Georgina Willetts

Position: Discipline Lead, Nursing
Discipline: Nursing 
Location: Gippsland Campus, Room 2W-262
Phone: (03)  5122 6259
Email: g.willetts@federation.edu.au

Qualifications

Doctorate of Education – Melbourne University VIC – 2014

Graduate Certificate of Management – Australian Institute of Management – 2010

Master of Education – Melbourne University VIC – 2004

Post Graduate Diploma Advanced Nursing – La Trobe University Bundoora VIC – 2001

Post Graduate Certificate Advanced Nursing (Clinical Education) – La Trobe University Bundoora VIC – 2000

Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing – Charles Sturt University Wagga Wagga NSW – 1994

Orthopaedic Certificate – The Austin Hospital VIC – 1989

Midwifery Certificate – Gosford District Hospital NSW – 1986

General Nursing Certificate – Prince of Wales & Prince Henry Hospitals NSW – 1984

Diploma Governance – Institute Community Directors – 2023

Certificate IV in Project Management – Australian Institute of Management – June 2010

Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training – Victoria University – 2002

Diploma in Training and Assessment Systems – Victoria University – 2002

Teaching

  • Nursing
  • Clinical leadership

Biography

Professor Georgina Willetts is an innovative healthcare leader, who is currently Acting as the Head of Discipline (Nursing) in the Institute of Health and Wellbeing. She was the inaugural Head of Discipline Nursing at Swinburne University and led the design and implementation of the Nursing Program at Swinburne University

Professor Willetts has more than 40 years nursing experience and experience in leading nursing and midwifery reform within the healthcare industry. Georgina’s focus is on building person centred cultures and strength’s-based curricula in healthcare. Her leadership in education development, design and evaluation has resulted in a strong national and international reputation. She has completed two educational programs at Harvard Macy institute in Boston USA and continues to be a visiting faculty there, she received her Doctor of Education in 2014 and was awarded the University wide Monash Teacher Accelerator Program honours in 2015.

In 2020 Georgina was awarded one of three Fellowships in Health Policy and Media at George Washington University US and the only international recipient with a courtesy appointment as a Senior Policy Service Professor. Georgina received a team award from both the faculty and then Vice-chancellor’s award for teaching excellence in 2020 from Swinburne university and in 2021 received an AAUT citation for outstanding contributions to student learning for the Strengths-based nursing curriculum at Swinburne University

She is a Fellow of the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) and a Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders and Chartered Managers and was elected to Director on the Board of the Australian College of Nursing in 2019.

Areas of expertise

Her areas of expertise include Practice Development, medical/surgical nursing, models of care, interprofessional practice/education and professional identity. Her research interests include translational research into the areas of healthcare education, healthcare leadership, health care workforce, practice development and the performance of professional identity in practice.

Research interests

  • Practice Development
  • Strengths Based Healthcare
  • Healthcare education
  • Leadership and Management in Healthcare
  • Professional identity
  • Interprofessional education

Preferred Methodologies

  • Qualitative methods
  • Ethnography
  • Realist Evaluation

Supervision

Danielle Noble: PhD dissertation: workplace readiness in nursing a grounded theory study – Principle Supervisor

Samira Kerbage: PhD dissertation: Health Policy Analysis at a System, Practice and Institution Level of Pain in the Sedated and Ventilated Patients. – Principle Supervisor

Bekthemba PhD Dissertation: The Role of Spirituality, Religion and culture on the Mental Health of African Australians: A Phenomenological Study – Principle Supervisor

Marianne Ota PhD Dissertation The experiences of nurse leaders in promoting and maintaining civility in Australian rural and regional health and aged care settings: A qualitative study – Principle Supervisor

James Naismith PhD Dissertation Investigating the efficacy of replacing undergraduate nursing clinical placement hours in Australia with simulation hours – Principle Supervisor

Maryam Ghasemiardekani PhD Dissertation:Evaluate the Effectiveness of Chronic Disease Management Plan on Self-Management of Diabetes at General Practice Setting – Co-Supervisor

Publications

Books/chapters

Willetts G. (2016) Promoting Mobility In Jackie Crisp Clint Douglas Geraldine Rebeiro Donna Waters (5Ed) Potter & Perry's Fundamentals of Nursing - Australian Version Mosby Australia

Willetts G. & Schmidt, L (2021) Balancing fluid, electrolyte and acid base status _In Jackie Crisp Clint Douglas Geraldine Rebeiro Donna Waters (6Ed) Potter & Perry's Fundamentals of Nursing - Australian Version Mosby Australia (In press)

Peer reviewed

T Maguire, L Garvey, J Ryan, T Levett‐Jones, M Olasoji, G Willetts (2022) Exploring adaptations to the clinical reasoning cycle for forensic mental health nursing: A qualitative enquiry International Journal of Mental Health Nursing

T Maguire, L Garvey, J Ryan, G Willetts, M Olasoji (2022) Exploration of the utility of the Nursing Process and the Clinical Reasoning Cycle as a framework for forensic mental health nurses: A qualitative study International Journal of Mental Health Nursing 31 (2), 358-368

Maguire, T., Garvey, L., Ryan, J., Willetts, G., & Olasoji, M. (2022) Using the nominal group technique to determine a nursing framework for a forensic mental health service: A discussion paper. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. Doi: 10.1111/inm.13023

Garvey, L., Mackelprang, J. L., Bhowmik, J., Cassar, N., Delbridge, R., El-Ansary, D., Willetts,G. & Williams, A. (2022). Enhancing Cultural Capabilities Amongst Health Professions Students: A Pilot Study of Interprofessional Tag Team Simulation. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 62, 83-91.

