Responding to the pandemic – insights from an infection prevention and control graduate

Sofie French (pictured), a senior infection prevention and control nurse who graduated from the University of the Highlands and Islands' infection prevention and control MSc in 2018, talks about responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I completed the infection prevention and control MSc online whilst in full-time employment as an infection prevention and control specialist nurse.

The course linked directly with all aspects of my clinical practice. It gave me a deeper theoretical knowledge and understanding of infection prevention and control and allowed me to apply this to my daily practice e.g. when managing incidents or outbreaks in healthcare facilities.

Within infection prevention and control, my passion is delivering education. I enjoy developing educational materials and this was the focus for my dissertation. Throughout my career I have gained extensive experience in face to face teaching and have also had the opportunity to develop educational content for NHS Education for Scotland.

Some of our work is also reactive in nature, such as supporting the national COVID-19 pandemic response. The pandemic has completely changed the way we work, as the situation is continually evolving, meaning we need to react swiftly. I was also deployed to the NHS Louisa Jordan Nightingale Hospital to assist with the operational phase of opening. This was a once in a lifetime experience that will stay with me forever.

I’ve been at the forefront of the COVID-19 response, providing support and guidance, reviewing outbreak and incident data and working closely with stakeholders such as NHS Boards and the Scottish Government. Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection Scotland is leading the national agenda for infection prevention and control in Scotland.

I continue to work and collaborate with NHS Education for Scotland as part of my role and we have recently developed COVID-19 supporting educational materials.

Read more here.