Prof. Isabel Higgins

Biography

Professor Isabel Higgins is newly appointed Professor of Older Person Nursing with the University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Health. Isabels role as a Clinical Chair, jointly appointed with the Hunter New England Health, means that she works very closely with clinicians and practitioners in a range of settings including residential aged care, acute care and the community. Through the School of Nursing and Midwiferys Collaborating Center for Older Person Care (CCOPC) Isabel and her clinical nursing and academic colleagues work with the Research Centre for Gender Health and Ageing to conduct research that focuses on providing optimal care of older people in a range of settings. Through the CCOPC Isabel collaborates and partners on research and scholarly activities which centre on person centered care, practice re design and capacity building for future generations of nurses. Isabel is internationally renowned for her research relating to the care of older people and has been instrumental in highlighting the issues surrounding pain and symptom management in this group. She has initiated a range of studies in residential and acute care relating to pain and symptom management and produced numerous publications and presentations relating to the topic.

She is on the editorial boards of several nursing journals and has been a reviewer for several international nursing journals for many years. As an indicator of her standing in the field she was an invited editor of a special edition of Contemporary Nurse in relation to older people, is an expert reviewer for twelve international nursing journals and is an invited member scholar of the International Institute of Qualitative Methodology and the International Honour Nursing Society of Sigma Theta Thau. In addition, she is a foundation Editor for the first on line Indigenous Journal in Australia. Her expertise is acknowledged through her many conference presentations and invitations to present internationally (New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, United States, Canada, France and the United Kingdom).

Professor Higgins has been an ARC Oz reviewer for many years because of her expertise in older person care and a variety of methodologies. All of these activities place Prof. Higgins as a nursing researcher of international standing. In the past 5 years, Prof Higgins' research output includes over 40 peer reviewed journal articles, 2 book chapters, over 40 conference presentations including key note addresses and over $400,000 in competitive research funding for pilot studies which are all relative to her standing within the discipline of nursing.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy, University of Newcastle, 2002
• Graduate Diploma of Health Science (Nursing), University of Newcastle
• Master of Nursing, University of Newcastle, 1995
• Associate Diploma in Nurse Education, University of Newcastle, 1981

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Research

Research keywords

• action research
• clinical service research
• end of life care
• ethnography
• mixed methods
• nutrition and hydration at end of life
• older person care
• pain and symptom management
• phenomenology
• qualitative research
• volunteering and older people

Research expertise

Pain and symptom management in older people, older person care, end of life care, older people and their relatives, nutrition and hydration at the end of life, subjective experiences, qualitative methodologies and mixed methods, evaluation studies.

Collaboration

Isabels research focuses on pain and symptom management, end of life care, family members and carersneeds, practice issues and practice redesign through action research. Her methodological expertise includes a range of qualitative methodologies, quantitative approaches, and mixed methods studies. In particular, she has interest and expertise in phenomenology, grounded theory, critical ethnography, discourse analysis, case study and action research, evaluation studies and the use of mixed methods and evaluation research using pre and post design. Current areas of study include pain and symptom management in older people with dementia, the prevention of delirium, nutrition and hydration at the end of life, and social support and needs of the relatives of older people.

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
111000	Nursing	100

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Hunter Medical Research Institute
• PRC - Priority Research Centre for Gender, Health & Ageing

Group

• Hunter Medical Research Institute - Public Health

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Member - International Institute for Qualitative Methodology member scholar
• Member - Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society of Nursing
• Member - Fellow College of Nursing
• Member - Fellow Royal College of Nursing Australia

Editorial Board.

• Member - Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences

Awards

Distinction.

2008	Premier's Award Finalist NSW Health (Australia) The Older Person Acute Care Model (OPAC)
2008	HNEHealth Quality Award Finalist Hunter New England Health, NSW Health (Australia) OPAC Model

Recognition.

2009	Best Policy Poster Council on the Aging (COTA), National Policy Council (Australia) Best Policy Poster
2008	Baxter Award Nomination NSW Health (Australia) OPAC Model

Research Award.

2009	Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research Supervision The University of Newcastle (Australia) Excellence in research supervision
1998	Vice Chancellor's Incentive Award for Research The University of Newcastle (Australia) Vice Chancellor's Incentive Award

Invitations

Delirium prevention in acute care Claus Moser Research Centre, Keele University, United Kingdom (Invited Presenter)	2009
The older person with cancer and the problem of pain Cancer Nurses Society of Australia, Australia (Keynote Address)	2009
Practice centred education Cheju Hall College, Korea, Republic of (Keynote Address)	2009
Targeting pain in older people School of Nursing and Midwifery, Keele University, United Kingdom (Invited Presenter)	2009

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Administrative

Administrative expertise

post graduate nursing education and research

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Teaching

Teaching keywords

• delirium assessement and management
• mixed methods
• older person care
• pain assessment and management
• qualitative research

Teaching expertise

professional nursing issues, leadership, research and practice development, older person care in a range of settings