Tony O’Brien
Nursing lecturer and nurse specialist
As mental health nurses we use and quote research, therefore we need to understand it, which means we need skills in evaluation of research around issues that are important to us.
Juggling roles of educator and clinician keeps work varied and interesting for Tony O'Brien, a University of Auckland lecturer who also works 0.2(fte) of his week as a nurse specialist in the Auckland City Hospital liaison psychiatry team.
Alongside his clinical practice and teaching, Tony is currently working on his PhD which examines the place and influence of the Mental Health Act on mental health nursing practice in New Zealand.
The number of mental health nurses with PhDs in New Zealand has increased enormously in the past eight years, says Tony. Their efforts are creating a base of New Zealand centred research that is helping shape mental health nursing practice in New Zealand.
Tony believes involvement in research is essential for mental health nurses, whether nurses are doing the research, using it, critiquing it or asking clinical practice questions that can become focus of research. "Research is not for everyone but as mental health nurses we use and quote research, therefore we need to understand it, which means we need skills in evaluation of research around issues that are important to us."
Aside from developing expertise in an area of interest, a PhD also expands a person's skills in the discipline of research and inquiry in a way that can be transferred to other domains that haven't been researched to the same depth, explains Tony. "They are skills you start to bring to any question you want a good understanding of."
He finds mental health nursing a career that offers many opportunities to follow strengths and interests. "Different things in mental health have interested me at different times, so I've kept learning. I didn't deliberately plan this career path but as an opportunity has popped up, I've taken it."
Read more about Tony O'Brien