UK nursing leader is new professor

Nursing

An international authority in nursing has been appointed Professor of Nursing and Head of the Discipline of Nursing at the University of Adelaide, in collaboration with the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH).

Professor Alison Kitson has had a distinguished academic and professional career as a nursing leader for more than 20 years in the UK. Until June 2007 she was the Executive Director Nursing at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the UK's largest professional nursing organisation.

Currently she is the Nursing Education Fund Visiting Fellow at the RAH where she is leading a project on improving care for older people. She will take up her appointment in January 2009.

"Alison Kitson is highly regarded in academic and professional nursing arenas internationally," said Professor Justin Beilby, Executive Dean of the University of Adelaide's Faculty of Health Sciences.

"An appointment of someone of this calibre as Professor of Nursing reflects the strength and quality of the undergraduate and postgraduate nursing programs at the University of Adelaide and the increasing importance of nursing within the University."

RAH Acting Chief Executive Associate Professor Leslye Long said: "We are delighted to have been able to work with the University of Adelaide to make this appointment. This position and the work that Professor Kitson will do will be very important for the future of nursing practice in this State. We look forward to working with Professor Kitson to ensure that nursing practice is evidence based and meets the needs of our patients and the wider community."

Professor Kitson trained as a nurse at the University of Ulster and began her professional career at the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald. She obtained her PhD at Ulster and continued with a mix of academic and professional roles.

In 1991 she was awarded a Fellowship of the RCN for her work on standards of care. Other honours include a Fellowship at Green College, University of Oxford, visiting and honorary professorships at various universities in Canada and the UK, and the prestigious Florence Nightingale Leadership Fellowship in 2004.

She has a long association with the RAH, first coming to Adelaide in 1999 as a Visiting Scholar.

Professor Kitson's appointment was secured through a partnership between the University of Adelaide, RAH, the Central Northern Adelaide Health Service and the Joanna Briggs Institute. Her role will be to integrate excellence in clinical nursing practice with the highest standards of research and teaching in order to ensure the best quality of care for patients.

Story by Robyn Mills