Alexandra Murrell

I am new to teaching. I am part of the health studies team at London campus. I qualified, as a general nurse in 1985 in Lewisham, in south east London. I have worked in primary care since 1990 in general practice, homelessness and family plannig which has become contraception and sexual health. I briefly worked at Royal Free Hospital in 1990 for 6 months in hepatitis B and C research trialling interferon injections. The good news is hepatitis C has recently become curable. In between working in different parts in London predominately the inner city area, I worked overseas initially in Romania with children with HIV, in Cambodia in an emergency hospital for people with war injuries in 1998. I did a short spell in East Timor with the UN in 1999. In 2002 I went to Tajikistan to work on a nutritional and primary care programme. I did a short spell in Pakistan in 2005 in a camp with people who had been affected by the earthquack doing rehabilitation. Working in homelessness I gained non medical prescribing qualification and assessment skills. I currently work in general practice and occasionally in walk in centres.           

Publications 

Hepatitis Research in Professional Nurse September 1993 

Reconciliation of a Nation in Medicine Conflict and Survival April-June 2002 

Giving Something Back Nursing Standard 15 March 2006 Vol 20 No 27

Filling the Gaps History of Overseas Nurse Recruitment Open University Conference 17 April 2009   

• Primary Care in UK and poorer countries
• Nutrition 
• Contraception 
• Chronic disease management Asthma Diabetes 
• Homelessness and refugee health I do voluntary work with Doctors of the World refugee centre. 
• Young people's health
• Woud care and lymphoedema 
• Extensive experience of working in voluntary sector
• 2 Masters 1 in Medical Anthropology did a dissertation on animal therapy I set up a conference on this in 1998 which brought nurses and other professionals together.   
• 1 in Public Health Overseas Nurse Recruitment 1950-2000 examing policies in nurse recruitment and retention  

I have written a short paper on diagnosis of pernicious anaemia and when to treat it with vitamin B12 injections. 

I would like to research the following: Why is nursing such an unpopular job in UK? Why are only 10% of adult health nurses male, in contrast to other countries in which it is 30%?

What would help to retain staff in nursing?

I would be interested in UWS working with poorer countries to improve health.     

I would be interested in working with the UN bodies, overseas charities, local charities and NHS.