Staff profiles
Dr Ann McDonnell
PhD, MSc, MSc, BSc, RGN, RNT
Phone 0114 225 2439
Email a.mcdonnell@shu.ac.uk
Dr Ann McDonnell is a reader in health and social care research. She moved to the university in 2006. Ann has a BSc in Physiology and Zoology which was awarded in 1979 by the University of Sheffield. She was subsequently awarded an MSc in Nursing from the University of Manchester in 1988 and an MSc in Health Services Research and Technology Assessment from the University of Sheffield in 1997.
Ann's clinical background is in nursing and she has held a variety of clinical posts in acute hospital settings and has extensive teaching experience on a variety of nursing and inter-disciplinary programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level within the National Health Service and university settings.
Ann completed a Medical Research Council (MRC) training fellowship in health services research and completed her PhD as part of this fellowship in 2004 while working in the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield. Her PhD was a study of the impact of acute pain teams on patient outcomes using Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data.
Ann has over 14 years experience of health services research and evaluation. Ann has secured research funding from national and local bodies. She is also experienced in collaborating closely with NHS Trusts to evaluate their service provision Ann's research activities reflect her interest in the use of mixed methods to explore the impact of complex interventions in health settings. Past projects include the impact critical care outreach services (in collaboration with the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre) funded by the Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO) Programme and an evaluation of the impact of new model to detect deteriorating patients at an NHS Foundation Trust, funded by the Yorkshire and Humber Strategic Health Authority. Ann leads the professional development, technology and research into practice theme . She is interested in evidence based practice and the evaluation of innovations in service delivery which involve nurses working in new and innovative roles. Current projects include a study exploring ways of demonstrating the impact of nurse consultants on patient and staff outcomes, an evaluation of the advanced nurse practitioner roles at Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, a national survey of nurses who work as lone workers and a study to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of community based services for older people a secondary analysis to inform service delivery (in collaboration with the University of Sheffield).
Ann's approach to project leadership acknowledges the need to develop research capacity within nursing and she has created opportunities to enable this in both all studies where she has been the principal investigator.
Ann is currently supervising two doctoral students
- Madrean Schober (University of Singapore) - Factors influencing the Development of Advanced Practice Nursing Roles in Singapore
- Julie Hall
Ann welcomes students who are interested in NHS workforce issues, new role developments in nursing and the allied health professions and the recognition and management of deteriorating patients.
Ann is a member of the translating knowledge into action implementation theme, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for South Yorkshire
Ann is a member of the NIHR Fellowships Post-Doctoral panel of referees.
Ann has published widely from her research and has presented at a range of professional and academic conferences.
Research outputs: key publications since 2001
Book chapters
McDonnell, A. (2004) Factors which may inhibit the utilization of research findings and some possible solutions. nN: Crookes, P. and Davies, S. (Eds) Research into practice 2nd edition. London, Balliere Tindall.
Refereed journal papers
Gerrish, K, McDonnell A, Nolan M, Kirshbaum, M. Tod A, The role of advanced practice nurses in knowledge brokering as a means of promoting evidence-based practice among clinical nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing. In press.
Kennedy F, McDonnell A, Gerrish K et al (2011) Evaluation of the impact of nurse consultant roles in the United Kingdom: a mixed method systematic literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing. In press.
Gerrish K,Guillaume L, Kirshbaum M, McDonnell A et al. (2011) Factors influencing the contribution of advanced practice nurses to promoting evidence-based practice among front-line nurses: findings from a cross-sectional survey. Journal of Advanced Nursing Volume: 67 Issue: 5 Pages: 1079-1090.
Allmark P,. Tod AM. McDonnell A et al (2011) Evaluation of the impact of a smoke-free home initiative in Rotherham, a deprived district in Northern England The European Journal of Public Health; doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckr072
Allmark, P, Boote J, Chambers E, Clarke A, McDonnell A et al (2009) Ethical issues in the use of in-depth interviews: literature review and discussion Research Ethics Review Vol 5, No 2, 48-55
McDonnell A, Esmonde L, Morgan R, Brown R, Bray K, Parry G, Adam S, Sinclair R, Harvey S, Mays N, Rowan K. (2007) The provision of critical care outreach services in England: findings from a national survey. Journal of Critical Care 22 (3) 212-218
Gao H, McDonnell A, Harrison DA, Moore T, Adam S, Daly K, Esmonde L, Goldhill DR, Parry GJ, Rashidian A, Subbe CP, Harvey S. (2007) Systematic review and evaluation of physiological track and trigger warning systems. Intensive Care Medicine. 33 667-679
Esmonde L, McDonnell A, Ball C, Waskett C, Morgan R, Rashidian A, Bray K, Adam S, Harvey S. (2006) Investigating the effectiveness of Critical Care Outreach Services: A systematic review. Intensive Care Medicine. 32 (11), 1713-1721.
McDonnell, A. Wilson, R. Goodacre, S. (2006) Evaluating and implementing new services British Medical Journal 332, 109-112.
McDonnell, A. Nicholl, J., Read, S.M (2005) Exploring the impact of Acute Pain Teams on patient outcomes using routine data. Journal of Research in Nursing 10 (4) 383-402.
O'Cathain, A Nicholl, J., Sampson, F., Walters, S., McDonnell, A. Munro,J.(2004) Do different types of nurses give different triage outcomes in NHS Direct? A mixed methods study. Journal of Health Services Research and Policy 9 (4), 226-233.
McDonnell, A. Nicholl, J., Read, S.M. (2003) Acute pain teams and the management of postoperative pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing 41 (3), 261-273.
McDonnell, A. Nicholl, J., Read, S.M. (2003) Acute pain teams in England: current provision and their role in postoperative pain management. Journal of Clinical Nursing 12, 387-393.
McDonnell, A., Davies, S., Shewan, J., Brown, J. (2001) Practice nurses and the prevention of cardiovascular disease and stroke: the extent of evidence based practice. Primary Health Care Research and Development 2(3) 159-166.
Kaltenthaler, E., McDonnell, A., Peters, J. (2001) Monitoring the care of lung cancer patients: linking audit and care pathways. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 7(1) 13-20.
