Dr Claudia Virdun
Faculty of Health,
School of Nursing
Biography
Claudia has nursed for 24 years and within palliative care for 21 years in either a clinical, academic or policy focused role. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow for the Faculty of Health at the Queensland University of Technology. Clinically, Claudia has worked in large metropolitan tertiary centres (both in Australia and England) and in an Australian rural setting in specialist palliative care nursing roles. Claudia has completed an Honours degree (Nursing), Masters degree (Advancing Professional Health Care Practice) and recently completed her doctoral studies with her thesis title being: Optimising care for People with palliative care needs, and their families, in the Australian hospitaL setting: the OPAL Project. She is now focused on how to drive and support clinicians to innovate and enable optimal care for patients and families who have palliative care needs, irrespective of setting. PUBLICATIONS- Orr, F., Kelly, M., Virdun, C., Power, T., Phillips, A., Gray, J., (2021) The development and evaluation of an integrated virtual patient case study and related online resources for person-centred nursing practice. Nursing Education in Practice. (In Press)
- Virdun C, Luckett T, Davidson P & Phillips, J. (2020) Strengthening palliative care in the hospital setting: A co-design study. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care. (In Press).
- Geia, L., Baird, K., Bail, K., Barclay, L., Bennett, J., Best, O., ... & Bryant AO, R. (2020). A unified call to action from Australian Nursing and Midwifery leaders: ensuring that Black Lives Matter. Contemporary Nurse, 1-20.
- Virdun, C., Luckett, T., Davidson, P., Lorenz, K., & Phillips, J. (2020). Hospital patients’ perspectives on what is essential to enable optimal palliative care: a qualitative study. Palliative Medicine, 34(10), 1402-1415.
- Australian College of Nursing (ACN). 2020, ‘Establishing a nurse-led palliative care service in Australia: an implementation toolkit —A White Paper by ACN 2020’, ACN, Canberra.
- Virdun, C., Luckett, T., Gilmore, I., Brassil, M., Lilian, R., Lorenz, K., & Phillips, J. (2019). Involving consumers with palliative care needs and their families in research: A case study. Collegian, 26(6), 645-650.
- Australian College of Nursing (ACN). 2019, ‘Achieving Quality Palliative Care for All: The Essential Role of Nurses—A White Paper by ACN 2019’, ACN, Canberra.
- Henderson, A., Vaz, H., & Virdun, C. (2018). Identifying and assessing the needs of carers of patients with palliative care needs: an exploratory study. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 24(10), 503-509.
- Phillips, J. L., Virdun, T. Luckett, M. R. Agar, N. Heneka and D. C. Currow (2018). Development of Palliative Care Indicators for Inclusion into the National Cancer Control Indicators Framework: A Report for Cancer Australia Sydney, Australia, IMPACCT, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney
- Virdun, C., Luckett, T., Lorenz, K. A., & Phillips, J. (2018). National quality indicators and policies from 15 countries leading in adult end-of-life care: a systematic environmental scan. BMJ supportive & palliative care, 8(2), 145-154.
- Power, T., Virdun, C., Gorman, E., Doab, A., Smith, R., Phillips, A., & Gray, J. (2018). Ensuring Indigenous cultural respect in Australian undergraduate nursing students. Higher Education Research & Development, 1-15.
- Virdun C., Luckett, T., Lorenz, K., Davidson, P. M., & Phillips, J. (2017). Analyzing Consumer Priorities for Hospital End-of-Life Care Using a Systematic Review to Inform Policy and Practice. SAGE Research Methods Cases.
- Virdun, C., Luckett, T., Lorenz, K., Davidson, P. M., & Phillips, J. (2016). Dying in the hospital setting: A meta-synthesis identifying the elements of end-of-life care that patients and their families describe as being important. Palliative Medicine, 31 (7), 587–601.
