Nursing

The CVBRU employs a team of research nurses who recruit patients onto studies, and are the main contact point for those patients and volunteers when they come into the centre for the studies.

Sister Jane Arnold:

Sister Arnold trained at Doncaster Royal Infirmary and went on to work there for six years post qualification. In 1993 she moved to Sheffield to set up a chest pain assessment unit in the Emergency Department at Northern General.

This was followed by a period working for the School of Health and Related Research on the ESCAPE (Effectiveness and Safety of Chest Pain Assessment to Prevent Emergency Admission).

After a spell working in the Emergency Department managing the Clinical Decisions Unit, Jane moved to the CVBRU.

For Jane, research nursing was a logical path to follow, she had an interest in research and when the post of Senior Research Sister arose, it was too good an opportunity to turn down.

Miss Sara Walker:

Miss Walker was trained as a nurse at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge before moving to Sheffield shortly after. Sara has worked in Cardiology ever since she moved to Sheffield.

A large part of Sister Walker’s role involves working at the Pulmonary Hypertension unit at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.

The best thing about working at the CVBRU, according to Miss Walker, is being part of a multi-disciplinary team at both the Northern General and the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.

Ms Clare Wales:

After training as a nurse and then working at The Middlesex Hospital in London, Ms Wales moved to Oxford, working at the Radcliffe Infirmary and then the John Radcliffe Hospital.

A shift to Sheffield followed, moving to the Orthopaedics department at King Edward VII Hospital. Clare remained there until 1988 where she moved into Cardiology nursing, where she has remained to this day.

A member of the CVBRU staff since the beginning, Clare is interested in pushing the boundaries of cardiac intervention. Her first work in Cardiology was research into early cardiac intervention and this passion has now transferred to finding ways of preventing Cardiac Disease.

Ms Kirstie Fisher:

Kirstie trained at the University of Sheffield, qualifying in 2006. She started working on a part time basis on Firth 7 Cardiology Ward at the Northern General before moving into full time work six months later.

She soon moved onto the Coronary Care Unit before joining the CVBRU at the start of October 2010.

Kirstie is on a 10-month secondment to the unit. She has stated that she wants to see a different side of nursing and that research has always interested her so a secondment seemed the perfect opportunity to try something new.