Maguire, T., Garvey, L., Ryan, J., Willetts, G., & Olasoji, M. (2021). Exploration of the utility of the Nursing Process and the Clinical Reasoning Cycle as a framework for forensic mental health nurses: A qualitative study. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing.

Kerbage, S. H., Garvey, L., Lambert, G. W., & Willetts, G. (2021). Pain assessment of the adult sedated and ventilated patients in the intensive care setting: A scoping review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 122, 104044.

Hamadeh Kerbage, S., Garvey, L., Willetts, G., & Olasoji, M. (2021). Undergraduate nursing students’ resilience, challenges, and supports during corona virus pandemic. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 30, 1407-1416

Garvey, L., Willetts, G., Sadoughi, N., & Olasoji, M. (2021). Undergraduate nursing students’ experience of mental health simulation post‐clinical placement: A Qualitative study. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 30(1), 93-101.

Willetts, G., Nieuwoudt, L., Olasoji, M., Sadoughi, N., & Garvey, L. (2021). Implementation of a Registered Undergraduate Student of Nursing (RUSON) program: The nurses’ perspective. Collegian.

Luders, E., Cooper, S., Cant, R., Waters, D., Tower, M., Henderson, A.,Hood,K.  Willetts. G,, Ryan, C & Reid-Searl, K. (2021). Nursing degree students’ clinical placement experiences in Australia: A survey design. Nurse Education in Practice, 54, 103112.

S Cooper, R Cant, D Waters, E Luders, A Henderson, G Willetts, M Tower, K Reid-Searl, C Ryan, K Hood (2020). Measuring the quality of nursing clinical placements and the development of the Placement Evaluation Tool (PET) in a mixed methods co-design project BMC nursing 19 (1), 1-10 Doi 10.21203/rs.3.rs-32906/v2

G Croy, L Garvey, G Willetts, J Wheelahan, K Hood (2020) Anxiety, flipped approach and self-efficacy: Exploring nursing student outcomes. Nurse Education Today 93, 104534 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104534

Willetts, G & Garvey, L (2020): Constructing Nurses’ professional Identity through group performance. Journal: International Journal of Nursing Practice 26(6), e12849.

Olasoji, M., Huynh, M., Edward, K., Willetts, G., & Garvey, L. (2020) Undergraduate student nurses’ experience of mental health simulation pre-clinical placement: A pre/post-test survey. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing.

Cooper, S., Cant, R., Luders, E., Waters, D., Henderson, A., Hood, K., & Willetts, G. (2020). The Nominal Group Technique: Generating Consensus in Nursing Research. Journal of Nursing Education, 59(2), 65-67.

Feltrin, C., Newton, J. M., & Willetts, G. (2019). How graduate nurses adapt to individual ward culture: A grounded theory study. Journal of advanced nursing, 75(3), 616-627.

Willetts, G., & Lazarus, M. (2018). Professional Silos or Professional Integration? Exploring the role of the basic science disciplines in healthcare professionals’ professional identities. MedEdPublish, 7.

Willetts, G., Aberdeen, S., Hood, K. Cross, W. (2016) The dynamic role of the graduate nurse in aged care: An Australian experience of delivering an aged care graduate nurse program Collegian.  DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2016.07.002

Butler, A. E., Hall, H., Willetts, G., & Copnell, B. (2015). Family Experience and PICU Death: A Meta-Synthesis. Pediatrics, 136(4), e961-973. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2015-1068

Butler, A., Willetts G., Copnell, B. (2015) Nurses' perceptions of working with families in the paediatric intensive care unit. Nursing in Critical Care. 05/2015 DOI: 10.1111/nicc.12142

Butler, A., Hall, H., Willetts, G. Copnell, B. (2014), Parents' experiences of healthcare provider actions when their child dies: An integrative review of the literature, Journal for Specialists in paediatric Nursing. 20(1) DOI: 10.1111/jspn.12097

Butler, A., Copnell, B., & Willetts, G. (2014). Nurses’perceptions on working with families in the paediatric intensive care unit (picu). Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, 15(4_suppl), 36.

