4 December 2019
Relative newcomer to funding within the national research scene, the Adelaide-based Rosemary Bryant Foundation has awarded its first round of grants to three nursing/midwifery-led studies in health care sites across Australia.
Just a year after its launch in May 2018, the Foundation has released $85,000 in funding to help gather an evidence base for advancements in the care of people with dementia, patients with cancer and to better equip nurses starting out in their mental health careers.
IMPROVING EMERGENCY CARE FOR PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA - ROYAL BRISBANE AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL
Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) and QUT Nurse Researcher Nurse Researcher Dr James Hughes will explore the impact of therapeutic activity kits—with colouring books, puzzles and music—on people with dementia presenting in hospital emergency departments.
“For people with dementia, a sudden change in the environment, like to a busy hospital waiting area, coupled with their immediate medical problem, can quickly cause disorientation and behaviours such as wandering, agitation and aggression,” says Dr Hughes, who works in the Brisbane hospital’s Emergency and Trauma Centre.
“If we can prevent the unwanted behaviours, we can avoid resorting to measures, such as psychoactive medication, sedation, physical restraint or one-on-one nursing care.”
As well as puzzles, doodling pads and a colouring pack, the kits contain reminiscence cards, playing cards, towels to fold, a music player and music download voucher.
The research is being jointly funded by HESTA and the Rosemary Bryant Foundation, with results expected to be available from August 2020.
IMPROVING GRADUATE NURSES' WELLBEING: UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
A grant from the Rosemary Bryant Foundation has given Dr Rebecca Jarden and her team at the University of Melbourne the green light to begin investigating opportunities to enhance the mental health and psychological wellbeing of novice nurses.
“There are numerous well-known stressors that negatively impact on graduate nurses as they transition into the workforce,” Dr Jarden says. “Our research aims to establish the prevalence and predictors of mental health and seeks to understand the existing barriers to, and enablers of, new graduate nurses’ wellbeing and mental health.”
The study is expected to canvass hundreds of participants with half being student nurses in their final year of nursing undergraduate study and the other half being graduate nurses in their second year of work.
The project findings are anticipated to be available in late 2020 and are expected to have national relevance.
REDUCING TIME SPENT LYING FLAT AFTER A LUMBAR PUNCTURE: POST-DURAL PUNCTURE HEADACHES FOR INTRATHECAL CHEMOTHERAPY PATIENTS - BRISBANE AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL CANCER ONCOLOGY DAY THERAPY UNIT
It is not currently clear if time spent lying flat following a lumbar puncture impacts the development of a post-dural puncture headache (PDPH) or its severity—but Brisbane and Women’s Hospital’s Dr Nicole Gavin and Veronica Percival, Registered Nurse, now have the funds to investigate the link.
“A lumbar puncture is a procedure that many oncology nurses are familiar with,” Dr Gavin says from her base in the Brisbane hospital’s Cancer Care Services. “It is the procedure whereby a needle is inserted into the lower back to reach the cerebrospinal fluid that sits around the spinal cord. It is conducted for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes such as intrathecal chemotherapy.”
Although effective, Dr Gavin says the procedure is unfortunately associated with post-dural puncture headaches, which can be debilitating.
Other symptoms can include neck stiffness, tinnitus, reduced hearing, sensitivity to light and nausea. The headaches can last from days to weeks following the procedure.
“Our study will compare patients lying flat for one hour versus two hours following a lumbar puncture in the hope of determining a relationship between PDPH and length of time lying down following the procedure.”
The study is currently recruiting. Results are anticipated to be available from August 2020.