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Professor Victoria Traynor Professor

Faculty Member

  • Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health
  • School of Nursing
  • Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute
  • Director - ADHERe
  • Acting Head of School - School of Nursing 2021

Top Publications

Research Overview

  • I am a Professor of Nursing at the University of Wollongong where I have worked for the past 15 years.  My current role as Acting Head of School has required a focus on supporting students and staff to manage the impact of COVID. 

    I am the Founding Director of Aged and Dementia Health Education Research (ADHERe).  ADHERe is a centre for interdisciplinary researchers generating evidence in gerontological studies.   The aim of our research is to contribute to the transformation of the lives of older people and family carers using the evidence-based resources they produce from their research studies.  Our research adopts knowledge translation strategies and includes a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research methods.  Always at the centre of our research is actively engaging stakeholders to ensure the outputs have high impact for the aged care community.

    Delirium care has been a focus of our centre for over ten years, including developing the Delirium Care Pathways for the Commonwealth Government which informed the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care Delirium Care Standard.  Most recently, we focused on the use of OSCEs as educational intervention to improve delirium care outcomes in acute aged care, medical and surgical wards as well as perioperative care.  Our team also work on the topic of driving, specifically supporting individuals living with a dementia to make decisions about driving retirement and developing resources to support seniors drive safer for longer.  Most recently, the team won a $1.3 million tender with the Department of Health to a deliver and evaluate a national Aged Care Transition in Practice Programme for registered nurses.  Our team are part of collaborations with research colleagues and practitioners in Canada, Scotland, England and Taiwan.  Underpinning all our work is implementing person centred care within their research, education and ways of working within their own team and with collaborators.

Available as Research Supervisor

Selected Publications

Impact Story

  • <p>According to the Deloitte Access Economics report, there were 4.8 million Australians aged over 15 years living with incontinence in 2010. The total financial cost of incontinence (excluding the burden of disease) was estimated to be $42.9 billion. Since 1996, Simavita, a start-up company headquartered in North Sydney, has been developing a revolutionary new product SIM® to help manage incontinence in aged care homes.  SIM® remotely monitors continence events to make assessment easier, simpler and more accurate than existing manual methods.  While the company had confidence in their new product, Simavita needed independent research and evidence to validate SIM® before taking it to market.  “As a small and rapidly growing global business, Simavita does not have the significant research resources at its disposal as a larger company might,” said Simavita’s Chief Executive Officer Philippa Lewis.</p><p>Dr Ping Yu from University of Wollongong’s School of Information Systems and Technology is an expert in the use of information technology to improve the effectiveness of healthcare and evaluation of health information systems.</p><p>The company became aware of Enterprise Connect’s Researchers in Business program that provides funding to help place experts from universities or public research agencies with businesses to develop and implement new commercial ideas.  <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/d597ix8ydn7nrmt/Enterprise-Connect-Success-Story-20110326.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Enterprise Connect provided $50 000, matched by Simavita to engage University of Wollongong researchers, led by </a>Dr<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/d597ix8ydn7nrmt/Enterprise-Connect-Success-Story-20110326.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Yu to evaluate the product</a>.   Researchers conducted two field trials in two aged care facilities and then evaluated the data to validate the efficacy of SIM®.</p><p><strong>Outcome</strong></p><p>Following the validation of its product, Simavita moved quickly to take SIM® to market. The company is now listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with the symbol SVA. It is operating in Australia, Europe and North America.</p><p>UOW and Simavita have continued their successful collaboration through commercial research. A multi-disciplinary team of researchers in Faculty of Informatics and Health & Behavioural Sciences, Dr Ping Yu, Prof. David Hailey, Prof. Richard Fleming and A/Prof. Victoria Traynor have published an original research paper to <em>Journal of Advanced Nursing</em> reporting the impact of SIM® on continence care in residential aged care homes in May 2012. They also disseminated the urinary continence care practices in Australian nursing homes to the international community through Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing in 2014.</p><p>The story of our successful research collaboration was show-cased by NSW Enterprise Connect program, reported in Simavita’s web site and UOW in 2012. It was showcased as <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/2fhydhnt50k8gtz/ContinenceMonitor2014.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a successful university and industry collaborative research case at UOW</a>.</p>

     Detail View
  • Children today are, more than ever before, likely to interact with family and community members living with a dementia. These occurrences are more likely to happen as the population ages, with over 900,000 Australians expected to be living with dementia by 2050 (Deloitte Access Economics, 2011). Project DARE developed a short education intervention for Stage 2 (ages 8 - 11 years) at a local pubic school. It utilised art as a medium for children to express their knowledge and perception of dementia. The children were introduced to the talents of local artists who spent two full days working with the children at the school and teaching them new visual art techniques and histories. In between the two art lessons the children received a lesson on dementia.<br /><br />The children presented as surprised, excited and proud to learn new art skills and to see the results of their works. The project made children aware of the issue of dementia so that they can better understand people in our community who live with a dementia. In turn, Project DARE, in its stages of infancy, has started a small but powerful wave of change in our community... children who better understand dementia, who are more open to relating to those who have dementia, creating a more caring, understanding and humanistic relationship with those around us who need our care and compassion. It is this kind of impact that we can only hope will grow, as this project grows both in Australia around the globe.

