Interview with Jayne Hodgkiss
We spoke to Assistant Professor Jayne Hodgkiss to find out about her previous experience and thoughts relating to the teaching offered by Warwick Medical School.
What was your background before coming to Warwick?
My background is in nursing, more specifically I worked as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Diabetes and previously as a Midwife. I completed my MSc in Diabetes at Warwick and continued to present on some of the Post Graduate modules after my graduation. I’d also been involved on some of the CIDC (Certificate in Diabetes Care) Distance Delivery programmes in the past. I had always planned to pursue a career change towards teaching at some point and Warwick seemed the obvious choice when the opportunity presented.
What do you teach on our diabetes courses?
The main content I teach is related to my specialist interest in clinical practice: insulin treatment and management, plus diabetes in pregnancy. I have also in more recent years developed an interest in Mental Health and Diabetes.
How do you split your time between teaching and clinical work?
Until recently I worked three days within the Medical School and one day in clinical practice at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. My specialist area of interest is diabetes in pregnancy. More recently, I have centred my career around time spent teaching at the Medical School. I still maintain my clinical knowledge accessing the evidence base through journal articles and attending conferences.
How does your clinical work impact your teaching?
I have always seen the importance and benefits of using anecdotal evidence from clinical practice to support the theoretical content in my teaching. Clinical practice, the evidence base and conference attendance is imperative to keeping up to date.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Warwick but who hasn’t been in education for a while?
The diabetes teaching staff make themselves available for any students, we recognise that everyone enters education at varying stages and with different backgrounds and experience. We also recognise that most of our students undertake training and education alongside full time jobs, therefore our courses and assessments are designed around areas in daily clinical roles that will ultimately make a positive impact on practice and patient care.
What do you think needs to be done to tackle the rising rates of type 2 diabetes?
As a clinical practitioner and teacher, I’m aware of the increasing need to raise awareness across the public but also amongst fellow healthcare professionals. Our range of diabetes educational courses support the need to upskill professionals.
What do you most enjoy about teaching at Warwick?
I enjoy the delivery of the range of teaching and learning opportunities we can offer that reflect the different needs of our students. I also enjoy the challenge of ensuring we are accessible and adaptable to the changing requirements of students applying to Warwick promoting inclusivity.
