--- title: "Researcher directory" canonical: "https://research.refined.site/space/Research/112787481/Researcher%20directory" format: markdown --- Welcome to the Researcher Directory: Connecting Minds, Driving Progress Our Researcher Directory is designed to bring together researchers from all health professions and facilitate meaningful connections. Whether you are a novice or an established researcher, the Researcher Directory offers a source of inspiration, facilitating connections with experienced researchers. ## **Abin Chacko  ** Clinical lead - Data & digital**                                                                                                      ** ![image](media://e933c4a4-ee20-4290-bba2-f649400c6cf9) DHSc - Thesis in progress (expected submission date, 2025)  **Is there a reduction in the occurrence of nurse-sensitive adverse events with the implementation of CDSS in a metropolitan hospital?** **Background: **There is a high incidence of adverse events in hospitals, despite implementing many preventative measures. As nurses play a critical role in preventing adverse events in hospitals, many quality initiatives and prevention strategies focus on nursing interventions. While nurses use clinical judgement to guide their interventions to provide safer patient care, several barriers may hinder effective clinical judgement and nursing interventions. In this context, Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) has been introduced as a digital technology to support clinical decision-making and improve patient safety and quality of care. Despite the lack of evidence, CDSS implementation is generally expected to minimise many of the key causes of adverse events, particularly those sensitive to nursing care. Since a large proportion of adverse events are preventable by the actions of nursing professionals, it is essential to investigate how a CDSS can support the actions of nursing professionals to prevent nurse-sensitive adverse events. **Method: **The proposed study will investigate the association between a CDSS and nurse-sensitive adverse events using Donabedian's (1988) framework of the structure, process, and outcome in a retrospective cohort design. The cohorts will be created using patient data on admission and adverse events. The data will be analysed in pre- and post-cohorts according to CDSS implementation and further analysed using multi-level logistic regression. ## **Dr Grainne McAnnalley** Clinical Nurse Specialist Cardiology Research ![image](media://7dbe6353-5cfb-4144-b410-a71ee174ffed) Doctor of Health Science; completed 2024 **How does doctoral education for clinical nurses impact their practice, and healthcare in Aotearoa?**  Doctorally prepared nurses in clinical practice are rare. However, there is a growing body of knowledge investigating their roles and experience. My research focuses on the clinical practice impact of doctorally prepared nurses who work in the clinical environment in Aotearoa. This project is a qualitative study using an Interpretive Description methodology design and the analysis is informed by Braun and Clarke’s Reflexive Thematic Analysis. 18 Doctorally qualified clinical nurses were interviewed regarding their experiences in clinical practice after doctoral conferment.   ## **Dr Leena Naik** Clinical Practitioner Completed DHSc in 2021 **Advanced physiotherapy practitioners in the New Zealand health context: An exploratory case study** **Background**: Musculoskeletal complaints affect one in four New Zealanders, accounting for 25% of total annual health spending. Health Workforce New Zealand, a workgroup of the Ministry of Health, reviewed the rising healthcare needs of New Zealanders against the fiscal constraints of the economy and proposed recommendations for healthcare delivery. One recommendation included up-skilling physiotherapists and extending their scope of practice to work in collaboration with multidisciplinary teams to deliver future healthcare. These recommendations were based on international examples where the development of Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner roles has been shown to reduce orthopaedic waiting lists and improve timely patient access to specialist care and services. Although Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner roles were first piloted in New Zealand in 2002 and despite recommendations from the Health Workforce Force and Ministry of Health policies, it is unclear why these roles have not gained traction in New Zealand, where similar health care issues exist. **Aim**: This study investigated the drivers and barriers to Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner role development in the New Zealand context. A secondary aim was to assess the current work practices of clinicians working in these roles.  **Method**: An exploratory single embedded case study design was undertaken. Document analysis, qualitative survey data analysis, and semi-structured interviews were utilised as data sources. A purposive sampling strategy was used. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis and triangulated to ensure rigour.  **Results**: The results of this current study identified several key drivers for Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner role development in New Zealand. These were access to care, service needs, government drivers, fiscal constraints, legislative drivers, surgeon-led drivers to manage waiting lists, and profession-led drivers. Interviewees from our study identified that Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner role development barriers relate to New Zealand’s dual healthcare system with different funding streams split between the Ministry of Health and Accident Compensation Corporation. There were also barriers with a lack of recognition, lack of funding for the role, lack of training, lack of career pathway, lack of title recognition, inter-professional barriers, and intra-professional barriers. These barriers are currently greater than the drivers. This research suggests that addressing the barriers may enable the Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner roles to be implemented in New Zealand to optimise their impact on musculoskeletal healthcare burden. Lastly, this study identifies that the Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner working practices in New Zealand are congruent with international research in terms of their clinical practice but are shaped by the health sector in which the clinician works.  **Conclusion**: Currently, the Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner roles in New Zealand are ad-hoc and opportunistic, dependent on the reactive needs of the organisation. There is an identified niche for the Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner role to improve patient outcomes, improve patient flow and add value to the clinical and operational demands of health care in the face of growing complexity, workforce shortages, and fiscal burden. Nevertheless, this research has explored the reasons for the limited uptake of the Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner roles in the New Zealand context despite these strong drivers. These findings need to be considered by the stakeholders when considering the implementation of the Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner roles in the New Zealand context. The future for Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner roles in New Zealand appears promising due to recent changes in legislative scope. To ensure that this promise is realised, Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner roles need to be tailored to meet New Zealand’s unique healthcare drivers and reduce the barriers.   ## **Dr Lorraine Neave** DHSc, MHSc, RGON National Manager Research Office and Approvals (Interim)*; Evidence, Research & Clinical Trials; Planning, Funding & Outcomes [*retired Dec 2024] Completed Master of Health Science (Nursing) in 2008 and Doctor of Health Science in 2020 **Does Research Help Inform a Healthcare Organisation’s Purpose? A Perspective of One New Zealand District Health Board** **Background:** The body of work set out to answer the question “does research overall help to inform a healthcare organisation’s purpose?” To align health care research activity to a District Health Board (DHB) organisational purpose would seem to be a logical aim. In 2011, a New Zealand (NZ) government Health Select Committee recommended that DHBs undertake research as a frontline activity. In its response, the NZ Government indicated that while clinical research may play some role it was not considered to be a frontline activity of the. In 2017, the first ever NZ Health Research Strategy 2017-2027 has indicated movement in the government’s stance. The strategy has recognised opportunities across the health sector, and particularly in the DHBs, to improve the environment and culture for research and innovation, by investing in research infrastructure and effective governance to support it. The setting for this study was Waitematā DHB, a NZ publicly funded healthcare delivery organisation that hosts research. In 2015, it established a research governance group charged with providing direction for research and clinical audit, development of a purposeful five-year research strategy and to provide oversight of its implementation. **Aim:** To analyse and critique the type of research undertaken at Waitematā DHB in the years 2008 – 2015 and to gauge the perceived value of the research to inform this DHB’s stated purpose to relive suffering, promote wellness and prevent, cure and ameliorate ill health. Purpose: Generating greater awareness of the research activity in the DHB may help to elevate this activity from a relatively adjunct status to one that can be more fully appreciated, knowingly resourced and strategically valued. **Method:** This is a mixed method study in four parts. The first two parts were retrospectively focused analyses utilising the DHB’s research and knowledge management database resource and locality documents to appreciate the type of research activity and who conducts it. Two surveys were undertaken in Part 3, the first focused on the researchers to establish the outcomes from their locality approved research. The second survey canvassed the opinions of organisational decision makers with regard to the DHB’s capacity to conduct, acquire and use of research knowledge. The final part utilised qualitative interviews with a small number of key clinician researchers, to gain their perspectives the research question. **Results:** The results indicate that research happens in this DHB, even where the business is not centrally funded to conduct research. A lack of obvious and consistent communication of the organisation’s provision for research in its planning has encouraged the development of research silos and led to broad variation in research types. In addition, clinical leaders and managers were unsure the DHB’s business processes supported the translation of the knowledge from research to the local context. Their perception was that the DHB’s business leaders were disengaged with research because business processes do not easily align to research timelines. Other suggested barriers emanate from the constraints of daily frontline clinician busyness, and an overall staff conservatism and resistance to change. The general consensus was that evidence from robust and scientifically sound local research should inform this DHB’s purpose. To achieve this, the DHB executive leadership needs to more overtly support research and researchers in the DHB, in line with its research strategy and national directives.  #### Neave, L., Reid, D. and McKenna, B. (2021). Does research help to inform a district health board’s purpose? A qualitative thematic analysis of clinician researcher views. *NZMJ, 134*(1537), 36-42. ## **Dr Kathryn Tennant** EdD, MA, PGCLTHE, PGCPSE, BSc (Hons), RGN, FHEA (Acting) Manager, Research and Knowledge Centre ![image](media://ce023bee-1318-47f0-9029-6e53fd42f7d9) Doctorate of Education (EdD) at Staffordshire University (UK); completed Feb 2024 **Holistic recognition: the path to satisfaction. An interpretive descriptive study of student nurses’ experiences of the clinical learning environment** Student nurses in England spend half of their pre-registration undergraduate programme undertaking practical placements outside the university setting. Their satisfaction with these placements is essential for retention, both on the programme and within the nursing profession. Therefore, there is a need to understand the experience from the perception of student nurses and to consider how satisfaction with the experience might be improved. This interpretive descriptive study explored the practice placement experiences of first-year and third-year student nurses undertaking a three-year pre-registration BSc (Hons) Nursing (Adult) programme focusing on their satisfaction, expectations, and learning. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight student nurses from a higher education institution (HEI) in the North-East of England. Following a reflexive thematic analysis process, three themes were developed centred around the concept of 'holistic recognition': 'feeling seen,' 'feeling valued’, and 'navigating the journey' to becoming a registered nurse (RN). These themes highlight the diverse needs of student nurses beyond the skills and knowledge competencies traditionally emphasised in practice placements. This research study makes several recommendations to enhance student nurse satisfaction with their practice placements. Collaboration between HEIs and practice partners is crucial, enabling an individualised framework that considers each student's needs. Placements should be student-focused, accommodating their external commitments, providing advance off-duty planning, and recognising the importance of pre-placement contact. Additionally, placement allocations should consider location relative to students' home addresses and transportation costs. Furthermore, reducing anxiety through minimising placement area changes and balancing academic demands is essential. Making learning opportunities and the hidden curriculum of professional identity and socialisation explicit and revising terminology to avoid inaccurate perceptions are also recommended. Overall, this research makes a unique contribution to understanding and improving the practice placement experiences of student nurses, providing valuable insights for clinical teams, nurse academics, and university staff supporting student nurses. --- ###### Last reviewed December 2024 Author: Kathryn Tennant