A deep and abiding commitment

Dr Trish Livingston’s work involves a deep and abiding commitment to improving the lives of people with cancer - from both a personal and professional level.

“Yes, you could say I am passionate about it,” said the Senior Research Fellow in Deakin University’s School of Nursing who also has a joint appointment with Eastern Health.

“Investigating barriers to early detection, improving clinical practice and increasing access to psychosocial support to improve people’s cancer journey has formed a huge part of my life for the past 20 years.

“Everyone is touched by cancer whether it is a family member or a friend. My commitment does stem from the fact that my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 1989 and that is one of the reasons why I applied to join the Cancer Council Victoria, working on the Commonwealth Government’s mammography screening pilot program.“

Once this project was completed, Dr Livingston returned to the University of Melbourne to undertake a PhD in Ophthalmology before returning to the Cancer Council Victoria, this time as a NHMRC Post-Doctoral Public Health Research Fellow.

“Moving from the Cancer Council Victoria to Deakin, the School of Nursing recognised the importance of continuing research in cancer from a clinical perspective,” Dr Livingston said.

Improving access to health service delivery for people diagnosed with cancer is now a key priority for the Deakin University/Eastern Health partnership.

One of her roles at Deakin is to facilitate and implement nursing research programs that will contribute to clinical knowledge, promote the integration of research findings into educational programs, health care policy and clinical practice which will ultimately improve health outcomes for cancer patients.

“For instance at Deakin we have just applied for an NHMRC grant to look at a new model of care, provided by specialist liaison nurses, for patients undergoing chemotherapy,” Dr Livingston said.

“More and more people have their chemotherapy as day patients but our research shows that about 30 per cent do not have anyone to help them at home when they are recovering from their cycle of chemotherapy. People need to manage the range of side effects from chemotherapy at home without direct supervision from oncology staff.

“At the moment day oncology settings are not currently resourced to adequately support the physical, practical and psychological needs of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy; as a result services are often fragmented and uncoordinated.

“That is not to criticise health services but it’s the limited resources available to health services that are the issue.

“So what we are looking at is an additional role within the day oncology setting involving senior nurse clinicians who would be available for patients when they commence their chemotherapy. It would involve providing one-on-one consultations and telephone follow up to see how patients are managing the side effects of their chemotherapy at home.

“As most people would know, there is a wide range of side effects – fatigue, weakness, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, constipation, hair loss, weight loss, mouth sores and muscle/joint pain.

“If health services can provide a systematic approach to patients receiving information and support to manage their symptoms at home, then we can potentially reduce presentations to emergency departments and hospitals.

“With that comes the potential to reduce costs to the health budget and so we have teamed up with Professor Rob Carter, the inaugural Chair of Health Economics at Deakin, as well as Dr Marj Moodie (from Health Economics), to provide this level of expertise in the grant application.”

Dr Livingston and her team have also recently applied for funding with the Victoria Cancer Agency to look at the positive impact of physical activity on prostate cancer survivors.

“The literature tells us how beneficial physical activity can be for cancer patients but that message is not getting out there,” she said.

“So we are looking at clinicians’ referring patients to an exercise physiologist.”

While research remains very important to Dr Livingston, it was not the only thing that brought her to Deakin in 2006.

“At the Cancer Council Victoria, my work was purely research based, and that was fantastic,” Dr Livingston said.

“However, I reached the stage where I wanted to also teach students the processes involved in undertaking projects and how the outcomes of research can make a difference to people’s lives.

“One of the advantages in undertaking projects is that I am able to provide students with real life examples of study designs, surveys and questionnaires, so they see the practice as well as the theory.

”The School of Nursing has also been instrumental in the development of four Professional Development Units for nurses who are caring for cancer patients in acute and community settings. These modules will provide nurses with detailed knowledge on common cancers, treatments, and the psychosocial impact of diagnosis and treatment on individuals.”

Dr Livingston will also have input in the development of an undergraduate oncology elective for student nurses to gain in-depth knowledge on the complex care of cancer patients.

“This will have a significant impact on training our graduate nurses to provide holistic care for people with cancer.“

Theory into practice is a cornerstone of Dr Livingston’s career.

Over the past decade she has generated over $1 million in research funds. Equally important, she has a highly successful track record in the translation of research findings into clinical practice.

Research that makes a difference – that’s the Deakin way.

And by the way, if you’re wondering: yes from the moment she received her PhD at Melbourne Uni, Trish has had many, many people walk up to her and say – “Dr Livingston, I presume?”

And she still manages a laugh! It’s a different sort, but that’s commitment, too!

To watch a video of Dr Trish Livingston talking about her research:
http://www.victoriancanceragency.org.au/Funding/Videogallery/SupportivecareInfrastructuregrant/
tabid/191/language/en-US/Default.aspx

For further information about the research work of Dr Trish Livingston, visit:
http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/admin/pubs/reports/database/dynamic/output/person/person.php ?person_code=livinpa

For more information on Deakin University’s School of Nursing:
http://www.deakin.edu.au/hmnbs/nursing/index.php

> BACK