Professor Claire Rickard

Prof of Infect Prevent & Vas Access

School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work
Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences
c.rickard@uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 65539

Overview

Rickard is an esteemed nurse researcher who focuses on preventing healthcare associated infections and other complications for people with central, peripheral, venous and arterial catheters. As a Registered Nurse, she specialized in acute and critical care, and then coordinated pharmaceutical and investigator-initiated ICU research at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. Her PhD (QUT, 2004) studied the impact of the duration of intravascular administration set use on bloodstream infection. Rickard has consistently won funding from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) since 2008. She is committed to mentoring and developing opportunities for nursing clinician researchers, with many going on to prestigious careers and externally funded fellowships. Her international projects include the largest ever vascular access study - The One Million Global peripheral intravenous catheter Study (OMG Study). Rickard established the Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching and Research (AVATAR) in 2007 as a mentoring network which has evolved into a mature multi-institutional investigator network of >100 nursing and medical clinicians, scientists, chemists, statisticians and health economists who undertake large randomized controlled trials and related work in partnership with hospitals in Australia and overseas. AVATAR also has a significant educational focus, with workshops, a Masters level course and a focus on PhD and postdoctoral researcher development. Professor Rickard's awards include induction into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame in 2013, and election to the prestigious Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in 2015. She has >300 publications including Lancet.

Research Interests

  • Vascular access devices/catheters
  • Intravenous/infusion therapy
  • Infection Prevention and Control
  • Heathcare Associated Infections
  • Quality and Safety
  • Acute and Critical Care Nursing
  • Randomised controlled trials
  • Clinician Researcher Career Pathways

Research Impacts

Professor Claire Rickard's vision is to eliminate healthcare associated complications experienced by people needing vascular access devices and infusion therapy. She is primarily a clinical trialist, having completed >35 RCTs. Professor Rickard is the #1 expert globally (top 0.037%) for Occlusive Dressings; #2 expert globally (top 0.0077%) for Vascular Access Devices; and #5 expert globally (top 0.12% globally) for Catheter-Related Infections (top 0.024%) (Expertscape.com).

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Queensland University of Technology
  • Postgraduate Diploma, Queensland University of Technology
  • Bachelor of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology

Publications

View all Publications

Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Master Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Available Projects

View all Available Projects

Publications

Featured Publications

Book Chapter

  • del Mar, Chris, Bennett, Sally, Abell, Bridgett, Boyle, Malcolm, Hill, Kylie, Hollingworth, Samantha, Lewis, Courtney, Noffs, Gustavo, Rickard, Claire, Sanders, Sharon, Schneider, Michal, Stedeman, Inge and Vogel, Adam (2017). Questions about diagnosis: examples of appraisals from different health professions. Evidence-based practice across the health professions. (pp. 159-184) edited by Tammy Hoffmann, Sally Bennett and Chris Del Mar. Chatswood, NSW, Australia: Elsevier.

  • Del Mar, Chris, Bennett, Sally, Boyle, Mal, Coombes, Jeff, Elkins, Mark R., Morgan, Angela, Nissen, Lisa, Rickard, Claire, Sanders, Sharon, Schneider-Kolsky, Michal and Skeat, Jemma (2013). Questions about diagnosis: examples of appraisals from different health professions. Evidence-based practice across the health professions. (pp. 153-176) edited by Tammy Hoffmann, Sally Bennett and Chris Del Mar. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Elsevier.

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Master Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.