Karina Harding

Karina Harding serves as a Lecturer in Children's Nursing within the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Social Care at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), Cambridge. With eight years of clinical experience spanning paediatric intensive care, general surgery/urology, and discharge planning, she maintains specialized expertise in high-acuity pediatric environments and nurse psychological support systems.

Her professional foundation includes commencing nurse training in 2010 at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, where she progressed from paediatric general surgery/urology to intensive care. Through continued development, she completed the local paediatric intensive care course and earned a Master's degree focusing on disenfranchised grief among paediatric ICU nurses and its correlation to staff attrition. Her career includes innovative secondments optimizing patient discharge flows across North London hospital trusts and frontline pandemic response with COVID-positive pediatric ICU patients.

Research centers on psychological trauma in nursing through three interconnected pillars: (1) disenfranchised grief and emotional exhaustion in pediatric ICU settings, (2) wellbeing support innovation for clinical staff, and (3) process optimization in hospital discharge systems. Her work bridges clinical practice with educational advancement, particularly in children's nursing pedagogy and trauma-informed care frameworks developed during pandemic conditions.

As an educator, Harding delivers pre-registration children's nursing courses while actively pursuing her research agenda on psychological support mechanisms for nurses. Her clinical background directly informs teaching methodology, with emphasis on preparing students for high-stress pediatric environments through evidence-based psychological resilience strategies.