The first NHLI Dr Caroline Shuldham Award has been presented to Rachel Buck in recognition of her achievements on the MSc Cardiorespiratory Nursing.

The National Heart and Lung Institute’s Dr Caroline Shuldham Award has been introduced to acknowledge students on the MSc Cardiorespiratory Nursing Course who have significantly developed during the course, and have grown academically, professionally and clinically during their period of study. Rachel Buck is a worthy recipient of this inaugural award, on which Rachel commented “I am and delighted to be receiving the Shuldham Award and am honoured that my hard work has been recognised by my tutors and peers, it is a fantastic feeling to be appreciated and rewarded for the effort I have put in to the MSc so I am very proud and grateful to receive the award”.

Rachel Buck answered a few questions following her acceptance of the award. 

What did you enjoy about the course?

“I thought the MSc course was excellent and has really helped develop my practice.  It’s given me the level of knowledge and confidence I need to pursue patient based initiatives that I identified within the service I work in.   An area that I particularly enjoyed was the presentation element of the course as I felt this had a significant impact on my public speaking and has lead me to being asked to present at a recent international conference in Rome. This skill is one I am really glad the course developed and I look forward to presenting my master’s thesis at future conferences”.

What’s next for you?

“My immediate future plans are to continue to expand the patient based initiative that the MSc gave me the confidence to set up, these include further research projects and service development. Specifically, I have now launched a transition clinic within the hospital and am in discussions with a charity around supporting a patient day to provide patients with an opportunity to meet others with similar conditions and provide an informal support network for each other”.

The award was named after Dr Caroline Shuldham who was director of nursing and clinical governance at Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust from the early 1990s until 2015. Dr Shuldham was a nurse fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and received an OBE for services to healthcare in 1999. Dr Shuldham held an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer position in the National Heart and Lung Institute and has a background in cardiac and intensive care nursing, nursing education, and research.