Dr. Sharon O'Donnell

Dr Sharon O'Donnell is the Director of Research and an Associate Professor in Critical Care Nursing, in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. She has strong clinical, teaching and research expertise in Critical Care Nursing, with a particular emphasis on Acute Coronary Syndrome. She is currently the Educational Facilitator for the MSc in Specialist Nursing (Cardiovascular) programme and facilitates cardiovascular lectures for Emergency Medicine, Intensive Care and Peri-operative Specialist programme modules. She has vast clinical experience in Coronary Care Nursing and is recognised nationally and internationally for her strong research in this area. Sharon has been awarded two Health Research Board Research Fellowships for her ground-breaking doctoral and post-doctoral work in cardiovascular research. She has published widely and has been an invited speaker at many national and international conferences. Much of Sharon's research has focused on improving the pathway of care for patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome securing her approximately .75 million euro in grant funding. One of her studies, a multi-site RCT tested the effectiveness of a structured educational intervention on the length of pre-hospital delay in patients at risk of Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). Relative to other comparative interventions, it is the only international study that was successful in reducing ACS pre-hospital delay times. Sharon has succeeded in translating Critical Care research findings to practice, by developing an innovative new Clinical Prediction Rule for use in Emergency Departments(ED). This technological innovation, the 'Acute Coronary Syndrome Application' (AcSAP) improves ECG acquisition times for ACS patients in ED and in so-doing, improves the pathway of care for these critically ill patients. The Application has the potential to improve ECG times in GP practices and during EMT transport to hospital and is currently undergoing further validation. Sharon is particularly interested in conducting randomised controlled trial and interventional designed studies that focus on the effectiveness of digital health solutions and smart technology to improve ACS treatment times and recovery. Due to her strong track record in Critical Care research, Sharon has been invited to join three European consortiums for recent EIT and Horizon 2020 grant submissions (2019). Two of these applications involve the merging of AcSAP into larger technological Applications, targeting the care or recovery of patients with critical illness. Sharon was elected for two terms to the Scientific Committee of the European Society of Cardiology Association of Cardiovascular Nurses and Allied Health Professions (ACNAP). She contributed to the building of evidence-based practice, research capacity and skills among critical care nurses in Europe and allied professionals within ACNAP and beyond. She has also acted as Chair or Co-chair on the Cardiovascular Research Committee in the School of Nursing and Midwifery where she has contributed significantly to building research capacity within the research team. Due to her doctoral work examining gender issues in myocardial infarctions, she was co-opted onto the Women's Council of the Irish heart Foundation. She was also engaged as a consultant for the 'Emergency Department Assessment of Women with Acute Coronary Syndrome', a report commissioned by The Women's Health Council and The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine. Sharon has held the post of External Examiner for Post Graduate Critical Care programmes, National University of Ireland, Galway. Sharon has held many leadership roles within the school in her capacity of Director of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning and Director of Post Graduate Teaching and Learning. She has chaired the International Conference Committee within the School and has been a member of the Research Ethics Committee, Faculty of Health Sciences, Trinity College

  Acute care nursing   ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION   Behavior and Health   Cardiovascular disease, pharmacology   Cardiovascular Diseases   Cardiovascular System   Changing gender role attitudes in Ireland   CLINICAL APPLICATIONS   Critical Care   EMERGENCY   Emergency Health Services   GENDER   GENDER DIFFERENCES   Gender dimensions in health and illness   Gender issues in social development   Gender issues, gender studies   Health attitudes and behaviour   Health Disparities   Health outcomes   Health status and inequalities   Health/Medical Science--Computer Technology   Heart   Heart Failure   Heart Failure and transplantation   INPATIENTS   Medical disclosure and theories of the female body   Nursing   Patient Care and Education   Patterns of health   Preventive Medicine   Symptom Management   Technology Assessment/Transfer/Outreach (Hlth   Telemedicine   Women's Health

Using Technology to transfer research findings to practice I developed an innovative new Clinical Prediction Rule for use in Emergency Departments (ED). The 'Acute Coronary Syndrome Application' (AcSAP) was developed for Android tablet to improve 'door to ECG' times for all patients with ACS. Piloting of this Application is completed and results published. As well as improving the ECG acquisition times for patients in ED, the findings of this study suggest that this Application has the potential to improve ECG times in GP practices and during EMT transport to hospital. I continue to conduct further validation studies in different clinical sites. I am currently preparing an EIT submission with 5 European Business, Commercial and clinical Partners to combine the 'Acute Coronary Syndrome Application' (AcSAP)with another tested clinical Application to produce a Cardiac Discharge Bundle. In 2011, I was part of an interdisciplinary research group which collaborated with industry (Technology Research for Independent Living Centre (TRIL) & Intel) to develop technological based educational, motivational and health promoting material to support self management in patients with chronic illnesses. The material produced by this study was used to enhance assistive and m-Health technologies targeted at self management in chronic illness Gender and ACS Presentation: In 2009 I was awarded a HRB postdoctoral research fellowship to examine the following: (2) How do men and women with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) describe, interpret and act upon symptom presentation before and during their cardiac event? (2) Do gender-specific differences exist in the symptom presentation of men and women with suspected ACS? The results of this study demonstrated the existence of two type of MI presentation: Slow onset MI and fast onset MI Reducing delay time for patients with ACS through education In 2007, I was co-applicant on a research team who were successful at securing HRB funding (Research Project Grant-General) for an educational intervention study. In this study we collaborated with clinical experts from University of Kentucky and continue to have strong research links with this group. This multi-site RCT tested the effectiveness of a structured educational intervention on the length of pre-hospital delay in patients at risk of Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). Relative to other comparative interventions, it is the only international study that was successful in reducing ACS pre-hospital delay times. The secondary objectives included: to determine factors that influence pre-hospital delay; to determine the impact of the educational intervention on knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about heart disease and ACS symptoms; to compare GTN and ambulance use following an educational intervention; to elucidate the determinants of physical activity in the ACS population and how it changes post cardiac event; to determine intention to attend cardiac rehabilitation, subsequent attendance and the factors that influence this. Gender & Myocardial Infarction: An analysis of Care-Pathway Delays Summary In 2001-2004, I was awarded a Clinical Nursing Research Fellowship (HRB) with which I completed my doctorate 'Myocardial Infarction Care Pathways - are delays gender specific'. In this study I identified gender differences in MI illness behaviour and treatment. This was the first Irish contribution to an International debate on gendered MI care which had previously ensued for 20 years. The findings of my study placed gender at the forefront of clinical decision making pertaining to MI and as a result changed clinical practice in Ireland. My findings informed the work of the Women's Heart Council (Irish Heart Foundation) and the report 'Emergency Department Assessment of Women with MI - a collaboration between the Women's Health Council and the Emergency Medicine Association collaboration.