Mission Statement
My mission in the role is to support the ICS in its broad remit for high quality research to underpin practice and policy. To this end, I will promote interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research on bladder, bowel and pelvic floor dysfunction. Given the projections associated with global ageing and my specific expertise in gerontological nursing, I will use the role to help build capacity in research about the continence care needs of older people in particular. This includes research to promote older peoples’ voices and to challenge stigma and ageism. I am committed to building the knowledge and skills of the aged care and health care workforce. As such, I will promote evidence and research that aligns with this. Finally, consistent with my professional goals, I will use the role to champion research to better support people with intractable incontinence and their carers.
Skills, abilities and experience
I bring to the position, knowledge of gerontological nursing combined with academic expertise and experience on local organising committees for national and international conferences. I currently co-chair the National Conference on Incontinence in Australia and was on the local organising committee for ICS 2021. My role involves directing a large program of research at the National Ageing Research Institute. I am a longstanding and active member of ICS; on the Nursing Subcommittee for two terms. I recently contributed to ICS White Paper on Ethical Considerations in Caring for Older Adults with Urinary Incontinence. In 2020, the ICS nominated me among the top 50 researchers and clinicians whose research has shaped the treatment of incontinence and pelvic floor disorders over the last 50+ years. My most recent research resulted in a new paradigm for the management of incontinence among care-dependent older adults in nursing homes. I recently designed and evaluated a model of continence care for nursing homes – awarded the best abstract in gerontology by the ICS in 2021. The model will be systematically implemented in nursing homes across Australia.
Elections 2022