Dr Claire McGuiness

Professional Advisor for Nursing and Midwifery Education, Chief Nursing Officers’ Directorate, Scottish Government

Dr Claire McGuinness has been seconded to the role of Professional Advisor for Nursing and Midwifery Education in the Chief Nursing Officer’s Directorate (CNOD), Scottish Government since December 2021. Previous roles include; Assistant Head Learning Teaching and Quality, and Senior Lecturer, in the School of Health and Life Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University, NHS Education for Scotland Project Lead and Clinical Trial Research Nurse. Claire is also a Fellow the Higher Education Academy.

Since beginning her career in academia, almost 2 decades ago, Claire has led, developed or researched various aspects of education including; quality assurance in higher education, academic skill building to support students to transition to university, mentorship, workplace learning and practice learning. Claire is a RN (Child) and holds a; BSc in Specialist Nursing Practice, MSc Nursing,  Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education and a PhD, the latter of which focused on the psychology of persuasion and influence when teaching others how to teach in the workplace. Claire’s publications include mentorship and practice learning, academic skills building, clinical skill development and, more recently, Claire has co-edited a simulation in healthcare textbook, due for publication at the end of this year.

In her role as Professional Advisor, Claire provides nursing and midwifery education advice to Scottish Government policy colleagues and other national stakeholders, supporting the development of both recommendations for Scottish Ministers and robust policy to underpin nursing and midwifery education in Scotland. Claire also liaises with Nursing and Midwifery Council and the governments of the other three United Kingdom nations to ensure Scotland’s nursing and midwifery education interests are voiced, and considered, in national fora.