Rate My Professor Viv Leigh

Vivienne Leigh is a Lecturer in Nursing and Postgraduate Nursing Course Coordinator at Adelaide University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health. She holds a Bachelor of Nursing from the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle; a Bachelor of Science (Microbiology) from the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; and a Bachelor of Education (Adult) from Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand. Leigh completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Critical Care Nursing at the University of Technology Sydney in 2015 and a Master of Clinical Science at the Joanna Briggs Institute, University of Adelaide, in 2019. Her master’s thesis examined the effectiveness and harms of pharmacological interventions for treating delirium in adults in intensive care units following cardiac surgery. Since 2023, she has been a PhD candidate at the University of South Australia, focusing on developing evidence-based guidelines for managing medical device alarms to improve patient safety in Australian intensive care units.

Leigh’s career spans extensive clinical and educational experience in critical care. After graduating, she worked for six years as a cardiothoracic intensive care nurse at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, before relocating to Adelaide. There, she served as a critical care qualified nurse, ICU educator, and ICU clinical manager in public and private intensive care units. Her research specializations include intensive care nursing, particularly cardiothoracic care, recognition and response to clinical deterioration, and clinical education. Key publications feature Leigh, V. et al. (2026). ‘Management of medical device alarms in intensive care units: A scoping review.’ Australian Critical Care, 39(1); Leigh, V. et al. (2019). ‘Effectiveness and harms of pharmacological interventions for the treatment of delirium in adults in intensive care units after cardiac surgery: A systematic review.’ JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, 17(10); and the associated protocol (2018). Leigh has earned the Unstoppable Award 2023 from the University of South Australia and a 2025 Unstoppable Early Career Academic Grant valued at $7,322 for exploring serious games in online critical care nurse education. She currently serves as Vice-President of the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses South Australia/Northern Territory Branch (2025-ongoing), following prior membership.