- Power, T., Virdun, C., White, H., Hayes, C., Parker, N., Kelly, M., ... & Cottle, A. (2016). Plastic with personality: Increasing student engagement with manikins. Nurse education today, 38, 126-131.
- Virdun, C., Luckett, T., Davidson, P. M., & Phillips, J. (2015). Dying in the hospital setting: A systematic review of quantitative studies identifying the elements of end-of-life care that patients and their families rank as being most important. Palliative medicine, 29(9), 774-796.
- Power, T., Virdun, C., Sherwood, J., Parker, N., Van Balen, J., Gray, J., & Jackson, D. (2016). REM: A collaborative framework for building indigenous cultural competence. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 27(5), 439-446.
- Virdun, C., and Phillips, J: Commentary on Jack B, Baldry C, Groves K, Whelan A, Sephton J and Gaunt K (2013) Supporting home care for the dying: an evaluation of healthcare professionals' perspectives of an individually tailored hospice at home service. Journal of Clinical Nursing 22, 2778-2786
- Virdun, C., Brown, N., Phillips, J., Luckett, T., Agar, M., Green, A., & Davidson, P. M. (2015). Elements of optimal paediatric palliative care for children and young people: An integrative review using a systematic approach. Collegian, 22(4), 421-431
- Luckett, T., Phillips, J., Agar, M., Virdun, C., Green, A., & Davidson, P. M. (2014). Elements of effective palliative care models: a rapid review.BMC health services research, 14(1), 136
- Virdun, C, Gray, J, Sherwood, J, Power, T, Phillips, A, Parker, N & Jackson, D (2013), 'Working together to make Indigenous health care curricula everybody's business: A graduate attribute teaching innovation report', Contemporary Nurse, 46(1), 92-99.
- Luckett T, Davidson P, Phillips J, Agar M, Giugni (Virdun) C, Green A. Population-based models of care and planning tools in palliative care: A rapid review of the literature. Sydney, Australia: 2012. (A commissioned rapid review for the NSW Ministry of Health)
- Phillips J.L, Virdun C, Bhattarai P, & Fraser C. Nursing and Palliative Care. In MacLeod, R. & Van den Block, L. (Eds.), Textbook of Palliative Care, Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31738-0_32-2. Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31738-0
- DiGiacomo M, Kochovska S, Cahill, P, Virdun C, Phillips J. Family-focused Care, Family-focused Care Span, In: MacLeod R., Van den Block L. (Eds) Textbook of Palliative Care. Springer. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31738-0_32-2. Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31738-0
Personal details
Positions
- Clinical Fellow
Faculty of Health,
School of Nursing
Research field
Public Health and Health Services
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (University of Tech., Sydney)
Professional memberships and associations
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND REPRESENTATIVE POSITIONS
- Palliative Care Australia National Expert Advisory Panel (NEAP) – 2020 - current
- Palliative Care Australia Standards Review Group- 2020 – current
- National Advisory Group for the End of Life Essentials Project – 2020 - current
- Palliative Care Nurses Australia - Board member (elected 2019); Secretary (elected 2020) – current
- Palliative Care Nurses Australia representative for the National Advisory Committee for the national project: End of Life Law for Clinicians (ELLC) - September 2020 to June 2023
- Palliative Care Queensland – Ordinary member, 2019 – current
- Australian College of Nursing- member from 2017 – current
- Australian College of Nursing’s policy chapter – End of Life Care: 2018 - current
- Member of the NSW Translational Cancer Research Network: 2017 - current
AWARDS
Australian Award for University Teaching 2017 - Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning – Nursing and Midwifery: Indigenous Professional Capability. For developing Indigenous professional capabilities as every nursing and midwifery student’s business: innovating student learning through distributed leadership and active collaboration.
