Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Research (CNMR)

The CNMR Team

Associate Professor Lauretta Luck

Lauretta Luck Profile Image

Associate Professor Lauretta Luck is the Director of the Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Research, a conjoint position of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University and Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District. I support and mentor Nurse Clinicians undertaking research focused on improving patient care and outcomes and enhancing nursing practice. I have many years teaching in the tertiary sector both at Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels. I supervise undergraduate and postgraduate research students including Bachelor of Nursing (Hons), Master of Research and PhD students and mentor Bachelor of Nursing (Advanced) students. I have Co-supervised 1 PhD Student, 1 MN(Hons) and Supervised 1 Honours student to completion. I am currently Principal Supervisor for 1 Phd,1 MRes and 1 Honors student. I am Co-supervising 2 Phd students. I have examined 3 BN(Hons) thesis and 2 PhD thesis. My research expertise include case study design, mixed methods research and qualitative designs.  My areas of research include violence towards nurses, nursing workforce issues and nursing education. I have published in, and review, national and international journals and presented a national and international conferences.

Contact Associate Professor Lauretta Luck.

Associate Professor Virginia Stulz

Associate Professor Virginia Stulz has held a conjoint position between Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District and Western Sydney University at the Centre since August 2017.  In her previous role as the Senior Midwifery Advisor for Department of Health, Northern Territory (NT) Government, she worked on a variety of projects including integration of NT maternity services and she led the implementation of Privately Practising Midwives in the NT in alignment with law reform in 2014.  Virginia was also a co-investigator on a national research project evaluating organisational cultural competence in maternity care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, commissioned by the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council, from 2015—2017.

Contact Associate Professor Virginis Stulz.


Researchers who work with the Centre

The Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Research (CNMR) collaborates with the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District (NBMLHD) and Western Sydney University to strengthen and build key areas of research by empowering nurses and midwives to develop their research skills and capacity.

  • Kellie Kaczosowski - Nurse Educator and Safety Culture Coordinator with NBMLHD. Kellie has a clinical interest and post graduate degree specialising in emergency nursing.
  • Linda Ora - Clinical Nurse Consultant and Palliative Care Service Development Officer in Supportive and Palliative Care for NBMLHD.
  • Jo Russell - Nurse Practitioner in Aged Care Springwood/Blue Mountains District ANZAC Memorial Hospital.
  • Sarah Maguire - Clinical Nurse Consultant in Cancer Services, McGrath Breast Care Nurse Nepean Hospital.
  • Jeni Stevens - Clinical Midwifery Consultant in Infant Feeding at Nepean Hospital.
  • Jennifer Aiken - Clinical Nurse Consultant in Continence, Lemongrove Community Centre NBMLHD.
  • Katherine Paulette - Clinical Nurse Consultant in Dementia and Delirium NBMLHD.
  • Louise Smith - Clinical Nurse Specialist and Acting Clinical Nurse Consultant in ICU Cardiovascular Ultrasound Laboratory at Nepean Hospital.
  • Suzanne Hadlow - Acting Clinical Nurse Consultant in Trauma and Surgery at Nepean Hospital.
  • Rose Oliphant - Clinical Nurse Consultant in Renal Supportive Care Services NBMLHD.
  • Justine Elliott - Clinical Midwifery Consultant NBMLHD.
  • Bridgit Philip -  Clinical Midwifery Specialist NBMLHD.
  • Melissa Wallace - Adjunct Clinical Research Fellow Western Sydney University and Midwife at Nepean Hospital.
  • Nicola Drayton - Nurse Manager Practice Development Unit NBMLHD.
  • Robyn Totenhofer - Nurse Practitioner in the Emergency Department at Nepean Hospital.
  • Julie-Ann Horn  - Clinical Nurse Consultant, Blood and Blood Products with NBMLHD.
  • Aaron Keenan - Senior Hospital Specialist in Transfusion NSW Health Pathology Nepean Hospital.
  • Naomi Houston - Stomal Therapy Nurse specialist for the NBMLHD. In 2016, Naomi was seconded to the Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Research through Nepean Hospital’s Skills and Talent Enhancement Program. Naomi set up the Stomal Therapy Link Nurse Program which was designed to equip ‘Link nurses’ with basic stoma knowledge to assist patients and to refer problematic cases. quantitative research project in 2017.
  • Louise Maher - Clinical Nurse Consultant, in Cancer Care, in the NBMHLD. Louise previously researched mouth changes in gero-oncology patients receiving two cycles of chemotherapy for lung cancer using a time-series design.
  • Michael Whitehead - Registered Nurse in Chronic and Complex Care with NBMLHD.

