A–Z Service Directory

The Eastern Health-Deakin University Nursing and Midwifery Research Centre is a collaborative partnership that drives research to improve patient outcomes within the disciplines of nursing and midwifery. The partnership between Eastern Health and Deakin University commenced in 1999 and now incorporates all Eastern Health sites. The Centre, led by Professor Julie Considine, is committed to excellence in healthcare through translating research findings into clinical practice.

Our research is strongly focused on quality and safety in healthcare and comprises three major programs of research:

• clinical risk management: current projects include recognition and response to deteriorating patients, interprofessional communication, clinical decision making, increasing use of research evidence to improve clinical care, use of technology to increase quality and safety of patient care
• symptom management: current projects include improving physical and psychological wellbeing of patients with cancer and their carers, testing evidence-based approaches to pain management, evaluation of an educational resource for cardiac surgical patients
• healthcare workforce and service delivery models: current projects include investigation of models of care for older persons, evaluation of nurse practitioner and advanced practice nursing roles, evaluation of alternative approaches to healthcare delivery including hospital, community and home based programs

The research activities of the Eastern Health-Deakin University Nursing and Midwifery Research Centre span acute, subacute, community and residential care and inform strategic directions for clinical practice, education, research and healthcare policy development. We also recognise that a multi-disciplinary approach is vital to patient care so we work with multi-disciplinary teams that include nurses, medical officers, allied health personnel, policy makers, health information technologists, patients and families.

The Eastern Health-Deakin University Nursing and Midwifery Research Centre forms part of, and collaborates with, Deakin University's School of Nursing and Midwifery clinical research partnerships that are linked to Alfred Health, Barwon Health, Southern Health, Northern Health, Epworth HealthCare, Cabrini Health and Uniting Care Community Options. The Centre also has collaborations with a number of local, national and international organisations and funding bodies including:

• Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research, Deakin University
• The Joanna Briggs Institute
• Deakin University Health and Human Services Economics
• National Health and Medical Research Council
• Australian Research Council
• The HCF Health and Medical Research Foundation
• Cancer Council Victoria and Cancer Council South Australia
• Carers Victoria
• beyondblue
• Victorian Government Department of Health
• Heart Foundation
• Laval University, Canada
• University of Alberta, Canada
• Prince of Songkla University, Thailand

A major objective of the Eastern Health-Deakin University Nursing and Midwifery Research Centre is to build research capacity. The Centre provides support to nurses and midwives undertaking local research studies and provides research supervision for Bachelor of Nursing (Honours), Masters and PhD students.

Areas of research interest to date include (but are not limited to) clinical decision making and evidence-based practice in general medical and surgical care, oncology, palliative and end-of-life care, emergency care, critical care, peri-operative and post-anaesthesia care, residential aged care, subacute care, and maternity and women's health.

Director

Professor Julie Considine, Chair of Nursing (Eastern Health) julie.considine2@easternhealth.org.au

Academic staff

Associate Professor Trish Livingston trish.livingston@easternhealth.org.au

Research Fellow Dr Maryann Street maryann.street@easternhealth.org.au

Senior Lecturer Dr Nikki Phillips nikki.phillips@deakin.edu.au

Current activity: See the 2013 research report.