Published on 17 October 2025

As part of Western Health’s Research Week 2025, the Nursing & Midwifery Research Session was held on Thursday 16 October, attracting a large in-person and online audience to celebrate the innovation and impact of nurse and midwife-led research.

This year’s session showcased an impressive line-up of presentation and poster finalists, each demonstrating how research is transforming care and supporting better outcomes for patients, families, and communities.

And for the first time, we introduced live audience voting for this year’s prize winners — giving attendees the opportunity to celebrate and recognise the research that inspires them most.

Presentation Finalists

  • Ann Hallett (AMUM) & Karah Edwards (Aboriginal Maternity Liaison) – Co-design of Maternity Discussion Starter Cards for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families

  • Stephanie Menadue (ICU Nurse) – Feeding Equipment for Enteral Delivery Systems (FEEDS): a prospective observational cohort study of practice patterns in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

  • Sarah Margary (Renal CNC) & Lisa (Qiumian) Wang (Renal NP) – Kidney Supportive Care Model Re-design in a Tertiary Healthcare Service

  • Loretta Williams (NPC Palliative Care) – The PEACE Champions project, empowering nurses to provide optimal end of life care

  • Eleni Kosmidis (Deteriorating Patient Educator) – Evaluation of Recognition and Escalation of Patient Deterioration

These research projects reflect the breadth of expertise within Western Health and the strong commitment of our nursing and midwifery teams to driving quality improvement, patient safety, and person-centred care.

Poster Prize Finalists

Complementing the oral presentations, several outstanding posters were also showcased during Research Week:

  • Dunne Lim – N-FAST: Non-Fasting Assessment for Safe Treatment

  • Paula Lyons – Nurses’ Experiences of Caring for the Deteriorating COVID-19 Patient and Medical Emergency Team (MET) Response

  • Claire Rankin – Employee Centred Rostering: Foundations for Flexibility, Fairness and Fatigue Management

  • Claire Rankin – Midwives Matter – The Reality of a Rostering Reckoning

The podium prize for Best Oral Presentation was hotly contested and we are delighted to congratulate the winner:

  • Loretta Williams– $1500 Western Health Foundation podium prize for “The PEACE Champions project, empowering nurses to provide optimal end of life care”

Congratulations also to Dunne Lim, who was awarded $250 for Best Poster Prize for her work “N-FAST: Non-Fasting Assessment for Safe Treatment “

At the session, Adjunct Assistant Professor Jo Mapes, Acting Executive Director of Nursing & Midwifery, presented Western Health’s annual Nursing & Midwifery Research Grants. This year, a large number of high-calibre submissions were received, and the winning recipients were:

  • Nursing Research Grant ($15,000): Feeding Equipment for Enteral Delivery Systems (FEEDS): a prospective observational cohort study of practice patterns in the ICU

    • Team: Stephanie Menadue (Research Nurse – ICU), Rommuel Binuya (Nurse – ICU), Anie Edward (Senior Infection Prevention Consultant), Caroline Calkin (Dietitian), Professor Rochelle Wynne (Chair in Nursing)

  • Midwifery Research Grant ($15,000): Maternity PULSE check

    • Team: Alanah Hillier (Clinical Midwife Consultant), Melissa Tennant (Midwifery Group Practice Manager) Professor Linda Sweet (Chair in Midwifery), Dr Vidanka Vasilevski (Deakin)

Congratulations to all presenters and finalists for their exceptional contributions to research and innovation. Your dedication to inquiry and improvement continues to strengthen our culture of excellence and support sustainable healthcare for the future.