Vanessa is an Academic and Lecturer in the discipline of Nursing and Midwifery, and Course Coordinator of the Graduate Certificate of Infection Control at James Cook University (JCU).

Vanessa is an experienced Infection Prevention and Control (IP&C) professional with a specific interest in rural and remote areas. and is currently undertaking her PhD (Improving infection prevention and control in a rural hospital in the Solomon Islands: A Participatory Action Research approach).  Vanessa has worked as an IP&C clinical nurse in both large metropolitan hospitals and rural and remote areas of Australia. Vanessa’s other professional interests include critical care nursing, public health, and disaster preparedness and recovery and has travelled to Vietnam to teach disaster preparedness to communities living on the Mekong Delta (AusAID funded), and to the Solomon Islands to assess IP&C practices in a rural hospital (WHO funded). Vanessa is an active member of the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC) LMI Special Interest Group and Education & Professional Development Committee.

 

 

 

Teaching

• HS5555: Infection Prevention and Control in Health Care Settings (Level 5; TSV)
• NS2771: The Professional Role (Level 2; CNS & TSV)
• NS3226: Capstone - Clinical Nursing Practice 6 (Level 3; CNS & TSV)
• NS3227: Capstone - Clinical Nursing Practice 6 (Mental Health) (Level 3; CNS & TSV)
• NS3362: Clinical Nursing Practice 5 (Midwifery) (Level 3; TSV)
• NS3882: Nursing Practice 6 (Level 3; CNS & TSV)

Interests

Research

• Infection prevention and control Disaster preparedness and resilience Rural and remote health

Research Disciplines

• Nursing (1110)
• Public Health and Health Services (1117)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Health and Support Services (9202)
• Public Health (9204)

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Sparke V (2010) Signal infection surveillance - trial to assess suitability in a small Western Australian hospital. Healthcare Infection, 15 (3). pp. 93-96

Other research outputs

• Sparke V, MacLaren D, Mills J, Asugeni R, Moutoa K and West C (2017) Improving infection prevention and control practices in a culturally, linguistically and spiritually diverse environment. Australian Nursing and Midwifery Journal, 24 (8). p. 42
• Callope E, Felton-Busch C, Geia L, Budden L, Baldwin A and Sparke V (2014) U-Connect: a tool for engaging and supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at university. Abstracts from tMount Isa Rural, Remote and Indigenous Health Conference: are you remotely interested?. 30 June - 1 July 2014, Mt Isa, QLD, Australia
• Geia L, Budden L, Felton-Busch C, Baldwin A, Sparke V, Callope E, Ives K, Boucher R, Johns K and Hinch J (2014) Connectedness, confidence, competence, celebration: 4C'ing the future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nursing and midwifery students. Abstracts from "Are you remotely interested...?" Remote Health Conference. 30 July- 1st August 2014, Mt Isa, Queensland, Australia
• Carrucan J, Smyth W, Abernethy G, Mason M, Sparke V, Hayes M and Shields L (2014) Patients' perceptions of hospital-acquired infections in two facilities in North Queensland, Australia: a pilot study. Annals of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine, 15 (3). pp. 55-56

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.