CNMR Postgraduate students and their Projects

  • Richard Gilfillan. Project: The lion and lamb live together in harmony: Changing workplace culture in midwifery.
  • Harrison Ng Chok. Project: Exploring the personal and professional experiences of registered nurses with refugee backgrounds working in the Australian healthcare system
  • Linda Ora. Project:

Current Research Projects within CNMR

  1. Implementation of Safewards strategies in a general hospital ward
  2. Exploring the experiences of nursing utilising a cognitive care station for care of the hospitalised person experiencing cognitive impairment.
  3. Promoting resilience and mindfulness education and training for Enrolled Nurses working in Aged Care: dealing with aggressive patients and their visitors.
  4. Promoting resilience and mindfulness education and training for Clinical Nurse Educators working in Aged Care.
  5. Exploring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers’ experiences from Sad News to Sorry Business.
  6. Pressure injury prevention trialing Sovereign Mattress.
  7. Exploring Medical Officer and Nursing Staff reporting of transfusion related adverse events.
  8. Screening Tool and Management Plan for suprapubic catheter changes for clients at risk of Autonomic Dysreflexia.
  9. Evaluation of Falls Tool- Delphi Method.
  10. Exploring knowledge, attitudes and feelings of nursing staff in aged care specialties about dementia and delirium: a quantitative study
  11. Secondary Immunodeficiency Disease Patient’s Experience of Immunoglobulin Replacement Therapy – An Australian Perspective.
  12. Developing a Capacity Assessment Tool.
  13. PPAST Package evaluation- closing the loop.
  14. Violence towards Renal nursing staff from patients and visitors: A Quantitative Study
  15. Nurses experiences of workplace violence in renal units: A Qualitative Study.
  16. Echocardiography knowledge among Cardiology nurses.
  17. Surveying the met and unmet information needs of carers’ of cancer patients in the outpatients waiting rooms: a quantitative pilot study.
  18. Exploring What It Means To Be A Nursing/Midwifery Champion Using Narrative Inquiry.
  19. Violence towards nurses working in medical and surgical specialities: A qualitative study.
  20. Exposure of surgical plume/smoke to Operating Room nurses: A qualitative study
  21. Violence towards Nurses and Midwives: The Managers role.
  22. Clinical Research Translation Program.
  23. Building research skills for an Advanced Practice Nurse: A research secondment initiative.
  24. Evaluation of the OPAL Clinic- working with women during pregnancy.
  25. Bringing Baby EarthSIDE Maternity in the Operating Theatre, Blue Mountains BMADMH.
  26. Inspire Improvement through Appreciative Inquiry.
  27. Experiences of Midwifery-led Care for Women Diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes in the Antenatal Clinic – a qualitative study.
  28. Understanding experiences for student nurses and midwives transitioning to practice in NSW.
  29. Enhancing psychological support for postnatal women at Nepean hospital through education session for staff or in short : Enhancing psychological support for postnatal women at Nepean hospital.
  30. A new model of care – A Next Birth after Caesarean (NBAC) Clinic

Current CNMR Grants

Partnership grants:

WSU & NBMLHD partnership grant for project: Implementation of Safewards strategies in a general hospital ward.

