Children's Nursing graduate Tanya Marlow tells us about her career path
UCLan Children’s Nursing graduate, Tanya Marlow, has followed her passion to become a Children’s Staff Nurse at the Royal Preston Hospital.
For many years, Tanya worked as a Healthcare Assistant at Royal Preston Hospital based on an adult ward. In 2013, she moved to the children’s ward where she fell in love with the idea of being a children’s nurse. Tanya gained some experience in this specialist area and applied to UCLan to study BSc (Hons) Nursing (Children).
After graduating in 2017, Tanya immediately started working as a registered children’s nurse at the Royal Preston Hospital. She has helped to set up a youth forum in the hospital called Youth Voice, which involves fundraising to make improvements to children’s service by applying for grants, organising bake sales and other sponsored activities. The initiative was runner-up for the Governor’s Award category at the ‘Our People Awards’ ran by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Tanya has also volunteered as a nurse with a charity called Destination Florida, which provides medical care for children with life limiting illnesses as they embark on a trip of a lifetime.
In her current role, Tanya is based on ward 8 at Royal Preston Hospital, caring for children aged 0-16 years with a wide range of needs.
"It was a truly life-changing and eye-opening trip and I will cherish the memories for the rest of my life."
— Tanya’s favourite memory was being given the opportunity to complete her elective placement abroad in Sri Lanka
Tanya is responsible for the holistic assessment, care planning and treatment of children who are in hospital for medical, surgical and mental health care and is able to triage, administer medication and provide lifesaving interventions.
Looking back on her time at UCLan, Tanya’s favourite memory was being given the opportunity to complete her elective placement abroad in Sri Lanka. She recalled: “It was a truly life-changing and eye-opening trip and I will cherish the memories for the rest of my life.”
Speaking fondly of her UCLan experience and its impact on her life, Tanya added: “I had some excellent and inspirational tutors at UCLan and would love to one day work in nursing education. I have been working towards this career goal by helping to facilitate simulation sessions for student nurses and mentoring on the ward.”
Tanya is particularly humbled and proud of winning Student of the Year in the graduate category at the 2018 British Education Awards, after being nominated by her lecturers.
When asked if she had any advice to give to graduates or prospective students wishing to follow a similar study and career path, Tanya stated: “If you want to be a nurse but aren’t sure which specialism to study, I suggest gaining experience by working or volunteering in your local hospital. Studying at UCLan will open up many opportunities, so put yourself out there, take every chance to get involved and experience everything.”