Annie Cowcher

Annie is a registered nurse who supports students in practice, and currently works closely with placement providers in the private, voluntary and independent sectors throughout Essex and Cambridgeshire.

annie.cowcher@anglia.ac.uk

Background

Annie's role involves:

• visiting and supporting students in nursing homes, GP practices, private hospitals and social care provision
• supporting, and building good working relationships with, practice colleagues. This includes providing mentor updates and support with triennial reviews
• managing safeguarding issues raised by students.

The role has heightened Annie's concern with issues surrounding protection of the public and safeguarding processes.

Meanwhile, Annie's academic interests centre upon healthcare ethics and the relevance of philosophical theory to today's practitioner.

Research interests

• The philosophical concept of duty and its relevance to the delivery of healthcare today
• Protection of the public
• Safeguarding processes
• A historical review of changing attitudes and behaviours in healthcare delivery

In the past, Annie has presented conference papers exploring the Kantian concept of duty in an attempt to see whether it had any current relevance to the attitude of nurses, in essence, asking the questions: What do we mean by a ‘sense of duty’? Would ’having a sense of duty' in nursing improve care delivery?

In the climate today, with care and compassion high on the public agenda, these questions have enhanced significance. They may have some bearing on protection and safeguarding of the public.

A review of changing attitudes in healthcare through time may lead to some conclusions about whether these have, in reality, deteriorated  and, if so, why.

Qualifications

• MA Teaching Health Care ethics, University of London
• BA (Hons) Social Sciences, Open University
• Diploma in Health Care Ethics, Swansea University
• Diploma in Nurse Education, Royal College of Nursing
• Diploma in Nursing Parts A&B, University of London
• Registered Nurse, Guy’s Hospital, London

Memberships, editorial boards

• Member, Philosophical Society of Great Britain