Meet Tariq Alanazi (pictured above), Simon Edgecombe and Noelleen Kiprillis, PhD candidates in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. They are using their research to improve care, and promote equity and access for all.
Tariq Alanazi
Tariq Alanazi is a second-year PhD candidate in the School of Nursing and Midwifery.
“I come from a regional area in Saudi Arabia,” says Alanazi. “When I was young, I saw nurses taking care of my grandfather as if he were a part of their family. That is when I realised that I wanted to be a part of the nursing world. It is the body of the health sector and the heart of humanity, and I would like to contribute to it through research.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all, especially our frontline healthcare workers. I am investigating how emergency department (ED) nurses in Saudi Arabia have been impacted by the pandemic. I am researching the psychological burdens they face, including risk perceptions, anxiety, depression, fear and stress.”
“I hope that my research will help inform education and training programs which help to improve the mental health and wellbeing of ED nurses during pandemics.”
Noelleen Kiprillis
Noelleen Kiprillis’s PhD investigates the prevalence of horizontal violence toward newly qualified nurses in their first year of practice.
“Horizontal violence is when someone in your peer group is harmful, aggressive or hostile towards you or a group of your coworkers. Sometimes horizontal violence is linked to workplace bullying,” says Kiprillis.
“I interviewed newly qualified nurses and asked them to tell me of their experiences. My research indicates that we need to learn how better to support newly qualified nurses in their first year of practice.”
Noelleen Kiprillis was a finalist in La Trobe’s 2021 3MT competition.
Simon Edgecombe
Simon Edgecombe has completed his first year of our Doctor of Nursing (Professional Doctorate).
“Since 2017, I have been working in intensive care nursing at a large hospital in Xining, China,” says Edgecombe. “The experience has broadened my understanding of intensive care nursing practice.”
He is now investigating how nurses can continue to feed intensive care unit patients via a nasogastric tube, when they are lying on their front rather than their back.
“The Doctor of Nursing (Professional Doctorate) features four online modules in research skills, that can be completed via remote study,” he says. “I’ve learned to be adaptable and use my communication skills in a different cultural and linguistic setting.”
“I hope my research will contribute to knowledge on nutrition in the critically ill and the use of the prone position and highlight issues with intensive care nursing practice and nursing more generally.”
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