Celebrating Black History Month – Nchima’s story | Blog posts

Continuing our celebrations this Black History Month, Lead Clinical Educator, Nchima, shares her story.

Hello, my name is Nchima Chulu Mwaba. I'm a Lead Clinical Educator for the Professional Development and Education Unit (PDEU). I've been part of the Mid Yorkshire team for 19 years!

I was born and educated in Zambia. I grew up wanting to be a nurse. No one in my family was a nurse, but I had spent a bit of time in hospital when I was 5 years old, and the compassionate care I had received left a lasting impression on me.

I studied Adult Nursing in Zambia, and did my Post Graduate degree in Nursing at The University of Zambia. I had worked there in Acute Medicine and teaching in the Schools of Nursing and Health Sciences. When I relocated, I worked in various medical areas including Elderly Care, Fracture Neck of Femur Elderly Unit, Short Stay Unit, Acute Assessment Unit, Stroke and Neurology Unit.

I came to the UK as an International Nurse in 2002. My first job here was Healthcare Assistant as I did my registration process. I got my first Registered Nurse job in 2003 at Mid Yorkshire and have been here ever since.

My husband soon joined me, and we built our home here in Wakefield and had our 2 boys who are now in high school.

I value continuing professional development and have studied Mentorship, Leadership, Cultural Ambassador, Clinical Leadership and I am currently doing my ILM Coaching and Post-Grad Health Professional Education.

I worked as Practice Educator Dewsbury Hospital for the last 2 years and now I am Lead Clinical Educator in PDEU, where I am involved in the education and development support of nursing staff with their core competencies, their extended skills, mandatory training, clinical skills and continuing professional development needs. I support developing and delivering of learning from identified areas of need to improve standards of patient focused, evidenced-based care thereby improving patient safety and patient care.

I enjoy coaching and facilitating learners to meet their learning and development goals. It gives me great job satisfaction to be involved in settling in new staff and seeing them develop their potential and become an important part of our Mid Yorks family.

I also have been privileged to be involved in improvement projects like the Stay and Thrive Project; an NHSEI initiative to support international recruitment, retention and career development. And I serve the Trust on the Regional Shared Decision Council from this project. I feel passionate about this role as it has enabled me to use my lived experiences as an International Educated Nurse to influence high impact changes that can benefit our Trust.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story this Black History Month.