PROJECTS 2011

Examining the impact of simulated patients and information communication technology on nursing students' clinical reasoning:
Australian Learning and Teaching Council Extension Grant

Project Leader: Dr Kerry Hoffman
Project Team: Dr Jennifer Dempsey, Professor Tracy Levett-Jones, Petrea Anderson, Roy Brown, Professor Patrick Crookes, Angela Mckay, Miller, Zasadny.

The role of sessional teaching academics in current and future academic workforces:
Faculty of Business and Law - Research Committee Project

Higher education currently employs more sessional than permanent academics and yet there is a forecast shortage of Australian academics. This is particularly true in the newer professional fields of business, health and education. This research addresses the broad question of whether sessional academics are able to fill the projected shortage by investigating the nature of STAs, their management and opportunities for development. We compare the three schools using surveys and interviews with sessional staff and their supervisors and managers.

Project Leader: Dr Suzanne Ryan
Project Team: Professor Tracy Levett-Jones & Dr Kathryn Holmes.

Interprofessional education: enhancing the teaching of medication safety to nursing, pharmacy and medical students
Australian Learning and Teaching Council Project (2010-2012)

Project Website: http://www.ipeforqum.com.au/
Medication safety is a global concern with interprofessional education (IPE) recognised as vital for preparing nursing, pharmacy and medical students for their roles in the medication team. However, in Australia IPE is seldom used for teaching the communication skills inherent in medication safety, despite evidence indicating that inadequate communication between health care professionals is the primary issue in the majority of medication errors.
There is a need for Australian research that examines the impact of IPE on medication safety, and more relevant, engaging and authentic IPE experiences. This project will provide a research-based overview of the needs of the higher education sector in Australia with regards to the use of IPE for teaching medication safety to nursing, pharmacy and medical students. Further, our team will develop, implement and evaluate curriculum modules and multimedia learning and teaching resources that incorporate IPE as a strategy to promote medication safety. A series of simulated patient journeys will provide the stimulus materials for the learning resources. The project includes a cross sectional survey, a cost utility analysis benefit and a quasi experimental study.

Project Leaders: Professor Tracy Levett-Jones, Dr Helen Bellchambers and Dr Conor Gilligan
Project Team: Dr Teresa (Teri) Stone, Dr Sue Outram, Professor Alison Jones, Joyce Cooper, Professor Gregory Peterson, Associate Professor Rohan Rasiah, Ms Lyn Ebert, Dr Kerry Hoffman and Samuel Lapkin (PhD candidate).

Enhancing the capacity of academic staff to teach about social disadvantage and inequity
University of Newcastle Teaching and Learning Grant

Project Leader: Dr Suzanne Outram
Project Team: Professor Tracy Levett-Jones, Gjyn O'Toole, Dr Kathleen Butler and Kate Dundas

Trialling a model of inter-professional assessment to support students' development of safe prescribing practices
University of Newcastle Teaching Fellowship

Project Leader: Associate Professor David Newby

Evaluating Allied Health Students' Rural Placement Experiences and Postgraduate Workplace Outcomes

This study aims to evaluate allied health students' experiences of their short-term or year-long rural placements, and to follow their short and medium-term career outcomes.

Chief Investigator: Dr Leanne Brown
Project Team: Professor Tracy Levett-Jones, Gjyn O'Toole, Dr Kathleen Butler and Kate Dundas

Examining the impact of simulated patients and information communication technology on nursing students' clinical reasoning: Australian Learning and Teaching Council Project (2008-2011)
Australian Learning and Teaching Council Project (2009-2011)

Contemporary evidence indicates that nurses with effective clinical reasoning skills have a positive impact on patient outcomes while those with poor clinical reasoning skills often failing to detect impending patient deterioration resulting in a “failure-to-rescue”. This is significant when viewed against the background of increasing numbers of adverse patient outcomes. However, current teaching and learning approaches do not always facilitate the development of a requisite level of clinical reasoning skills; and health services frequently complain that graduates are not ‘work ready'. This ALTC project examines how nursing students' clinical reasoning skills can be enhanced by the effective use of human patient simulation manikins and information and communication technology. The project includes three systematic reviews, a cross sectional survey, a Delphi study and a quasi experimental study.

Project Leaders:Professor Tracy Levett-Jones and Dr Kerry Hoffman
Project Team: Dr Sharon Bourgeois, Dr Jennifer Dempsey, Dr Sharon Hunter, Dr Sarah Jeong, Ms Noelene Hickey, Me Raelene Kenny, Ms Carol Norton, Ms Carol Arthur (Masters Candidate), Ms Jan Roche (Masters Candidate), Mr Samuel Lapkin (PhD Candidate), Ms Karen Jeffrey (Honours Candidate).

Facilitating Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Through Skills-Enabled e-Portfolios in the Disciplines of Construction Management and Nursing
Australian Learning and Teaching Council Project (2009-2011)

Industry requires work ready graduates who understand and can operate in real world contexts and Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is a mandatory component of many programs. However, students often experience difficulty in understanding, articulating and documenting how the knowledge gained at university relates to the world of work. To address these issues I am currently working with colleagues from construction management on an ALTC funded Priority project that will: (a) evaluate the current use of e-portfolios, (b) propose enhancements that will facilitate students' ability to self-assess their performance and draw explicit links between university and work-based learning; and (c) develop a hierarchical framework that maps professional competency standards with the learning outcomes of undergraduate programs.

Project Leaders: Associate Professor Anthony Williams, Professor Tracy Levett-Jones, Mr Willy Sher
Project Team: Ms Lyn Bowen, Dr Sharon Bourgeois, Dr Paul Race and Mr Ng Gu.