Sarah Weaver

sarah weaver

Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing & Lead for Practice Learning and Partnerships

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Department of Pre-Registration Nursing

Contact Details

email: s.weaver@worc.ac.uk
tel: 01905 54 3029

Sarah is a Senior Lecturer in Nursing and Lead for Practice learning and Partnerships for the School of Nursing and Midwifery. This school-wide role includes providing strategic oversight of practice learning within our partner NHS Trusts, the independent sector and within course provision. Sarah provides professional leadership for practice learning, working closely with the strategic director of practice learning and interprofessional education and the Practice Learning and Support Team (PLAST). This includes reviewing quality metrics relating to practice learning, reporting on student practice experiences, and leading meetings with our Practice Facilitators and educational workforce leads. Sarah works in close partnership with our placement providers to oversee strategic developments in practice learning and scope opportunities to access new and innovative placement experiences for our nursing and midwifery students. She represents the Three Counties School of Nursing and Midwifery at local and regional practice learning higher education meetings and report to the Senior Management Team.

She is Co-lead for the MACP4010 Professional Advocate module. Sarah teaches across both the Pre-registration and Advanced clinical practice teams, focusing on teaching clinical skills, complex decision making, Professional Advocacy and Independent and Supplementary prescribing (MACP 4007). She is a personal tutor and academic assessor and holds Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). Sarah is currently applying for senior fellowship of the HEA.

She joined the University in 2019, transferring from her role as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in general Practice and as a mentor for nurses and students in General practice in Worcestershire. Sarah is an experienced independent prescriber and an advanced clinician who is dual registered as both an Adult and Children’s nurse. After graduating as a nurse, Sarah worked in secondary care at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and then in Emergency care and Minor Injuries where she obtained her Emergency Nurse Practitioner qualification and commenced her Advanced Practice course. From 2013 –2021 Sarah has worked as an autonomous practitioner in the primary care setting and has been awarded the title of Queen’s Nurse, in recognition of her outstanding clinical care and desire to promote excellence in both patient care and in supporting the education and development of Nurses in the primary care setting. Sarah actively participates in the QNI regional and national events and is a member of the QNI research forum.

As part of the delivery of the NHS Long term plan and workforce plan, Sarah works closely with all NHS Trust partners, ICS and the Primary Care Training Hub to promote the upskilling of the nursing workforce and to grow the number and diversity of placements for student nurses and midwives. Sarah is a member of the West Midlands lead nurses for General Practice group and the Association of Advanced General Practice Nurse Educators (AAGPNE) which is a national body of lead nurses and educators from around the United Kingdom. Sarah also leads the Practice Liaison Teams for nursing and midwifery and works in partnership with practice partners and staff to ensure that student learning in practice remains innovative and of high quality.

Sarah is also a Professional Nursing Advocate, co-leading and teaching on the Professional Advocate module (MACP4010) and is a member of the Three Counties School of Nursing and Midwifery health and wellbeing group. Sarah also has a personal interest in women’s health and is a member of the Women, Children’s and Young people’s special interest group and community nursing research forum (QNI).

Sarah is currently part of 3 research study groups investigating areas of interest in Practice support for international student nurses, the impact of restorative clinical supervision in the Higher education setting and Joy and compassion in the workplace. Sarah has presented posters at the Nursing Education Today Conference in Barcelona, and also at the Queen’s Nursing Institute annual conference. Sarah was co-presenter of research into the practice assessors voice in supporting our international students, at the HEA Healthcare conference in December 2023, and is also presenting her research on Joy and Happiness at work for UK Academics, at a conference in Greece in May. Sarah has been invited to lead a presentation on compassion in mentoring and education at UCH London, in June 24.

Qualifications

PG Cert in Learning Teaching in Higher Education  
B.N (Hons) Bachelor of Nursing    
RGN     
Queen’s Nurse       
RSCN Registered Sick Children’s Nurse    
V300 Independent Prescriber     
PGC Advancing Practice      
FHEA

Specialist Teaching Areas

  • Advanced Clinical Practice
  • Complex decision making
  • Professional Advocate
  • Medications management and non-medical prescribing.
  • General Practice
  • Clinical skills teaching
  • Practice learning
  • Practice Assessor and Supervisor training

Specialist Research Areas

  • Practice Assessor and Practice Supervisor experiences of facilitating learning for international pre-registration nursing students.
  • Evaluation of the implementation of the Professional Advocacy Model for staff in the TCSNM
  • Joy and Happiness in the working lives of Nurse academics in higher education
  • Restorative Clinical supervision/ Clinical supervision
  • Mentoring in practice
  • Practice learning

Professional Experience

  • Adult and Children’s Nurse
  • Emergency Nurse Practitioner
  • Advanced Nurse Practitioner in General Practice
  • Independent prescriber

External Responsibilities

  • Fellowship of the HEA
  • Association of Advanced GP Nurse educators
  • GP Lead Nurse group, West Midlands
  • Advanced Nurse Practitioner in General Practice
  • Queen’s Nurse

Publications

  • Courtenay, M. , Hawker, C., Gallagher, R., Castro‐Sanchez, E. , Gould, D., Al Salti, F., Bate, J., Cooper, D., Cooper, R., Craig, R., Dickenson, R., Fallon, D., Mcleod, S., Morrow, K., Ness, V., Nichols, A., O'reilly, S., Partington, S., Sevenoaks, C., Sunter, M., Turner, J., Underhill, L. and Weaver, Sarah (2024) The application of antimicrobial stewardship knowledge to nursing practice: A national survey of United Kingdom pre‐registration nursing students. Journal of Advanced Nursing. pp. 1-12. ISSN Print: 0309-2402; Electronic: 1365-2648
  • Norman, K; Weaver, S; Perry, L (2023): Facilitating international students’ learning during placements: the experiences of practice assessor and practice supervisors. Nursing Management. doi: 10.7748/nm.2023.e2097
  • Weaver, S. (2021) The effective mentor and Supervisor. Nursing in Practice. Published online December 2021, winter 2021 print. Available at: https://www.nursinginpractice.com/professional/effective-mentor-and-supervisor/