Academic Department
Cabrini – Deakin Centre for Nursing Research
Staff
Professor Tracey Bucknall
Head, Cabrini -Deakin Centre for Nursing Research
RN, ICU Cert, BN, Grad Dip Adv Nurs, PhD, MRCNA
Email : tracey.bucknall@deakin.edu.au
Tracey is a Professor at Deakin University and the new Head of the Cabrini-Deakin Centre for Nursing Research at Cabrini Hospital. Prior to this appointment, she was an Associate Professor at the School of Nursing, University of Melbourne, and Director of Nursing Research and Development at Western Health. Tracey has clinical qualifications and extensive experience in critical care nursing, and has held a variety of clinical, educational and research appointments in both private and public hospitals, and in the tertiary sector.
Her primary research interest has been clinical decision making. She has concentrated on understanding how individuals make decisions routinely and in uncertainty, understanding the environmental and social influences in health care. Tracey also researches the implementation of research into practice in areas such as pain and sedation management, medication safety and health maintenance for the elderly. More recently she has incorporated patient involvement in decision making as a means of influencing clinician uptake of research evidence.
Tracey is an Associate Editor for Worldviews on Evidence Based Nursing. She teaches in undergraduate and postgraduate nursing education programs, and supervises Masters and PhD students in decision making research.
Helen Smenda
Research Fellow, Cabrini - Deakin Centre for Nursing Research
DipNURS Stud, BA (Nurs/ed), MBUS (research)
Email: helen.smenda@deakin.edu.au
Helen's recent appointment as research fellow for the Deakin-Cabrini Centre for Nursing Research encompasses project areas of clinical nurses’ decision making and clinical handover. Her previous research includes nurse recruitment and retention that arose from her MBUS thesis on nurse satisfaction and nurses’ decision making affecting patient safety.
Helen’s background includes 19 years as a registered nurse with extensive experience in clinical practice, teaching and research, gained from health and educational institutions in four countries (New Zealand, England, Hong Kong, Australia).
Nicky Hewitt
Master of Nursing (Research ) Candidate, Deakin University
RCpN (NZ), DipHE (Critical Care), BSc (Physiology), PGDip (Nursing)
Email: hnic@deakin.edu.au
Nicky is a registered nurse who is completing her Master of Nursing (Research) at Deakin University and is based at the Cabrini - Deakin Centre for Nursing Research for the duration of her thesis. She is currently examining the effect of lateral positioning for critically ill adult patients using the Cochrane Collaboration method for systematic reviews of interventions.
Nicky has over 16 years experience in Intensive Care including the neuroscience, general and cardiothoracic subspecialties. She completed a university based critical care course in 1993 and has subsequently worked in numerous critical care units in the UK, NZ and Australia. Nicky has also worked as a postgraduate critical care course coordinator and university lecturer, teaching in NZ and Australia. While studying, Nicki is also working as a clinical nurse specialist in the Intensive Care Unit at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne.
Jill McHenry
Research Assistant, Cabrini - Deakin Centre for Nursing Research
RN, Cardiac Nurse Cert, ACP Cert.
Jill is an Associate Nurse Manager at Cabrini Malvern, with specific interest in acute medical nursing. Jill has many years experience across various nursing specialties. Currently her clinical role includes risk prevention, management and analysis, and in service education.
Jill is currently the Clinical Nurse Specialist affiliated with the Medibank Private Falls Prevention and Management Project, which is a collaboration between Cabrini Health and Cabrini-Deakin Centre for Nursing Research. A Masters of Health Science (Nursing) is under consideration.