     Detail View

Available as Research Supervisor

Potential Supervision Topics

  • Transdisciplinary research related to aged and dementia care

    Specifically studies focusing on:

    Delirium Care

    Dementia and Driving and Driving in the Senior Years

    Person Centred Care

    Arts and Dementia

    Competencies for Practitioners Working with Older People and their Families

    Nutritional Needs and Mealtime Support for Individuals Living with a Dementia

Advisees

  • Graduate Advising Relationship

    Degree Research Title Advisee
    Doctor of Philosophy Pre-Operative Serum Electrolyte Levels As Predictors For The Development Of Atrial Fibrillation In Post-Surgical Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Patients
    Doctor of Philosophy "In My Shoes": Investigating the Empathy Levels of Staff towards Older Patients through Participation in an Age Simulation Educational Initiative Bowden, Alera
    Doctor of Philosophy Walking the Journey of Dementia: a Community Study Wu, Darcelle
    Doctor of Philosophy An Innovative Approach to Minimise Falls and Falls Related Injuries by Implementation of a Reflective Model Aimed at the Staff and the Patients in Acute Care Facility David, Vani
    Doctor of Philosophy The Delirium Puzzle: Piecing together best practice and clinical care Montgomery, Amy
    Doctor of Philosophy (Integrated) What is the meaning of a psychiatric service dog (mindDog) for a person living with an enduring mental illness? Davenport, Chez
    Doctor of Philosophy Barriers and Facilitators in Decisions About Maintaining or Retiring From Driving for AdultsAaged 65 years and Over Veerhuis, Nadine
    Doctor of Philosophy Using a co-creation approach to develop a physical activity intervention for older people with long-term lower limb musculoskeletal conditions: A cross cultural study. Adeniji, Oluwatoyin
    Doctor of Philosophy Specialling’ activities for older people: an ethnographic study Coyle, Miriam

Outreach And Community Service Activities

Education And Training

Teaching Overview

  • Qualitative research methods (PG)
    Aged and dementia care (UG and PG)

Keywords

  • ADHERe
  • Nursing
  • Qualitative Research Methods
    Translational research
    Gerontology

Mailing Address

  • 44 Northfields Avenue

    Wollongong

    NSW

    2522

    Australia

Located In Facility

Fax

  • +61 2 4221 3137

Web Of Science Researcher Id

  • U-2130-2017

Top Publications

Research Overview

  • I am a Professor of Nursing at the University of Wollongong where I have worked for the past 15 years.  My current role as Acting Head of School has required a focus on supporting students and staff to manage the impact of COVID. 

    I am the Founding Director of Aged and Dementia Health Education Research (ADHERe).  ADHERe is a centre for interdisciplinary researchers generating evidence in gerontological studies.   The aim of our research is to contribute to the transformation of the lives of older people and family carers using the evidence-based resources they produce from their research studies.  Our research adopts knowledge translation strategies and includes a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research methods.  Always at the centre of our research is actively engaging stakeholders to ensure the outputs have high impact for the aged care community.

    Delirium care has been a focus of our centre for over ten years, including developing the Delirium Care Pathways for the Commonwealth Government which informed the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care Delirium Care Standard.  Most recently, we focused on the use of OSCEs as educational intervention to improve delirium care outcomes in acute aged care, medical and surgical wards as well as perioperative care.  Our team also work on the topic of driving, specifically supporting individuals living with a dementia to make decisions about driving retirement and developing resources to support seniors drive safer for longer.  Most recently, the team won a $1.3 million tender with the Department of Health to a deliver and evaluate a national Aged Care Transition in Practice Programme for registered nurses.  Our team are part of collaborations with research colleagues and practitioners in Canada, Scotland, England and Taiwan.  Underpinning all our work is implementing person centred care within their research, education and ways of working within their own team and with collaborators.