UTS Learning and Teaching awards
- 2016 – Award: Gray, J. Power, T. Virdun, C. Doab, A. Phillips, A, Smith, R & Newman, J. 2016, UTS 2016 Inaugural Learning and Teaching Award for Integration of Indigenous Professional Capabilities into Curriculum for ‘For the development of innovative learning and teaching activities enabled by a Faculty of Health Indigenous Graduate Attribute to support growth of student Indigenous Professional Capabilities, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway,NSW
- 2016 - Citation: Power, T. Virdun, C. Hayes, C. & White, H. 2016, UTS 2016 Learning and Teaching Citation for ' Plastic with Personality – inspiring and motivating undergraduate nurses’ engagement with manikins and flipped learning through the introduction of online audio-visual vignettes in Medical-Surgical Nursing', University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, NSW
Research related awards
- Awarded one of three best poster abstracts within the category, awarded by the 11th European Association for Palliative Care World Research Congress, 2020 for: Co-designing improvement measures for people with serious chronic illness requiring palliative care within the hospital setting, and their families/carers: a qualitative study
- First place award within the 2019 International Palliative Care Network Poster Exhibition
- Awarded best oral presentation at the UTS Research Student Forum, Dec 2017
- Awarded the Editor’s Choice for my first PhD publication (2015) in Palliative Medicine
Other awards
- Awarded the Inaugural UTS Faculty of Health Nurse of the Year, 2014
- Awarded the Faculty of Health Dean’s Academic Excellence Award 2014 for Human Rights
- Nominated for the UTS Reconciliation Award 2014 and received a commendation
- Nominated in the category of ‘Leadership’ for the Inaugural Palliative Care NSW Awards 2009
Teaching
I have taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Nursing and an interdisciplinary Masters in Palliative Care. My teaching experience is inclusive of subject design, development and implementation both in subject coordinator and tutor roles. I also previously led a project to develop and embed graduate attributes including work to: develop and embed graduate attributes, ensure alignment with learning and teaching opportunities through to assessment work and implement key processes for ongoing review and refinement ensuring a ‘course’ view was retained. Importantly, the development of each set of graduate attributes was informed by key stakeholders inclusive of representatives from health services, consumers and other relevant academic leaders. A large piece of work within this project was to develop, embed and implement an Indigenous graduate attribute for all courses to utilise.
Experience
My career has involved significant: clinical care provision; project and policy design and implementation; and academic learning, teaching and research. Throughout all positions held, a strong focus has been maintained on impeccable person-centred assessment and care planning, excellence in care provision, innovation, collaboration and developing and implementing evidence-based care at national and international levels. Working across multiple clinical areas (adult and paediatric), settings (acute, primary and aged care) and locations (Australian metropolitan and rural settings and a large tertiary referral hospital in London) has enabled continual professional development and a strong drive to see excellence in care provision irrespective of location. Specialising in palliative care has developed strength in leadership and collaboration, evident through working in Nurse Consultancy roles for over 8 years before moving to State and National leadership positions to drive large projects and programs focused on innovation, collaboration and wide-scale improvements. A commitment to better understand embedding sustained improvements within complex health systems led to working within academia with two key areas of focus: 1) education provision at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels; and 2) research to enhance the evidence base for optimal care. In relation to learning and teaching, a philosophical approach of active learning with well-designed curricula, student enablement and ensuring curricula focused on applicability within the clinical setting has been central. Skills in conducting and independently leading research has been a more recent development with a focus on using mixed method designs to answer complex questions relating to optimal palliative care provision within Australian hospital settings. My commitment to nursing, and palliative care specifically, is well established and widely recognised after decades working in both paid and voluntary roles to support excellence in care.
- Core skills and attributes: Excellent communication skills; effective leadership and collaboration; attention to detail; commitment to excellence; ability to deconstruct complex issues into solutions for testing/implementation; deep understanding of clinical nursing; strong work ethic and drive to always achieve the best possible outcome; teaching and presentation skills and an ability to work with core computing programs (including online educational and research tools);
- Leadership qualities: I lead through the lens of transformational leadership, enhancing collaboration and empowering others with all work achieved.
Publications
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Claudia, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).