Nursing Director – Professor Paul Fulbrook RN; PhD, MSc, PGDipEduc, BSc (Hons)

Professor Paul Fulbrook is Professor of Nursing in the School of Nursing, Midwifery & Paramedicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, and Honorary Professor (Faculty of Health Sciences) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg-Braamfontein. Paul commenced his current post in November 2004 and is based at the Prince Charles Hospital as Director of the Nursing Research and Practice Development Centre (NRPDC), in Brisbane, Queensland. He is an Honorary WFFCN Ambassador, an Honorary Fellow EFCCNA, and an Honorary Fellow BACCN. In 2020 Professor Fulbrook was awarded the Metro North Nursing Research Excellence Award.

Professor Fulbrook has an extensive background in nursing specialising in intensive care nursing, working as a Clinical Teacher and then Senior Lecturer in critical care. Paul is well known nationally and internationally for his critical care nursing work and has spoken at many national and international conferences. He has been involved in a wide variety of international and national developments in critical care nursing including publication of internationally endorsed position statements and national guidelines.

His community engagement activities are extensive and include positions such as Chair positions, Executive Board positions, International Honorary Fellowships, Editorial Board membership, and committee participation: Queensland State-wide Pressure Injury Prevention Collaborative, Hospital Research Council, Hospital Research Ethics Committee, University Higher Degrees Committee.

At the NRPDC, Paul is engaged in a range of research projects with health services, university staff, and supervision of research students. Paul leads the research program of the NRPDC which aims to contribute to improved clinical outcomes. The work Professor Fulbrook leads at the NRPDC has contributed to reducing the impact of pressure injuries and improving patient and hospital outcomes, related to; significant harm, pain, decreased quality of life, increased hospital stay and treatment times and associated personal and financial costs.

Orcid ID: 0000-0002-6547-1861

 

Nurse Researcher – Ms Josephine Lovegrove RN; BN (Hons), PhD(c)

Josephine (Josie) Lovegrove holds a joint QUT/NRPDC appointment and is an experienced Nurse Researcher here at the NRPDC. Josie is an experienced registered nurse with a background in aged care and acute (surgical) nursing. Josie moved into nursing research with an interest in improving nursing care and patient safety following her own practice experiences with facility-acquired complications (e.g. severe pressure injuries), and is passionate about improving care and translating research into practice for better patient outcomes.

Josie previously completed a Bachelor of Nursing Honours research program which explored the relationships between assessed pressure injury risk and nurses’ prescription and implementation of preventative interventions in the acute hospital setting. Outcomes from this research, including a proposed risk-stratified pressure injury prevention bundle, have since been translated into practice at a tertiary hospital through further development and implementation of the hospital’s pressure injury care/management plan. Josie is now a current ACU PhD candidate and is extending upon her previous work, with her PhD program of research developing an international risk-stratified pressure injury prevention bundle for use in intensive care.

Outside of Josie’s studies, her research work also focuses on pressure injury prevention within acute care. Overall, she has disseminated her work extensively, including ten high-impact journal publications, presentations at national and international conferences and several published systematic review protocols and research grants. Josie also contributes to the supervision of Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) students within the NRPDC.

Orcid ID: 0000-0003-1466-2374

 

Research Fellow – Dr Adam Burston RN; PhD, M HealthServMgmt, Grad Cert (Nurs), BN

Dr Adam Burston is a Research Fellow at the Nursing Research and Practice Development Centre (NRPDC) The Prince Charles Hospital (TPCH), and a Senior Lecturer School of Nursing, Midwifery, & Paramedicine, Australian Catholic University. Adam completed his PhD at The University of Queensland in 2018 exploring the incidence of moral distress in the aged care workforce, receiving the inaugural University of Queensland School of Nursing & Midwifery PReST scholarship during his PhD candidature.  Adam has published research on topics such as moral distress in nursing, and nurse-surgeon training. 

Dr Burston has an extensive and varied background in healthcare, including aged care and several acute surgical nursing specialties. He has co-authored book chapters on ethical practice, peri-operative nursing, respiratory nursing, and nursing management of pain.  As an academic he has particular interest in undergraduate nursing education, specifically transition to university (commencing students), healthcare ethics, and inter-professional practice, and is recognised for this work as a Senior Fellow of Advance Higher Education (AHE). 

Adams’ focus at the NRPDC is multi-faceted, including consumer experiences of pressure injury, assessment of mucosal pressure injury, and nursing students transition to clinical practice through the TPCH clinical school.

Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1135-3413

 

Research Assistant – Ms Saroeun Ven RN, BN(Hons)

Saroeun Ven is a registered nurse at The Prince Charles Hospital (TPCH), and a Research Assistant/Nurse here at the Nursing Research and Practice Development Centre, in Brisbane, Queensland. Saroeun is an experienced Palliative Care nurse with TPCH, with a strong interest in improving pressure injury nursing care for palliative care patients. Saroeun recently completed a Bachelor of Nursing Honours research program, comparing the differences in outcomes of pressure injury risk assessment (risk status, preventative intervention prescription) when using a standardised risk assessment tool versus clinical judgement in an acute hospital setting. In 2021, Saroeun was awarded a First-Class Bachelor of Nursing Honours by Australian Catholic University (ACU). During this program, Saroeun co-authored a publication reporting a systematic review which examined these differences between risk assessment methods. As a Research Assistant/Nurse, Saroeun is currently involved with projects focusing on pressure injury prevention. Building on her previous research work and clinical background, Saroeun plans to commence PhD studies exploring pressure injury prevention in palliative care patients in a hospital setting.

Orcid ID: 0000-0002-6903-8926