to her son's swimming lesson, nursing groups she's involved with beyond MDX - such as children's nurses peer support network CYPStNN, Council of Deans Student Leadership Programme #150Leaders and London sustainable nursing workforce campaign #CapitalNurse - and a reminder to prospective students about the UCAS deadline on Wednesday.
Head of Child and Adult Nursing and Midwifery at MDX Sinead Mehigan urged her to start blogging. "I find it very therapeutic" Zoe says. "I've enjoyed being part of the blogging community and it's given me new-found confidence".
As a mature student, she chose MDX to be close to home and her children. She didn't go on to university when she left school - she worked as a personal assistant in a high-tech company and as a room service manager at a Hilton, and lived in Israel for 12 years where she got married and her first child was born. She had, however, always wanted to do nursing. She praises lecturers in Child, Adult and Mental Health nursing at MDX for including her in different opportunities within the nursing department and for helping her develop her future career.
She has a job lined up at the Whittington after she graduates as a Band 5 children's nurse. She also aspires to "help student nurses with their careers and speak to schools about the future of nursing - to make students aware what's available to them and what they can bring to the future of the NHS".
She picks out 24-hour library access and the quality of nursing placements as particular attractions of MDX. The MDX campus is "a lovely environment to be around, and there's always somebody, you never feel like you're walking into an empty building," she says.
MDX children's nursing student Zoe Carciente curates @NHS Twitter account
A blogger for the Student Nursing Times and other platforms and an active Twitter user, Zoe was encouraged to put herself forward for the role by a nurse consultant at the Whittington Hospital where she has had placements during her nursing degree. She applied only last Tuesday and agreed to take on this week's slot.
Head of Child and Adult Nursing and Midwifery at MDX Sinead Mehigan urged her to start blogging. "I find it very therapeutic" Zoe says. "I've enjoyed being part of the blogging community and it's given me new-found confidence".
As a mature student, she chose MDX to be close to home and her children. She didn't go on to university when she left school - she worked as a personal assistant in a high-tech company and as a room service manager at a Hilton, and lived in Israel for 12 years where she got married and her first child was born. She had, however, always wanted to do nursing. She praises lecturers in Child, Adult and Mental Health nursing at MDX for including her in different opportunities within the nursing department and for helping her develop her future career.
She has a job lined up at the Whittington after she graduates as a Band 5 children's nurse. She also aspires to "help student nurses with their careers and speak to schools about the future of nursing - to make students aware what's available to them and what they can bring to the future of the NHS".
She picks out 24-hour library access and the quality of nursing placements as particular attractions of MDX. The MDX campus is "a lovely environment to be around, and there's always somebody, you never feel like you're walking into an empty building," she says.
To find out more about children's nursing at MDX, click here
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