Meet the Professional Masters in Nursing (Child Nursing) Class of 2021:

Chisomo Kasitomu is a registered paediatric nurse with sixteen years’ paediatric nursing experience, from Blantyre, Malawi. Chisomo has a range of academic nursing qualifications that include a BSc Nursing (2005) and a University Certificate of Midwifery (2007), as well as a Master’s degree in Child Health ( 2013) from the Kamuzu College of Nursing, University of Malawi. Her international qualifications include a postgraduate Diploma in Children’s Nursing (2011), from UCT, Cape Town and an additional certification in Student Clinical Preceptorship (2014) Mzuzu University, Malawi and Health Leadership and Management (2019) from the University of Washington, USA. Chisomo worked as the first children’s nurse with an MSc and as a clinical teacher at the Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital, a tertiary facility in Malawi. Chisomo now leads clinical nursing at the Mercy James Centre for Paediatric Surgery and Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, the first and still only PICU in Malawi.

Chisomo describes herself as a transformational leader, who has contributed nationally to formulating quality standards, guidelines for practice and developing Malawian scope of practice standards. She has been involved in setting licensure exams, curricula development and reviews for paediatric nursing. Chisomo has a vision to see all children being nursed according to the highest quality standards, across all levels of the healthcare system in Malawi, by a trusted workforce of inspired nurses.

Lucy Dapaah a specialist PICU nurse, was born in Sekondi-Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana. She acquired a BSc Nursing from Kwame University of Science and Technology, in the Ashanti Region of Ghana in 2011. After completing national service in 2012, she was employed as a Nursing Officer at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana. She furthered her studies, and in 2015 graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Critical Care Child Nursing from the University of Cape Town. Lucy has nine years of clinical experience, of which four years have been in Neonatal and Paediatric Emergency unit and five years in Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Lucy’s enthusiasm for paediatric nursing increased when, as a specialist nurse, she contributed to the establishment of Ghana’s first PICU. Seeing the recovery of sick children and bringing hope to parents through evidence-based nursing has changed the face of paediatric nursing in Ghana.

With a vision to empower other nurses, Lucy has enrolled in the clinical Master of Nursing In Child Nursing programme to increase her knowledge and learn the leadership skills to help her achieve her passion. Lucy is a vigilant PICU nurse leader who confidently tackles and solves problems in ways that get the work done in the safest and most efficient way.

Beatrice Konakoneni Shikongo is a registered NICU/PICU nurse specialist. She is originally from Oshigambo in the Oshikoto region in Northern Namibia. Beatrice fulfilled her dream of becoming a nurse when she graduated in May 2011 with a Diploma in Comprehensive Nursing & Midwifery Science from the University of Namibia. Her journey in paediatric nursing started in 2012 in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Ongwediva Medipark Private Hospital, and it was here where she acquired extensive knowledge and skills over the next five years. In 2017 she obtained her Postgraduate Diploma in Child Critical Care Nursing from UCT. In 2018, she was promoted to Senior Registered Nurse and led the first PICU in Namibia (at Ongwediva Medipark Private Hospital) until June 2020. Over the past nine years, Beatrice has gained experience working with premature babies and term babies with many different conditions. Her most recent experience was gained in the neonatal intensive care unit and paediatric ward at the Lady Pohamba Private Hospital (LPPH) in Windhoek, Namibia.

Beatrice has fulfilled roles in supervision, bedside teaching, and mentoring, and facilitated public-private collaboration to share skills and knowledge.  Beatrice places deep value in engaging families in the care of their children and is committed to a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and inclusive approach that ensures a child and family are at the centre of her care to yield good patient outcomes.