Biography
Over the last eight years Valerie Wilson RSCN RN Bed St. MN (Research) PhD (Monash) has gained extensive experience in Practice Development, facilitation and evaluation through her work at Southern Health (Vic), Monash University and The Children’s Hospital at Westmead as well as an inaugural member of an International Practice Development collaborative and a Knowledge Utilisation/Translation group. She completed her PhD 2005, in which she evaluates the effectiveness of Practice Development strategies in a Special Care Nursery, her thesis title is ‘Developing a culture of family-centred care: An emancipatory practice development approach’. The results of her research have been published in several nursing and practice development journals and books.
Val is the Director of Nursing Research & Practice Development at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Professor of Nursing Research & Practice Development at the University of Technology Sydney. She is an Honorary Associate Professor, School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney; a Visiting Professor in the Department of Nursing and Applied Clinical Studies, Canterbury Christchurch University Kent, England and a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, School of Nursing, University of Ulster.
The focus of Val’s work is on working with clinicians to develop person centred approaches to care, that are both evidenced based and take into account the needs of patients and families. The evaluation of this work, together with a number of local, state and International projects form the basis of her research work.