Rate My Professor Katrina Austen

Katrina Austen serves as a Lecturer in Nursing within the Faculty of Health at Southern Cross University, based at the Coffs Harbour campus. She holds a Bachelor of Health Science, Bachelor of Nursing, Graduate Certificate in Health Science, and Master of Health Science, all from Queensland University of Technology, and is currently a PhD candidate at Southern Cross University. With extensive clinical experience as a Registered Nurse primarily focused on older adults in residential aged care facilities, Austen transitioned into academia to educate the next generation of nurses. She is committed to creating supportive learning environments that prioritize compassionate and ethical nursing care.

Austen's doctoral research investigates clinical leadership and the ethics of care, specifically exploring how registered nurses can enhance leadership capabilities to improve quality of care in residential aged care. Supervised by Professor Marie Hutchinson and Professor John Hurley, her work delves into the meaning and practice of leadership within this context. Her scholarly contributions include several impactful publications. Notable works are: "An aged life has less value: A qualitative analysis of moral disengagement and care failures evident in Royal Commission oral testimony" published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing in 2021; "Promoting speaking-up behaviours among nurses working in the care for older people: A scoping review" in 2024; "Partnerships to prepare undergraduate nursing students to care for older adults: a scoping review" in 2025; "The aged care classroom: Shifting undergraduate nursing students' perceptions of residential aged care" also in 2025; and "Community service learning in undergraduate nursing education: A scoping review" forthcoming in 2026. These publications address critical challenges in nursing practice and education, including moral disengagement, barriers to speaking up about poor care, and strategies to improve student engagement with aged care settings. Through her research and teaching, Austen contributes significantly to advancing nursing workforce development and quality care for vulnerable older populations.