Trudy Melissa Loos, Georgina A P Willetts, Ann Eileen Kempe (2014) Literature review - Student's corner: A sudden death on clinical placement: A student’s perspective of nurse grief. Contemporary Nurse Volume 47 Issue 1 - 2 – 2014

Rosalind Lau, Georgina Willetts, Kerry Hood, Wendy Cross (2014) Development of self-efficacy of newly graduated registered nurses in an aged care program Australasian Journal on Ageing 05/2014;

Willetts G & Clarke, D. (2014) Constructing Nurses' Professional Identity through Social Identity Theory. International Journal of Nursing Practice Vol.20(2), pp.164-169; DOI: 10.1111/ijn.12108

Ashleigh Butler, Beverley Copnell, Georgina Willetts (2013) Family-centred care in the paediatric intensive care unit: an integrative review of the literature. Journal of Clinical Nursing 12/2013 DOI:10.1111/jocn.12498

Radio interviews, keynotes, and orations

Radio Interviews

10 May 2020 ABC Radio National ‘Celebrating the day of the nurse’ interviewed by Julian Morrow on Sunday Extra

5 September 2019 Nursing Review Podcast ‘The struggle for legitimacy: nursing in Australia’

22 August 2019 ABC radio Hobart ‘The past, the present and future of nursing’

June 2017 ABC radio ‘What Nurses do?’ Interview after Australian nurse Kirsty Boden was fatally injured while running towards people who needed her help during the London terror attack

December 2015 ABC radio broadcast Big ideas “The journey of nursing in Australia”

Orations and Keynotes

March 2020 (postponed)  Chief Nursing and Midwifery Forum Past, present and future, our emerging profession

21 August 2019 National Nursing Forum Hobart Nursing Past, Present and Future our Emerging Profession

October 2015 Presented The 13th Sir Henry Parkes Oration, at Tenterfield NSW the site of the 1889 oration by Sir Henry calling for the Federation of the six Australian colonies. ‘From Nightingale nurses to a modern profession: the journey of nursing in Australia’

Published in conference proceedings

Garvey L, Williams A, Cassar N, Mackelprang-Carter J, Delbridge R, El-Ansary D, Howland C, Willetts G. (2019) Evaluation of an interprofessional tag team simulation based on an aboriginal case scenario Eight International Clinical Skills Conference, Prato Tuscany 2019

Torres, L., Willetts, G., Garvey, L., Zahora, T., Yates, S., & Young, A. (2017) A Systematic Method for Facilitating Curriculum Renewal and Transformation: Two Case Studies. International conference on Models of Engaged Learning and Teaching (I-MELT) in Adelaide I-MELT 11-13 December 2017

Willetts G. (2017) Finding One’s Professional Identity: The Influence of Clinical Handover seventh International Clinical Skills Conference, Prato Tuscany 2017

Willetts G. (2017) Compromising content for context: Debating the perceived dichotomy between clinical skills preparation and basic science teaching within healthcare education Seventh International Clinical Skills Conference, Prato Tuscany 2017

Willetts, G. Newton, J. & Moss, C  (2015) Values Exchange: Health Professional Students Learning about their Values from and with Each Other. Sixth International Clinical Skills Conference, Prato Tuscany 2015

Lau, R. McKenna, L. Willetts, G. Lam, & L. Buttigieg, H. (2015) Nursing student’s Anxiety in Clinical Placement Sixth International Clinical Skills Conference, Prato Tuscany 2015

Butler A, Copnell B, Willetts G. (2014) Nurses’ perceptions on working with families in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, 15(4 suppl): 36

Willetts G., Moss, C,. Cross, W. (2013) Using transformational leadership skills while working in transactional environments and evaluation Fifth International Clinical Skills Conference, Prato Tuscany May 19-22 May 2013

Willetts, G & Gartlan, S. (2013) Are male nurses setup to fail? The work of caring in a woman’s world Fifth International Clinical Skills Conference, Prato Tuscany May 19-22 2013

Willetts, G & Gartlan, S. (2013) More than just a scratch - the painful truth about adult and adolescent venepuncture. Fifth International Clinical Skills Conference, Prato Tuscany 2013

Willetts, G., Moss, C. & Cross, W. (2012) Using transformational leadership skills while working in transactional environments. International Practice Development Conference Enhancing Practice 31 October –02 November 2012

Willetts, G., Moss, C. Fitzgerald, Schofield, C., Handley, C. & Ford, K. (2012) Learning co-operatively – critical reflection for evaluation at a Practice Development Master Class. International Practice Development Conference Enhancing Practice 31 October –02 November 2012

Willetts G; Mosley, I & Wittkopp, C (2011) Empowering Medical Surgical Nurses through Postgraduate Education: Implications for Practice Development. Transforming Culture, Transforming Care Practice Development Conference, March 31 – April 1, 2011

Kiegaldie, D., Maddock, B., Workman, B., Willetts, G.(2011) Developing an interprofessional learning experience or program Fourth International Clinical Skills Conference, Prato Tuscany 22nd - 25th May 2011

Willetts, G. & Clarke, D. (2011) The shaping of Professional Identity in Nursing: An ethnographic Case Study. 1st Global Congress for Qualitative Health Research. Conference. EWHA Women’s University Seoul Korea June 23rd -25th 2011

Associations

  • Fellow of ACN (Australian College of Nursing)
  • Chartered Manager Australian Institute Management
  • Fellow of Institute of Managers and Leaders