Professor EmeritaMary Chiarella

Professor Chiarella’s research interests include legal, policy and ethical issues in nursing and health care delivery. Examples of her research include an international review of nursing regulation; an examination of the legal and professional status of nurses; reviews and analyses of disciplinary decisions of professional tribunals; and an international review of policy in end-of-life care. She has conducted a state-wide review of advanced practice roles for the Nursing and Midwifery Office of NSW Health, a review of the disciplinary decisions of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Board, and of the implementation of Nurse Practitioners in South Australia, and evaluated the continuing competence framework for the New Zealand Nursing Council. In addition to the global review of nurse-led models of primary health care for the WHO, she has reviewed its policy and leadership in primary health care and policy development related to MDG 5.

Currently, Professor Chiarella leads a study (funded by an ARC Linkage grant), which compares the complaints and notification system under the national regulatory scheme for health practitioners with that of NSW. The 5-part project involves (i) comparative data analysis of complaints (ii) tracking journeys of 500 complainants (iii) survey of decision-makers in the complaints process (iv) survey of complainants (v) comparative legal analyses of statutes in different countries including Australia.

Future research will address whether competence can be assured through regulation, via a three-part study including (a) the analysis of case law in relation to prosecutions for poor performance, (b) an international review of policy relating to competence, and (c) an observational study on competence assessment (using competence assessors as subjects).

Walton M., Kelly P. J., Chiarella E.M., Carney T., Bennett B., Nagy M.and Pierce S. (2019). Profile of the most common complaints for five health professions in Australia. Australian Health Review https://doi.org/10.1071/AH18074