"I grew up thinking that it's our purpose in life to find practical, tangible solutions to help people," Jane says, "and I've been privileged to work with others who share that commitment to change. I believe that if you are not effecting change yourself, then you should be causing others to ask questions about how things might be done differently. Improving systems and processes is what I do, and I am a great believer in inbuilt obsolescence for myself as a teacher or change agent."
Not that Jane is likely to become obsolete any time soon. She is far too busy. The Associate Dean, Teaching and Learning, in UNE’s Faculty of Health and Medicine is an active educator, researcher and consultant working on a staggering number of projects in hospitals, academia, government departments and rural communities. Always, her goal is to ensure that health care models meet patient needs, and that health professionals - whether they be nurses, doctors, health and social workers, or undergraduates about to enter their profession - are well educated, competent and well supported.
She has explored and developed resources for providers and users of day centre based respite care for older people with dementia as part of a project with Queensland Health; has worked with colleagues in the School of Health to explore how to ensure that opioid prescription drugs are not diverted from those to whom they were prescribed; and Jane continues to work with colleagues at Hunter New England Health and the University of Newcastle to reduce the number of people transferred unnecessarily from aged care facilities to emergency departments - a groundbreaking strategy adopted throughout New South Wales. Then there's been her work project to recruit and retain graduate nurses in NSW Health, another to develop clinical supervision training for health professionals (including nurses, allied health workers and resident medical officers), and efforts to establish education and career pathways for Aboriginal health workers. The list goes on and on.
But Jane has never been reluctant to roll up her sleeves or tackle an entrenched problem. Her first nursing role, fresh from training at the tender age of 21, laid the foundation for the professional career to follow.
"I was a fledgling registered nurse starting out in aged care and I had to confront seriously poor practice," Jane says. "It meant having difficult conversations with staff much older and infinitely more experienced than me, but we were able to put in place new practices that improved patient care and reclaimed the pride of those I worked with. That experience gave me a sense of what I would and would not compromise on."
It also taught Jane that whatever change you effect, it has to be sustainable.
"Wherever I work, it is important to reinforce the capacity of the people around me to achieve meaningful and sustainable change."
"If you respect people, their expertise, knowledge and experience, then you can shape things for the longer term. The only reason I do research or teach is to improve things for people - to work with them in educative, supportive and humanistic ways. And this process is dynamic and based on relationships."
While her inquiry, research and communication skills are highly sought around Australia, Jane believes her willingness to collaborate, her authenticity and her integrity matter most. "Understanding others and respectfully finding out what it's like to be in their shoes is vital," she says. "If we can evaluate practice and implement change that improves service, while still maintaining quality, that is the ultimate win-win. I believe in change and our ability to respond positively to it."
Such optimism is vital to a researcher/educator in the ever-evolving field of health, where there is always a fresh dilemma, a new challenge. It's telling then, where Jane finds personal satisfaction - in helping a student to understand a complex concept, or in helping an older person avoid the ordeal of an emergency department admission, and thereby maintain their dignity and quality of life. That caring, committed nurse, it seems, is never far away.
