My interest in nursing stems from a desire to make things better. I think it’s always been one of the main things that motivate me.  It’s the reason why I wanted to become a nurse in the first place. I’m interested in big picture things; human rights, equity, social change, people. I’m also interested in the little things; like the ways that people work together, the moments that make up an interaction between a nurse and patient and what lies within it to make it good. I’m also interested in football.

My nursing background is mostly in community nursing, but I have worked in the acute sector as well. My Masters qualification is in nursing education and I have applied this in various roles in both the health and university sectors. Currently my teaching is in the areas of social determinants of health and in chronic illness. My research interests are in student learning, community health and the ways that nurses see themselves and are seen by others.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the way nurses describe their job. I wonder if there are limitations in the language that we have to describe all the things that nurses do.  I’ve noticed that when nurses describe their role they sometimes describe a list of tasks that they perform throughout the day, but I think that there is a lot more to what nurses do than their list of observable activities. Nursing is present in many less visible ways. On one level we might be undertaking wound management, but at the same time we are engaging with a person and what we offer is beyond making a good choice with a dressing product.

Related to this is the mostly absent voice of nurses in the public domain. When there is a public discussion on any health related matter, the media is keen to report on the opinions of the doctors, the politicians, some consumer groups and sometimes some bureaucrats, but seldom do we hear from nurses unless it is directly about nursing. I think we need to strengthen that voice and find ways to describe what we really do.

Areas of Teaching

• Social Determinants of Health
• Primary Health Care
• Nursing in the Community
• Chronic Illness

Research Interests

• Teaching and Learning
• Education Technology
• Nursing in the Community

Research

Research Grants and Awards

2011 Faculty of Health Research Development Fund - awarded $2000 for the research projects. Using videoconferencing to bring authentic workplaces into the classroom.

Publications

Merritt, A. and Boogaerts, M. (2011). Developing Artistry in Community Nursing Practice: Learning through a Clinical Placement in a Community Based Setting. International Journal of Nursing Scholarship, under review

Merritt, A., (2010). An exploratory, qualitative study of learning through a clinical placement in a community based setting, Proceedings of the Nursing innovation and leadership in primary health care - directions for the future.  Community and Primary Health Care Nursing Conference, Alice Springs

Douglas, J and Merritt, A (2009). Walking the walk, talking the talk: engaging nursing students in Practice Development through authentic assessment tasks. Proceedings of the International Practice Development Collaborative - Practice Development Perspectives: what is really happening at the heart of practice conference, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney

Merritt A, (2008). Uncovering Nursing Practice in Chronic Illness Care: Utilising theoretical frameworks to uncover the artistry of nursing practice in chronic illness in an undergraduate nursing curriculum, Proceedings of the Fourth Pan-pacific nursing conference and the Sixth Hong Kong Nursing Symposium on Cancer Care, The Nethersole School or Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Boogaerts, M. and Merritt, A. (2008). Psychosocial Care in Chang, E. and Johnson, A., Chronic Illness and Disability: Principles for Nursing Practice, p 50 – 65, Churchill Livingston: Sydney