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Health in Social Science
Nursing Studies is proud to announce that Dr Leah Macaden, Senior Lecturer, was recently inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Dr Macaden was one of 250 nurse leaders from around the world and one of only four senior academic nurses in the UK to be awarded this prestigious award this year.
The Fellowship recognises Dr Macaden's contributions to healthcare in the care of older people with sensory & cognitive impairments through research integrated teaching. By harnessing technology, innovation and collaboration with students and interdisciplinary experts, they were able to codesign educational resources to support three key areas in the care of older people: dementia, dignity, and sensory impairments. As such, this research has had national and international significance, reach and impact.
Dr Macaden receiving her award
Dr Macaden's leadership in dementia education enabled dementia to be successfully introduced within the core undergraduate nursing curriculum in two Scottish universities from 2014, five years before cognitive health and core dementia competencies were mandated in the curriculum by the Nursing & Midwifery Council. This initiative has produced a 1400-strong dementia-enhanced graduate nursing workforce to date for Scotland and beyond.
Her leadership and commitment to dementia workforce development has been endorsed by experts from NHS Education Scotland [NES], Alzheimer Scotland and national awards in the UK, including her recognition as a National Teaching Fellow of Advance HE this year.
During the pandemic, as a Churchill Fellow, Dr Macaden secured the COVID 19 Action Fund to develop the first comprehensive dementia education resource for blended learning, which will become part of the COVID 19 Knowledge Bank in the UK. This resource has been widely disseminated with nurse educators in USA, India, Norway, and South Korea.
Dr Macaden's recent work also includes working with experts in Human Rights Law to develop DigniSpace – the first online resource for self-directed learning, co-produced with students and underpinned by the Scottish PANEL principles of Human Rights, that enables students to interrogate the complexities of Dignity using the Human Rights lens.
We are very proud of the achievements of Dr Macaden in her career with us thus far, and are eager to see what more she accomplishes as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
This article was published on 22 Nov, 2022