Rate My Professor Cliff Connell

Associate Professor Cliff Connell is based in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Monash University’s Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, where he joined in January 2015. He currently serves as Deputy Director of Graduate Research and Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Monash Nursing and Midwifery. With over 30 years of clinical nursing experience, including 17 years in emergency care as a Clinical Nurse Specialist and Clinical Nurse Educator, Connell bridges clinical practice and academia. His academic credentials include a PhD in Emergency Nursing (2019; thesis: "Escalating Deteriorating Patients’ Care in the Emergency Department: Characteristics and Safety Culture"), Bachelor of Nursing (Honours), Graduate Certificate in Critical Care (Emergency Department), and Registered Nurse qualification.

Connell specializes in emergency nursing research, focusing on the recognition and management of physiological deterioration in emergency departments, simulation and education in emergency nursing, advanced life support and resuscitation, teamwork, leadership, and communication. His work addresses patient safety, rapid response systems, and resuscitation science, aligning with UN Sustainable Development Goal 3. Awards include the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education - Innovation in Teaching and Learning (2024), Vice-Chancellor’s Education Excellence Award for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (2024), Dean’s Award for Excellence - Programs that Enhance Learning (2023), and School Award for Team Academic Excellence (2021). Select publications are “ ‘They don’t know my body’: health consumer recognition and escalation of acute deterioration – a systematic review” (2026, BMJ Quality & Safety), “Nurses’ and midwives’ knowledge and safe-handling practices related to hazardous drugs: A cross-sectional study” (2025, International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances), “Knowledge and safe handling practices affecting the occupational exposure of nurses and midwives to hazardous drugs” (2024, International Journal of Nursing Studies), and “Using feedback from paediatric resuscitation team members to improve quality of care” (2025, Emergency Medicine Australasia). He holds committee roles with the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia (Victorian Branch), Australian Resuscitation Council (Victorian Branch), and International Emergency Nursing’s International Advisory Board, and supervises PhD students in emergency care topics.