Nursing educator off to the US

Nursing lecturer Julie Harris will speak on the practice of administering medications at a US conference.

Contributed

A FRASER Coast educator is heading to the US to teach American students a thing or two.

Julie Harris, a nursing lecturer at University of Southern Queensland, is leaving in June to give a presentation at the NETNEP 2012 International Nurse Education Conference in Baltimore.

Ms Harris said she was "thrilled to bits" about the opportunity to attend the conference and give a presentation.

She will speak about her research on administration of medication practices entitled Rewriting the rights to get it right: An explorative study of medication administration practices.

"I am studying the way nurses apply what they were taught to their practice," she said.

"The research is part of my PhD work which is a six-year project."

Ms Harris said she had observed nurses administering medications and interviewed them, asking them about their experiences.

"Traditionally, medication administration has been taught using a model which is yet to be proven to reflect contemporary nursing practice.

"My study investigates this model with the view to informing future curriculum development."

While she is in the US, Ms Harris will work with the Institute of Safe Medication Practice, an international leader in medication safety.

Continuing the good news for Ms Harris, her work also recently won the Most Thought-Provoking Award at the Pro Vice-Chancellor's research evening at the University of Queensland, Fraser Coast.