General

Monica Fletcher, Chief Executive of Education for Health, for which the OU validates HE programmes in the fields of Respiratory Care and Long Term Conditions, is to be honoured with an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for services to nursing and nurse education.

This was announced as part of the Queen’s Birthday honour list on Friday 14 June. 

Dr Liz Marr, Director of CICP, which manages the OU’s validated provision, said: “This is a tremendous and well deserved achievement for Monica. It recognises her great personal commitment to her chosen field, both as a practitioner and as an education professional.

From the OU’s perspective, we feel particularly delighted that this award is for Monica’s work in nurse education, which reflects on the positive collaboration we’ve had with Monica and Education for Health for many years.”

Monica said: “To be awarded an OBE is a great honour, particularly for services to nurse education.

This reflects not only on my personal contribution but also the work undertaken at Education for Health which has been supported by The Open University for many years.  

“The partnership between us and The Open University has gone from strength to strength, and adds additional credibility to the wide range of accredited education programmes we run for healthcare professionals.”

Posted 17 June 2013

More information:

www.open.ac.uk/cicp 

Over 170 million people worldwide have diabetes and this figure is set to double by 2030.

In support of Diabetes week, the OU is highlighting content which is a must-watch for both diabetes sufferers and medical staff training to work with diabetes patients. Visit OpenLearn for two collections including:

Diabetes care which introduces various aspects of a patient’s diabetes annual check-up, together with activity files which can be used to increase understanding of how to control diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes portrays Clemmy who was diagnosed with diabetes at 13 and talks about living with this long-term condition.

You can also access a series of information called Diabetes Care on iTunes u

To find out more about Diabetes Week visit Diabetes UK

Posted 9 June 2013

The complex and growing interface between people and the natural world is explored in the latest OU on the BBC radio series Shared Planet. As the world population increases by approximately 200,000 people per day and our demand for resources rises each year, is there enough room for nature?

Hosted by Monty Don, each programme in the series will explore the complex interface between the growing human population and wildlife. Invited guests, some of the world’s greatest thinkers on the environment, will explore topics and look at the economic, political and social drivers that affect our relationship with nature.

The first programme, The problem of population, looks at the crunch point between human population and the natural world with a report from Conneticut on the complex decline of the ubiquitous Chimney Swift, a story Monty Don believes is the paradigm for the series. The studio discussion will explore the wider issues of human population and nature with Lord May, past president of The Royal Society, and Professor Wolfgang Lutz a human population dynamics specialist.

• Listen to the programme on BBC Radio 4 at 11.00am on Tuesday 11 June
• After this date you can listen again via the Radio 4 website
• Find out more about Shared Planet and the problems of population from OpenLearn
• Discover the range of environmental studies at the OU

 Posted 7 June 2013