Dr Claire Ford

Assistant Professor

School: Healthcare and Nursing Sciences

Claire graduated from Northumbria University with a first-class honours degree in adult nursing, and a distinction in midwifery (postgraduate diploma). Claire received an academic achievement award for both her nursing and midwifery studies and received the ‘Heath medal’, which was awarded for both academic and clinical excellence in nursing. In 2016, she, alongside her colleague Laura Park, was a finalist for the student ‘Nursing Times Award – Teaching Innovation of the Year’, for the creation and development of the Skills for Practice website, which acts as a repository for over 100 clinical skills videos, posters and virtual reality resources.

Claire’s role as Assistant Professor includes contributing to the delivery of a range of modules across BSc and MSc pre-registration healthcare programmes, both nationally and internationally. This has incorporated involvement in a simulation-training programme for Thailand Nurse Educators, simulated clinical skills sessions for medical students from St George’s University and participation in the delivery of nursing modules to undergraduate students in Malta. As co-programme lead, Claire also helps to shape and enhance the MSc Nursing programmes and plays a crucial role in the development and organisation of the university's 'SkillsFest' simulated practice learning programme. Claire has been nominated on several occasions, for the Student Led Teaching Awards, and won the award for ‘Outstanding Staff Member for Health and Life Sciences’ in 2020. In 2022 she was awarded a ‘GEM’ award for going the extra mile and in 2023 along with her fellow SkillsFest team was shortlisted for the NU ‘SHINE’ awards.

Claire’s interests are centred on clinical skills, perioperative care, gynaecology and women’s health and pedagogical teaching methods, which encourage learning through a variety of media, including those methods that employ more technological interventions. She is actively involved in designing, planning, and delivering learning, teaching and assessment activities via various teaching methodologies and is currently engaged in various nursing practice research initiatives, alongside research studies that concentrate on teaching activities and techniques. These efforts aim to assess professional practice, establish productive learning environments, provide assistance to students, and advance the field of nursing teaching pedagogies.

In conjunction with her university activities, Claire is also co-chair of the UK Simulation Practice Learning Group (UKSPLG), is a member of NHS England’s Simulation and Immersive Technologies Publications Editorial Review Group, is a published author of several book chapters and journal articles which contributes to the body of knowledge surrounding healthcare education, teaching pedagogy and perioperative care.

Campus Address

H214, Coach Lane Campus
Benton
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE7 7XA

0191 215 6345Phone

Email Claire

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Claire is involved in several research projects. Her PhD study examined perioperative care and pain planning using both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods and was underpinned by a critical ethnographic methodology. She is also involved in research projects, which explore the use of technology-enhanced learning, and virtual reality to augment undergraduate students learning experiences of clinical skills and the use of simulated practice learning within nursing programmes.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Digital and Immersive Technologies in Nurse Education, Ford, C., Salim, B. May 2026, Transformative Nursing Education, Hoboken, US, John Wiley and Sons Inc
Advancing healthcare practice and education via data sharing: demonstrating the utility of open data by training an artificial intelligence model to assess cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills, Constable, M., Zhang, F., Conner, A., Monk, D., Rajsic, J., Ford, C., Park, L., Platt, A., Porteous, D., Grierson, L., Shum, H. 1 Feb 2025, In: Advances in Health Sciences Education
Implementing technology to support clinical skill development — is there a right way? An evaluation study of a unique skills website to support skill acquisition., Ford, C., Park, L., Melling, A. 1 Dec 2025, In: Advances in Online Education
A guide to pain assessment and management in adults, Ford, C. 7 Mar 2024, In: British Journal of Nursing
A guide to removing surgical staples, Ford, C., Hill, B. 18 Apr 2024, In: British Journal of Nursing
A guide to removing sutures, Ford, C., Hill, B. 7 Nov 2024, In: British Journal of Nursing
A study of factors affecting pass rates of level 5 written assessments for undergraduate adult nursing students, Barker, S., Ford, C., Flynn, D., Tiplady, S. 21 Mar 2024, In: British Journal of Nursing
At a glance: a guide to venepuncture in adults, Ford, C., Skarparis, K. 25 Jan 2024, In: British Journal of Nursing
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Performance:: Video, Demographic and Evaluation Data, 2023, Constable, M., Zhang, F., Conner, A., Monk, D., Rajsic, J., Ford, C., Park, L., Barker, S., Platt, A., Porteous, D., Grierson, L., Shum, H. 30 Apr 2024
Definitions of Simulation and Immersive Technologies, Perez, N., Ford, C., Price, R., Baxendale, B., Munsch, C., Patterson, D., Howe, P., Choglay, J., Gay, C., Mbeah-Bankas, H., Ralph, N., Aldridge, A. 20 Mar 2024

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Consultancy: Local Skills Improvement 2024
Invited talk: Case study - Northumbria University 2023
Invited talk: Simulated Practice Learning in a UK Nursing Curriculum: Integrating Research and Practice 2023
Membership of network: NHS England (External organisation) 2022
Membership of network: Simulated Practice Learning Group UK (External organisation) 2022
Invited talk: An evaluation of online examinations and remote proctoring for pre-registration nursing students 2021
Membership of network: IFNA UK and Ireland Chapter (External organisation) 2020
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: Postgraduate Conference Northumbria University 2019 2019
Oral presentation: A critical ethnographic view of preoperative pain planning and management for day surgery patients. 2019
Oral presentation: Does virtual reality have a place within healthcare education? A focus group exploration of 360-degree videos to teach non-technical skills 2019