Who are we?
The Department of Clinical Neurosciences (DCN) is the South East of Scotland tertiary referral centre for adult neurosciences, receiving referrals for neurosurgery, neurology, and interventional neuro radiology. We provide highly specialised nursing and medical care for patients requiring acute treatment for a variety of conditions concerning the brain and spine.
DCN includes a level one area; Acute Neurosurgery and Neurology wards, a Programme Investigation Unit (PIU) and Outpatients Department. We admit both elective and emergency cases throughout the department. Our PIU is a leading centre that administers disease modifying therapies to patients with degenerative neurological disease.
The department has a total of 59 beds and is based within the recently built Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh site.
We have a motivated multi-disciplinary team with a focus on quality improvement, patient and family centred care, critical care research, and patient experience
We offer the opportunity to work with talented teams within multidisciplinary environments and impact positively on the lives of thousands of patients and their families.
What do we offer newly qualified nurses?
We recruit a combination of experienced and newly qualified nurses to our innovative and dynamic teams. There is the opportunity to gain a breadth of knowledge and exposure to multiple specialties.
For newly qualified staff we offer clinical skills training, flying start programme and peer support via our buddy system on the wards. Our education team will be available to support staff.
What career progression is available?
Our nurses are trained to a high standard to look after neurosurgical, neurology and level one patients and we offer a variety of training programs, including Level one foundation course, in house Principles and practice in Neurosciences nursing course and local training sessions from Surgeons and Anaesthetists.
We are keen to develop colleagues and support rotations within the directorate to provide exciting opportunities and valuable experience within surgery and neurology.
Career progression opportunities include Advanced Nurse Practice and nurse specialists. Nurse specialist services include Epilepsy, MND, MS and CJD services. There are also opportunities to progress into management as deputy charge nurse and senior charge nurse.
