Dr Deryn Thompson

I am a registered nurse with over 30 years clinical experience in allergy nursing,15 years in eczema (atopic dermatitis) nursing and have been with the University of South Australia since 2005. I believe that effective patient/family education by Health Professionals is essential to every health interaction. Allergic conditions (many of which are ongoing) continue to increase globally, many are multifactorial, and nurses from all fields are often called upon, to play a pivotal role in management of the various manifestations of allergic disease, such as allergic rhinitis (hayfever), food allergy, anaphylaxis, eczema, asthma and drug allergies. I coorditate and teach the Professional Certificate in Allergy Nursing, a 13 week short course, which enables nurses to gain the knowledge and skills in caring for people across the lifespan, who have allergies. Importantly, successful graduants develop skills in critical awareness and evaluation of information, resources and research surrounding allergic conditions. Not all allergy information available online is robust!

My PhD research focus involved exploring, describing and mapping, with paediatric and child health nurses, how they helped patients and familes transform the information provided to them into knowledge they could use meaningfully, in various contexts, within parent education encounters. Furthermore, parents were also participants in the action research study, to identify those Learning Principles (LPs) important to their successful learning process and confidence building. It was key to identify how nurses used LPs, especially Cognitive LPs. Cognitive LPs are the features of the learning process that facillitate people to think, reason and problem-solve - essential skills for patients/families to develop if they are to manage any chronic conditions, master care confidently and be concordant with treatment/management recommendations.  Explicit descriptions of the ways nurses used LPs was a gap in the nursing literature. Results from practice observations showed that nurses were using cognitive and adult LPs (with nurses' proficiency confirmed by parents' accounts), but when interviewed, the nurses struggled to put their practice into words. Through focus groups discussions and a workshop, nurse and parents eventually described the LPs used in practice. Descriptions of the cognitive LPs nurses used to help parents' learning aligned strongly with the Dimensions of Learning (DoL) framework (Marzano et al.1997); a framework based upon research from educational psychology and the Dimensions of Thinking. The five DoL domains are 1) attutude and perceptions; 2) acquiring and integrating knowledge; 3) extending and refining the knowledge; 4) applying the knowledge and 5) habits of mind. Health professionals are the key to effective patient education. These domains help describe a process whereby people can be guided to transform information into usable knowledge. Providing patients/families with information alone is of minimal value for their skill development, unless the HPs providing it, facilitate the information-knowledge transformation process.

I also have a special interest in helping patients/families deal with the mental health impact and distress they commonly experience when a person has a long-term health condition (such as allergies and/or eczema). These issues have been under-recognised by the global community until recently. Studies now identify significant distress, including suicidal ideation, across the life-span for people with skin disorders and/or allergies. Effective patient/family education, to help people with health conditions to become confident and think, reason and problem-solve while managing their condition is vital. My membership of the Mental Health Suicide Prevention Research & Education Group at the University of South Australia helps my continued skill development in this important area.

I am a member of a number of professional organisations: Australian College of Nursing, Australian Dermatology Nurses Association (ADNA), associate nurse member of the Australian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA); Australian College of Children's and Young People's Nursing (ACCYPN), Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), Eczema Support Australia, British Dermatology Nurses Association (BDNG). I am also the ADNA representative on the Coalition of National Nursing and Midwifery Organisations (CoNNMO).

I still work in clincial practice in allergy and dermatology settings, and am an academic within Clinical and Health Sciences at the University of South Australia.

Australian Nurses' Federation, Associate member Australasian Society of Clinical Immunologists and Allergists, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation SA Branch, Australian Dermatology Nurses Association Joint state representative 2013-4, Newsletter editor 2016- 2021,CoNMo representative; Member British Dermatology Nurses Group, UK, SA,The Golden Key International Honour Society Membership for academic excellence Flinders University Chapter 2005,The Golden Key International Honour Society Membership for academic excellence Flinders University & University of South Australia Chapters, Australian College of Children & Young Peoples Nurses.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy University of South Australia

• Masters of Nursing University of South Australia

• Bachelor of Nursing The Flinders University of South Australia