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Nursing and Midwifery

Dr Patricia Healy

PhD.

 
researcher
 

Biography

I am currently employed as a senior research fellow at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, NUI, Galway where I am working as the programme manager for Evidence Synthesis Ireland (ESI). ESI is an exciting  all-island, initiative that aims to build evidence synthesis knowledge, awareness and capacity among the public, health care institutions and policymakers, clinicians and researchers on the Island of Ireland. 

I am a midwife and nurse. I trained and worked as a midwife in the Coombe women’s and infants Hospital in Dublin and as a children's nurse in Our Lady’s Hospital, Crumlin. I am also a registered general nurse having completed the 4 year combined children and general programme through Crumlin. My clinical speciality is special and intensive neonatal care where I spent many very rewarding clinical practice years. I continue to indulge my great love of neonatal care by teaching across the undergraduate and postgraduate midwifery programmes whenever the opportunity arises.   I hold a Nursing Degree and a Midwifery Masters from Trinity College Dublin, a Diploma in Health Services Management from University Limerick and a PhD from NUI, Galway. My PhD focused on cerebral palsy through which I developed a particular interest in quality and safety, risk management and clinical negligence in healthcare especially in the maternity services. As part of my PhD experience I worked for a time as a Clinical Risk Advisor in the Clinical Indemnity Scheme, which is a branch of the State Claims Agency. Since completing my PhD in 2012 I have been employed as a researcher in NUIG working on a variety of  research projects including maternity, trial methodology, research on research and evidence synthesis.

Research Interests

My research interests are maternity care, neonatology, research methodology, clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and evidence synthesis.

2016- 2019: I worked on a Core Outcome Set  called COSGROVE; Core Outcome Set for GROwth restriction: deVeloping Endpoints. This project is funded through the HRB Mother and Baby Clinical Trial Network Ireland.
 
2016- 2018: I was in receipt of a HRB Cochrane Review Fellowship and conducted a systematic review entitled 'Design-based methods to influence the completeness of response to self-administered questionnaires. 

2018- 2019: PRioRiTy II (Prioritising Retention in Randomised Trials). PRioRiTy involves the conduct of a priority setting partnership (PSP) in collaboration with the James Lind Alliance and the University of Aberdeen. The objective of the PRioRiTy II Study is to identify unanswered questions around trial retention, and then prioritise those that stakeholder groups agree are the most important. 

2015-2017: PRioRiTy I (Prioritising Recruitment in Randomised Trials). PRioRiTy involved the conduct of a priority setting partnership (PSP) in collaboration with the James Lind Alliance and the NIHR in the UK. The objective of the PRioRiTy Study was to identify unanswered questions around trial recruitment, and then prioritise those that stakeholder groups agree are the most important.  

2012 - 2016: Improving the organisation of maternal health service delivery and optimising childbirth by increasing vaginal birth after caesarean section through enhanced women-centred care (OptiBIRTH trial):  (ISRCTN10612254). I worked as a post doctoral researcher/ project manager on this project.

