Dr Siobhan Mclernon

I am a registered adult nurse and senior lecturer, combining experience across clinical practice, education, quality improvement and research. I have a BSc (Hons) in Nursing, and a MSc in Neuroscience from Kings College London. I gained a postgraduate certificate in Interprofessional Education and a Doctor of Philosophy from London South Bank University in 2022. I joined the School of Health and Social Care in 2005, teaching neuroscience care to health care professionals at undergraduate and postgraduate level. I am the course director for the BSc and MSc post-graduate professional courses in neuroscience nursing.

My research interests are in acquired brain injury in particular vascular brain injury and traumamtic brain injury. My masters research project examined a surrogate marker S-100 after stroke to establish its links in predicting outcome. 
My doctorate study title was: “The perceived, actual and predicted 6-month functional outcome of adult patients following spontaneous acute intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) treated in a neurocritical care setting”. This is the first study to be conducted within the UK that investigates 6-month functional outcome after ICH from multiple perspectives including an observational cohort study and qualitative interviews of staff members.
This study enabled me to explore intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) patient outcome after critical care not just in relation to patient outcomes but also seeking to understand the perspectives of nurses, and doctors, caring for patients with ICH. I identified that there was a risk of clinical pessimism about ICH that could lead to life-limiting clinical decisions being made for patients who required critical care treatment. Two phases of my study have been published in high-ranking international journals (Neurocritical Care and Journal of the Neurological Sciences). Both papers were rated as having 3* International Relevance in the REF2021 assessment. My study identified the need for standardised clinical pathways that help avoid overly-pessimistic views that may lead to less aggressive supportive care. A standardised approach to best treatment practices would also help provide early, comprehensive, organised, and more specialised, quality care to patients following a spontaneous Intracerebral Haemorrhage (ICH).
To disseminate my findings and support others’ CPD, I regularly attend stroke research groups and multidisciplinary stroke forums presenting my research and discussing implications for nursing and stroke care. 
As part of CPD, I attend clinical practice regularly, staying up-to-date as a neuroscience nurse. This strengthens my teaching and ability to link theory to practice for other nurses.
I am on the editorial board for the British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing. I have recently written a chapter on the: Management of Traumatic Brain Injury in a core text book- Accident and Emergencies: Theory into Practice 4th Edition, published by Elsevier. I am a judge for the Nursing Times awards 2023- 2025. 

I am a member of UCL Stroke Research Centre which is part of the Department for Brain repair and rehabilitation. 

I am currently a Principal Investigator for a project entitled" A community based mixed methods project to explore understanding of stroke risk factors in people who are from BME heritage and who are aged 18-65 years. This project is funded by the Burdett Trust. 

Course director for Post-Graduate Professional Nursing (neuroscience care). Research fellow at UCL Stroke Research Centre