Selected publications (2017-2020)

Wallace, M. & Stulz, V. The lived experiences of midwifery care for womenwith diabetes: An integrative review, Midwifery, Vol. 89, No. 102795, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2020.102795

Stulz, V., Elmir, R. & Reilly, H. Evaluation of a Student-led Midwifery Group Practice: A woman’s perspective, Midwifery, Vol. 86, No. 102691, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2020.102691

Mollart, L., Skinner, V. Adams, J. & Foureur, M. (2018) Midwives’ personal use of  complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) influences recommendations to women experiencing a post-date pregnancy, Women and Birth, https://doi.org/10.116/j.wombi.2018.07.001

Mollart, L., Skinner, V. Adams, J. & Foureur, M. Midwives’ personal use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) influences recommendations to women experiencing a post-date pregnancy, Women and Birth, Vol. 31, pp. 44-51, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2017.06.014

O Ogunsiji, L Wilkes, HN Chok (2018) “You take the private part of her body,… you are taking a part of her life”: Voices of circumcised African migrant women on female genital circumcision (FGC) in Austr... Health care for women international, 1-13

H Ng Chok, J Mannix, C Dickson, L Wilkes (2018) Experiences of Registered Nurses from a refugee background: a scoping review. Journal of Clinical Nursing

Bartholomeusz, M. D., Bolton, P. S., Callister, R., Skinner, V. & Hodgson, D. (2017) Design, rationale and feasibility of a multidimensional experimental protocol to study early life stress, Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, Vol. 7(C), pp. 33 – 43, DOI 10.1016/j.conctc.2017.05.003

Prasad, A., Ng, Chok H., Wilkes, L. (2017) Hand Hygiene practices amongst patients. International Journal of Infection Control.

Young, K., Ng, Chok H., Wilkes, L. (2017) Treatment in the home setting with Intermittent Pneumatic Compression for a woman with chronic leg ulcers: A Case Report.

TI Tsai, L Luck, D Jefferies, L Wilkes (2017) A tool to measure the attitudes and beliefs of nursing students towards childhood overweight/obesity. Collegian

L Luck, HN Chok, N Scott, L Wilkes (2017) The role of the breast care nurse in patient and family care Journal of clinical nursing 26 (21-22), 3422-3429

Luck, L., Ng, Chok H., Wilkes, L. (2017) Nurses as participants in research: An evaluation of recruitment techniques. Nurse Researcher.

Purnell, M., Majid, G. & Skinner, V. (2017) The journey of a paediatric nurses' journal club: developing the skills and confidence to turn research into practice, Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 34 – 41

Wilkes, L., Doull, M., Ng, Chok H., Mashingaidze, G. (2017). Developing a tool to measure the influencing nurses' enjoyment of nursing. Journal of Clinical Nursing. DOI: 10.1111/jocn.13483

HN Chok, J Mannix, C Dickson, L Wilkes (2017) The factors impacting personal and professional experiences of migrant nurses in Australia: An integrative review. Collegian

Ogunsiji, O., Ng, Chok H., Wilkes, L. (2017) “I am still passionate despite the challenges”: Nurses navigating the care for refugees. Journal of Clinical Nursing.

Wilkes, L., Ogunsiji, O., Ng, Chok H., Mashingaidze, G. (2017). Doing Mixed-Methods Research on Sensitive Topics with Migrant Women in Australia: Experiences of Female Genital Circumcision for African Women. Sage Research Methods Cases Part 2: 1-12.

LM Wilkes, L Luck, H Ng Chok (2017) Participant recruitment: tips and tricks. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 16, 46-46

Contact CNMR

The Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Research welcomes your enquiries and feedback.

Email: CNMR@westernsydney.edu.au

Postal Addresses

Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Research
Nepean Hospital,  Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District
PO Box 63
Penrith NSW 2751

Western Sydney University
School of Nursing and Midwifery
PO Box 1797
Penrith NSW 2751