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Dr Jessica Schults
Dr

Jessica Schults

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Phone: 
+61 7 334 66077

Overview

Background

Jessica is a paediatric critical care nurse and researcher with more than 15 years of clinical experience and expertise. Her research themes to date have focused on ventilation strategies to reduce ventilator associated pneumonia and interventions to improve the safety and quality of care related to invasive medical devices. Jessica's developing research themes focus on enhancing health service surveillance using electronic health information in two major spheres: hospital-level surveillance for hospital-acquired complications and unit level surveillance for vascular access device complications and ventilator associated events. She is particularly interested in advances in infectious disease surveillance and tracking, using a combination of mature platforms and new electronic platforms. Jessica has experience leading international consensus studies using Delphi methods and is interested in clinical trials which embed hybrid strategies to enable the rapid and sustainable translation of research findings upon study completion. Jessica is passionate about growing clinician researchers and nurses’ capacity to lead and undertake research which contributes to practice change and better outcomes in our vulnerable patient groups including paediatrics and minority groups.

Availability

Dr Jessica Schults is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Qualifications

  • Postgraduate Diploma in Nursing Science, James Cook University
  • Masters (Coursework), Queensland University of Technology
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Griffith University

Research interests

  • Development of core indicators for paediatric intensive care quality and safety measurement

    Australia and New Zealand Delphi study to define and select a core set of PICU quality indicators to measure and benchmark care quality in PICU

  • Implementing appropriate use criteria for endotracheal suction interventions in the PICU

    Following an extensive process to develop appropriate use criteria for endotracheal suction interventions, we will implement these guidelines in the PICU to determine whether implementation of the guidelines for 'children with a highly infectious respiratory disease' will lead to improved clinical and unit outcomes.

  • Development of a tool to support identification and escalation of children with Difficult Intravenous Access

    Together with consumers and clinicians at the Queensland Children's Hospital we have developed a DIVA tool. We are now testing this tool in practice to determine whether this supports first attempt insertion success and increased patient satisfaction. Trial lead Ms Tricia Kleidon.

  • Measuring the burden of hospital acquired complications in the PICU

    We are conducting a retrospective cohort study of 5 years worth of PICU admissions to determine the frequency and cost of HACs in the PICU. Our preliminary work (scoping review and stakeholder consultation) has shown that there is a lack of paediatric specific measures to support quality measurement and practice improvement.

Works

Search Professor Jessica Schults’s works on UQ eSpace

84 works between 2015 and 2024

81 - 84 of 84 works

2018

Conference Publication

Normal saline instillation with paediatric endotracheal suction: It's what's always been taught

Schults, J., Cooke, M., Long, D., Schibler, A. and Mitchell, M. (2018). Normal saline instillation with paediatric endotracheal suction: It's what's always been taught. The 42nd Australian and New Zealand Annual Scientific meeting on Intensive Care and the 23rd Annual Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Conference, Queensland, Australia, 11-13 October 2017. Philadelphia, PA, United States: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.aucc.2017.12.032

Normal saline instillation with paediatric endotracheal suction: It's what's always been taught

2017

Journal Article

Efficacy and safety of normal saline instillation and paediatric endotracheal suction: an integrative review

O'Leary, Jessica, Mitchell, Marion L., Cooke, Marie and Schibler, Andreas (2017). Efficacy and safety of normal saline instillation and paediatric endotracheal suction: an integrative review. Australian Critical Care, 31 (1), 3-9. doi: 10.1016/j.aucc.2017.02.069

Efficacy and safety of normal saline instillation and paediatric endotracheal suction: an integrative review

2016

Journal Article

Standard instruction versus simulation: educating registered nurses in the early recognition of patient deterioration in paediatric critical care

O'Leary, Jessica, Nash, Robyn and Lewis, Peter (2016). Standard instruction versus simulation: educating registered nurses in the early recognition of patient deterioration in paediatric critical care. Nurse Education Today, 36, 287-292. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2015.07.021

Standard instruction versus simulation: educating registered nurses in the early recognition of patient deterioration in paediatric critical care

2015

Journal Article

High fidelity patient simulation as an educational tool in paediatric intensive care: a systematic review

O'Leary, Jessica A., Nash, Robyn and Lewis, Peter A. (2015). High fidelity patient simulation as an educational tool in paediatric intensive care: a systematic review. Nurse Education Today, 35 (10), e8-e12. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2015.07.025

High fidelity patient simulation as an educational tool in paediatric intensive care: a systematic review

Funding

Current funding

  • 2024 - 2025
    Co-designing patientcentric solutions: revolutionising intravascular catheter care practices for patients and families at RBWH
    Metro North Hospital and Health Service
    Open grant
  • 2024 - 2025
    HAI-TECH: Healthcare-Associated Infection Tracking with Enhanced Connectivity and Health Informatics
    Metro North Hospital and Health Service
    Open grant
  • 2024 - 2025
    Investigating hospital acquired infection surveillance activities-perspectives of infection control practitioners in Queensland public hospitals
    Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control Ltd
    Open grant
  • 2023 - 2025
    Strengthening Hospital Associated Infection surveillance in Queensland: making sense through consensus
    Queensland Health Clinical Research Fellowships
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2026
    Joint Research Fellowships (University Qld & Metro North Hospital & Health Service): Senior Research Fellow; Clinical Research Nurse; Research Team Leader
    Metro North Hospital and Health Service
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2025
    Difficult peripheral intravenous catheter insertion: Australian considerations for sustainable implementation of ultrasound guided procedures
    NHMRC Partnership Projects
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2022 - 2024
    Prediction of catheter associated bloodstream infection and hospital-onset sepsis events in critically ill adults
    Heidi-CSIRO IDR and AMR Projects
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2023
    Promoting safe, high quality care for every child: harnessing binational knowledge and expertise to develop quality indicators for paediatric critical care
    Intensive Care Foundation
    Open grant
  • 2021
    Measuring the incidence of hospital-acquired complications in paediatric critical care, their effect on duration of ventilation and economic impact -CHF Mary McConnell Grant led by Griffith University
    Griffith University
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2022
    Preventing healthcare acquired, ventilator- associated conditions in the PICU: Implementation of new airway clearance guidance
    The Children's Hospital Foundation
    Open grant
  • 2020 - 2022
    Improving endotracheal suction practice in the PICU
    ACCCN Diane Chamberlain Research Seeding Grant
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Dr Jessica Schults is:
Available for supervision

Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Master Philosophy

    Designing and implementing a nurse-led electronic medical record (EMR) integrated heparinisation protocol using optimal targets (anti Xa vs APTT)

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Jason Roberts, Associate Professor Jayesh Dhanani

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The effectiveness of peripheral intravenous catheter insertion techniques and technologies to improve insertion success and performance

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Claire Rickard, Professor Amanda Ullman

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Co-designing a healthcare policy review process amongst nursing and midwifery

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Claire Rickard

Media

Enquiries

Contact Dr Jessica Schults directly for media enquiries about:

  • harm measurement
  • infectious disease
  • paediatrics
  • patient safety
  • ventilation

Need help?

For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team:

communications@uq.edu.au