Kerry (cook) Gaskin BA, MSc

Dr Kerry Gaskin was a nurse for 15 years before moving into academia in 2005. Her current role as a Principal Lecturer focuses on Advancing Clinical Practice promoting the development of integrated multi-professional practitioners for health and well-being across the life course, in the Academic Unit of Allied Health and Social Sciences.

Kerry is the Chairperson of the Congenital Cardiac Nurses Association UK, having worked clinically in children’s cardiac intensive and high dependency care services at several specialist children’s cardiac centres in the UK; she has maintained a keen interest in the speciality. Kerry represented the RCN on the Health Impact Assessment Steering Group (2011-2012) commissioned by the National Specialist Commissioning Group during the Safe and Sustainable review of Children’s Cardiac Services. She also led the development of RCN core competencies for children’s cardiac nurses (RCN, 2014) which influenced the draft standards and congenital heart service specifications (NHS England, 2016).

Kerry is a mixed-methods researcher with a particular interest in the experiences of parents of infants with complex congenital heart disease. Her continuing research focuses on parental home assessment using a Congenital Heart Assessment Tool (CHAT), to enable parents to identify signs of deterioration in their infant and to make prompt contact with the appropriate health care professional. Kerry was shortlisted as Finalist for the Nurse Scientist of the Year Award at Cardiology 2016 (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) and came runner up.