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
(2018) 'Identifying trial recruitment uncertainties using a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership – the PRioRiTy (Prioritising Recruitment in Randomised Trials) study'
Patricia Healy, Sandra Galvin, Paula R. Williamson, Shaun Treweek, Caroline Whiting, Beccy Maeso, Christopher Bray, Peter Brocklehurst, Mary Clarke Moloney, Abdel Douiri, Carrol Gamble, Heidi R. Gardner, Derick Mitchell, Derek Stewart, Joan Jordan, Martin O’Donnell, Mike Clarke, Sue H. Pavitt, Eleanor Woodford Guegan, Amanda Blatch-Jones, Valerie Smith, Hannah Reay and Declan Devane (2018) 'Identifying trial recruitment uncertainties using a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership – the PRioRiTy (Prioritising Recruitment in Randomised Trials) study'. Trials, 19 [DOI] [Details]
(2018) 'Process evaluation for OptiBIRTH, a randomised controlled trial of a complex intervention designed to increase rates of vaginal birth after caesarean section'
Healy, P,Smith, V,Savage, G,Clarke, M,Devane, D,Gross, MM,Morano, S,Daly, D,Grylka-Baeschlin, S,Nicoletti, J,Sinclair, M,Maguire, R,Carroll, M,Begley, C (2018) 'Process evaluation for OptiBIRTH, a randomised controlled trial of a complex intervention designed to increase rates of vaginal birth after caesarean section'. Trials, 19 [DOI] [Details]
(2018) 'Introducing the informed health choices project to Ireland'
Healy P (2018) 'Introducing the informed health choices project to Ireland'. BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, [DOI] [Details]
(2017) 'Vaginal birth after caesarean: Views of women from countries with low VBAC rates'
Nilsson, C,Lalor, J,Begley, C,Carroll, M,Gross, MM,Grylka-Baeschlin, S,Lundgren, I,Matterne, A,Morano, S,Nicoletti, J,Healy, P (2017) 'Vaginal birth after caesarean: Views of women from countries with low VBAC rates'. Women And Birth, 30 :481-490 [DOI] [Details]
(2017) 'Mode of birth and postnatal health-related quality of life after one previous cesarean in three European countries'
Healy P (2017) 'Mode of birth and postnatal health-related quality of life after one previous cesarean in three European countries'. Birth, [Details]
(2016) 'Clinicians' views of factors of importance for improving the rate of VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean section): a study from countries with low VBAC rates'
Lundgren, I,Healy, P,Carroll, M,Begley, C,Matterne, A,Gross, MM,Grylka-Baeschlin, S,Nicoletti, J,Morano, S,Nilsson, C,Lalor, J (2016) 'Clinicians' views of factors of importance for improving the rate of VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean section): a study from countries with low VBAC rates'. BMC Pregnancy And Childbirth, 16 [DOI] [Details]
(2015) 'Improving the organisation of maternal health service delivery and optimising childbirth by increasing vaginal birth after caesarean section through enhanced women-centred care (OptiBIRTH trial): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial (ISRCTN10612254)'
Clarke, M,Savage, G,Smith, V,Daly, D,Devane, D,Gross, MM,Grylka-Baeschlin, S,Healy, P,Morano, S,Nicoletti, J,Begley, C (2015) 'Improving the organisation of maternal health service delivery and optimising childbirth by increasing vaginal birth after caesarean section through enhanced women-centred care (OptiBIRTH trial): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial (ISRCTN10612254)'. Trials, 16 [DOI] [Details]
(2014) 'Developments in neonatal care and nursing responses'
Healy P (2014) 'Developments in neonatal care and nursing responses'. British Journal Of Nursing, [DOI] [Details]
(2012) 'Retained vaginal swabs: review of an adverse event in obstetrics through closed claims analysis'
Healy P (2012) 'Retained vaginal swabs: review of an adverse event in obstetrics through closed claims analysis'. British Journal Of Midwifery, [DOI] [Details]
(2011) 'Methodological considerations in cohort study designs'
Healy P, Devane D (2011) 'Methodological considerations in cohort study designs'. Nurse researcher, 18 (3):32-36 [Details]
(2010) 'Cardiotocography for assessment of fetal wellbeing during labour'
Devane D, Smith V, Healy P (2010) 'Cardiotocography for assessment of fetal wellbeing during labour'. Pract Midwife, 13 (6):18-20 [Details]
(2010) 'Midwifery basics: Understanding research (6)'
Healy P (2010) 'Midwifery basics: Understanding research (6)'. The Practising Midwife, [Details]
(2003) 'Using the Roper-Logan-Tierney model in neonatal transport'
Healy P (2003) 'Using the Roper-Logan-Tierney model in neonatal transport'. British Journal Of Nursing, [DOI] [Details]
(2003) 'The Benefits of Specialised Neonatal Transport Teams: Effects on the Infants and their Parents'
Patricia Healy (2003) 'The Benefits of Specialised Neonatal Transport Teams: Effects on the Infants and their Parents'. Journal of Neonatal Nursing, [Details]

Teaching Interests

I teach on the subjects of neonatology, midwifery, risk management, clinical governance and research methodology across the undergraduate and postgraduate midwifery programmes.   
I completed a level 9 Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in 2016