Selected Publications

Impact Story

  • <p>According to the Deloitte Access Economics report, there were 4.8 million Australians aged over 15 years living with incontinence in 2010. The total financial cost of incontinence (excluding the burden of disease) was estimated to be $42.9 billion. Since 1996, Simavita, a start-up company headquartered in North Sydney, has been developing a revolutionary new product SIM® to help manage incontinence in aged care homes.  SIM® remotely monitors continence events to make assessment easier, simpler and more accurate than existing manual methods.  While the company had confidence in their new product, Simavita needed independent research and evidence to validate SIM® before taking it to market.  “As a small and rapidly growing global business, Simavita does not have the significant research resources at its disposal as a larger company might,” said Simavita’s Chief Executive Officer Philippa Lewis.</p><p>Dr Ping Yu from University of Wollongong’s School of Information Systems and Technology is an expert in the use of information technology to improve the effectiveness of healthcare and evaluation of health information systems.</p><p>The company became aware of Enterprise Connect’s Researchers in Business program that provides funding to help place experts from universities or public research agencies with businesses to develop and implement new commercial ideas.  <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/d597ix8ydn7nrmt/Enterprise-Connect-Success-Story-20110326.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Enterprise Connect provided $50 000, matched by Simavita to engage University of Wollongong researchers, led by </a>Dr<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/d597ix8ydn7nrmt/Enterprise-Connect-Success-Story-20110326.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Yu to evaluate the product</a>.   Researchers conducted two field trials in two aged care facilities and then evaluated the data to validate the efficacy of SIM®.</p><p><strong>Outcome</strong></p><p>Following the validation of its product, Simavita moved quickly to take SIM® to market. The company is now listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with the symbol SVA. It is operating in Australia, Europe and North America.</p><p>UOW and Simavita have continued their successful collaboration through commercial research. A multi-disciplinary team of researchers in Faculty of Informatics and Health & Behavioural Sciences, Dr Ping Yu, Prof. David Hailey, Prof. Richard Fleming and A/Prof. Victoria Traynor have published an original research paper to <em>Journal of Advanced Nursing</em> reporting the impact of SIM® on continence care in residential aged care homes in May 2012. They also disseminated the urinary continence care practices in Australian nursing homes to the international community through Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing in 2014.</p><p>The story of our successful research collaboration was show-cased by NSW Enterprise Connect program, reported in Simavita’s web site and UOW in 2012. It was showcased as <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/2fhydhnt50k8gtz/ContinenceMonitor2014.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a successful university and industry collaborative research case at UOW</a>.</p>

     Detail View
  • Children today are, more than ever before, likely to interact with family and community members living with a dementia. These occurrences are more likely to happen as the population ages, with over 900,000 Australians expected to be living with dementia by 2050 (Deloitte Access Economics, 2011). Project DARE developed a short education intervention for Stage 2 (ages 8 - 11 years) at a local pubic school. It utilised art as a medium for children to express their knowledge and perception of dementia. The children were introduced to the talents of local artists who spent two full days working with the children at the school and teaching them new visual art techniques and histories. In between the two art lessons the children received a lesson on dementia.<br /><br />The children presented as surprised, excited and proud to learn new art skills and to see the results of their works. The project made children aware of the issue of dementia so that they can better understand people in our community who live with a dementia. In turn, Project DARE, in its stages of infancy, has started a small but powerful wave of change in our community... children who better understand dementia, who are more open to relating to those who have dementia, creating a more caring, understanding and humanistic relationship with those around us who need our care and compassion. It is this kind of impact that we can only hope will grow, as this project grows both in Australia around the globe.

     Detail View

Potential Supervision Topics

  • Transdisciplinary research related to aged and dementia care

    Specifically studies focusing on:

    Delirium Care

    Dementia and Driving and Driving in the Senior Years

    Person Centred Care

    Arts and Dementia

    Competencies for Practitioners Working with Older People and their Families

    Nutritional Needs and Mealtime Support for Individuals Living with a Dementia

Advisees

  • Graduate Advising Relationship

    Degree Research Title Advisee
    Doctor of Philosophy Pre-Operative Serum Electrolyte Levels As Predictors For The Development Of Atrial Fibrillation In Post-Surgical Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Patients
    Doctor of Philosophy "In My Shoes": Investigating the Empathy Levels of Staff towards Older Patients through Participation in an Age Simulation Educational Initiative Bowden, Alera
    Doctor of Philosophy Walking the Journey of Dementia: a Community Study Wu, Darcelle
    Doctor of Philosophy An Innovative Approach to Minimise Falls and Falls Related Injuries by Implementation of a Reflective Model Aimed at the Staff and the Patients in Acute Care Facility David, Vani
    Doctor of Philosophy The Delirium Puzzle: Piecing together best practice and clinical care Montgomery, Amy
    Doctor of Philosophy (Integrated) What is the meaning of a psychiatric service dog (mindDog) for a person living with an enduring mental illness? Davenport, Chez
    Doctor of Philosophy Barriers and Facilitators in Decisions About Maintaining or Retiring From Driving for AdultsAaged 65 years and Over Veerhuis, Nadine
    Doctor of Philosophy Using a co-creation approach to develop a physical activity intervention for older people with long-term lower limb musculoskeletal conditions: A cross cultural study. Adeniji, Oluwatoyin
    Doctor of Philosophy Specialling’ activities for older people: an ethnographic study Coyle, Miriam

Outreach And Community Service Activities

Education And Training

Teaching Overview

  • Qualitative research methods (PG)
    Aged and dementia care (UG and PG)

Keywords

  • ADHERe
  • Nursing
  • Qualitative Research Methods
    Translational research
    Gerontology

Mailing Address

  • 44 Northfields Avenue

    Wollongong

    NSW

    2522

    Australia

Located In Facility

Fax

  • +61 2 4221 3137

Web Of Science Researcher Id

  • U-2130-2017
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Visualisations

  Publication History
 

Research Areas

Geographic Focus