Improving the quality of care for people in an acute care setting

We are currently seeking expressions of interest for a full-time PhD position subject to successfully obtaining a university Doctoral Scholarship. The successful candidate will be expected to commence as soon as possible, but no later than in mid-2020.

The University of Tasmania is building a vision of a place-based University with a mission to enhance the intellectual, economic, social and culture future of Tasmania, and from Tasmania, contribute to the world in areas of distinctive advantage. The University recognises that achieving this vision is dependent on the people we employ as well as creating a University that is values-driven, relational, diverse, and development-focused. The College of Health & Medicine incorporates the School of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, School of Nursing, Menzies Institute for Medical Research and Wicking Dementia and Research Education Centre.
In collaboration with the Tasmanian Health Service (THS), the Centre for Health Service Research proposes to implement and evaluate the interRAI acute care (iAC) assessment system in all major Tasmanian public hospitals.

The primary project aims to study the nature of quality of care and to identify caveats and ways to improve health assessments in the acute care setting. The PhD project will focus on patient outcomes and pharmacological interactions during an acute episode of care. In particular, the focus is on improvements, process management and organisational excellence. This project will involve utilisation of an electronic assessment system across the entire episode of care, linked with patient medication data.

Please note: the position will suit a variety of backgrounds (including nursing, medical, allied health, health policy, public health, pharmaceutical, and methodologists, etc.) and involve a mix of quantitative and qualitative work (e.g. systematic reviews, before and after studies, RCTs, qualitative interviews). An understanding of medications is required. The project is open to both Australian (domestic) and International candidates.