Can you please tell us a little bit about your career journey and research?
I have been a Registered Nurse since the early 1990s and have spent most my clinical career in critical care. I specialised in the care of patients with chronic cardiovascular diseases, an area of practice that has seen exponential change in technical, interventional, medical and nursing care over the last three decades. My PhD examined the impact of nursing intervention on the trajectory of pulmonary recovery for patients having open heart surgery. My career is hallmarked by the consistent combination of clinical and academic roles culminating in my current role as Chair of Nursing for Western Health.
How is your research going to make health and wellbeing easier for everyone to achieve?
My recent research efforts have been focused on readmission rate reduction and sex-based differences in cardiovascular trials. Cardiovascular patients generally have complex co-morbid conditions. Their recovery is fundamentally influenced by models of care and their confidence in self-management. Ultimately, if my research can reduce patients need to return to acute care for support and improve patients’ capacity for self-care, optimal healthcare will be easier to achieve.
What inspired you to undertake this research?
In my most recent role as a Clinical Nurse Consultant, 30 days after cardiac surgery I would call patients to determine whether they had been readmitted to a healthcare facility. Most often patients had re-presented to hospitals for reasons that could have been avoided if they were better equipped to manage their recovery. I am also inspired by an acute awareness of inequities for women with cardiovascular disease. Inequities are also evident for those women generating, implementing and disseminating best practice evidence for these patients.
If you could recommend one book for everyone at IHT to read, what would that be?
A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry was an eyeopener for me as a young adult and then a poignant reminder of the brutality of discrimination as adult.
What is your favourite podcast? (Apart from the IHT podcast, of course!)
I’m much more inclined to indulge in an audiobook than a podcast, anything narrated by Steve Shanahan invokes immediate interest.
’60 Songs that explained the 90s’ fills a gap on my drive home from work.
You’ve got a Saturday afternoon completely to yourself, what would we find you doing?
Reading a novel in a sunny spot and eating cheese
And finally, what is the best lesson you have learned so far during your career?
Quoting wise words from Morrie ‘The only thing that dies is our body, not the relationship we have with others.’
Learn more about Professor Rochelle Wyne here.
