Welcome to the February and March edition of the Sydney Nursing School (SNS) Newsletter! I am stepping in as a guest editor for this issue.

$346,157.55 NHMRC Partnership Projects

This Partnership will build on the Finding Your Way SDM model launched in 2021, to investigate the best ways to implement the model and the supporting resources effectively. The project will direct funding to advance system and sustained implementation of shared decision making (SDM), integrate community partnerships, co-production and cultural adaptation into implementation science frameworks and answer priority calls of the NHMRC in relation to the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Jill is a distinguished nurse and social scientist from the University of Surrey, recently visited the Sydney Nursing School to meet with colleagues and strengthen collaborations.  Jill’s research focuses on creating positive practice environments for nurses and demonstrating the crucial link between staff well-being and patient outcomes. Her work has influenced policy and practice internationally, including the first national evaluation of Schwartz Rounds in the UK, which supports healthcare staff in providing compassionate care.

During her visit to the Sydney Nursing School, Jill delivered two presentations from her work: one on the impact of COVID-19 on nurses and another on psychological safety for nurses in the workplace. Jill highlighted findings from her study on the psychological toll of COVID-19 on nurses and emphasized the need for targeted interventions to support nursing personnel who are still recovering from the pandemic. Her presentation on psychological safety reinforced the importance of fostering environments where nurses feel valued, respected, and able to speak up without fear.

Jill’s visit provided valuable insights into enhancing workplace support for nurses, aligning with ongoing efforts to improve staff retention and patient care quality. The discussions sparked important conversations about strategies to promote a more sustainable and compassionate healthcare workforce. We look forward to her next visit.

On 19 February 2025, Sydney Nursing School (SNS) welcomed Associate Professor Linda Park from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). A leading researcher in digital health, Linda has spearheaded numerous funded trials exploring the use of mobile apps and text messaging to deliver engaging, practical, and meaningful technology-based interventions that enhance patient self-care, clinical outcomes, and quality of life for individuals with heart disease.

In addition to her research, Linda is a Nurse Practitioner at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Centre and is widely recognized for her mentorship of clinician scholars. She leads a multi-university research fellowship program, fostering the next generation of clinician-researchers.

During her visit, Linda delivered an inspiring presentation, Digital Revolution in Cardiac Care: Building Interdisciplinary and International Synergy, where she shared her research insights and engaged in thought-provoking discussions with SNS colleagues.

Her visit highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and international partnerships in advancing cardiac care through digital innovation. 

Domestic Violence Routine Screening is mandated across various settings in health and commonly undertaken by nurses. The first phase of a funded project led by Associate Professor Sophie Isobel was recently published by the NSW Ministry of Health and is available here: Domestic Violence Routine Screening Implementation Review . The work is a policy implementation review looking at enhancing Domestic Violence Routine Screening across mandated settings, for the purposes of making screening practices more trauma informed. In this first phase targeted focus groups, in-depth interviews and a statewide survey explored the experiences of staff Alcohol and Other Drug services and Maternity services, with implications for practice, policy and education. The second phase of the work is currently underway exploring the experiences of staff in Mental Health and Child and Family Settings, as well as working with Victim-Survivors to co-design a clinical resource to support trauma-informed staff responses to disclosures. The clinical resource will guide ‘in the moment’ responses and be rolled out across NSW Health services in the second half of 2025.

PhD candidate, Heilok Chong, supervised by Professor Elizabeth Denney-Wilson has gathered significant interest in the media for her study into the link between bottle feeding toddlers to help them sleep and health risks such as dental decay and obesity.

Australian guidelines advise that children stop bottles from 1 year of age and avoid bottle feeding in bed. Using sing children in the Healthy Smiles Healthy Kids study, Heilok and research team found that 1 in 3 children were being bottle fed to sleep at 2 years of age. Children who were being bottle fed at 2 or 3 years of age had nearly twice the risk of having overweight and nearly twice as many teeth affected by tooth decay when they were 3-4 years of age.

Media coverages are available at ABC News, Medical Xpress, The Sun and University of Sydney News.