{"id":8847,"date":"2018-05-11T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T08:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=8847"},"modified":"2018-05-11T09:00:53","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T08:00:53","slug":"ou-study-helps-military-flight-nurse-demelza-climb-the-ranks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/education-languages-health\/health\/ou-study-helps-military-flight-nurse-demelza-climb-the-ranks\/","title":{"rendered":"OU study helps military flight nurse Demelza climb the ranks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Demelza Dachtler began her RAF nursing career with the Princess Mary Royal Air Force Nursing Service when she was 21. Now 31 and a qualified military flight nurse, Demelza teaches clinical practice skills to Royal Navy, Royal Marine, Army and Royal Air Force trainee medics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started studying, you didn\u2019t need a degree to become a nurse, so I did a Diploma of Higher Education in Adult Nursing,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen after a blur of basic training, preceptorship, flight nurse training and two operational deployments of Afghanistan, I decided the time was right to top up my diploma to a degree. I definitely recommend the OU\u2019s BSc (Hons) Nursing Practice<\/a> course to nurses who want to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, Demelza has moved on to postgraduate study, which she\u2019s successfully managing to do alongside her military duties. She\u2019s hoping to complete the MSc Advancing Healthcare Practice<\/a> in summer 2019.<\/p>\n

From Corporal to Sergeant, and making a difference at work<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cAs well as gaining more qualifications, my OU study has made me so much better at my day-to-day job,\u201d Demelza says. \u201cAnd it\u2019s really helped me climb the military ranks \u2013 I\u2019ve now moved from Corporal to Sergeant!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd besides promotion, my study has also helped me examine the way I work. I\u2019ve made some effective, evidence-based improvements at work that have made a real difference to my workplace and our patients.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Demelza can see a lot of similarities between people serving in the armed forces and distance learners. \u201cSo many positive qualities describe them both,\u201d she explains. \u201cYou have to be disciplined, able to prioritise, be organised and determined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping up with Mum and Dad<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Demelza

Demelza’s graduation<\/p><\/div>\n

Demelza comes from a family of graduates and says her biggest \u2018high\u2019 of her study experience was the moment she was able to shake her dad\u2019s hand as a fellow graduate at her degree ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Mum and brother have Masters degrees and my Dad has a Bachelors degree,\u201d she says. \u201cI was proud of my nursing diploma, but I knew I was one step behind them, so decided to study more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Mum received her MA in education from the Open University but never attended her degree ceremony. I want to complete my MSc so my Mum and I can attend a degree ceremony together!<\/p>\n

After that I think I will have earned a break from studying\u2026 at least for a little while\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Find out more<\/h2>\n

Read more about the OU’s nursing courses<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Demelza Dachtler began her RAF nursing career with the Princess Mary Royal Air Force Nursing Service when she was 21. Now 31 and a qualified military flight nurse, Demelza teaches clinical practice skills to Royal Navy, Royal Marine, Army and Royal Air Force trainee medics. \u201cWhen I started studying, you didn\u2019t need a degree to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":8856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[65,904,1390,1441,1555,1559,1759,1870],"class_list":["post-8847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-adult-nursing","tag-flight-nurse","tag-masters","tag-military","tag-nursing","tag-nursing360","tag-postgraduate","tag-raf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}