PhD candidate Louise Skerritt wins prestigious Simon Cross Research Prize

South East Technological University (SETU) is proud to announce that PhD candidate Louise Skerritt has been awarded the Simon Cross Research prize for the best oral research presentation at this year's University Hospital Waterford (UHW) research meeting.

Louise's presentation, titled ‘Unveiling the Wound Care Crisis: Examining Aetiology, Prevalence, Resource Drain and Antibiotic Misuse in a Community Health Care Setting’, showcased the initial findings from the first phase of her PhD study.

Currently in her fifth year of the PhD programme in the Department of Nursing and Health Care, Louise is supervised by Prof. Martina Gooney and Dr Linda Sheahan. Her research focuses on the delivery of wound care and wound care practices through a multidisciplinary and community lens.

Louise is also the Operational Lead for Integrated Healthcare for Older Persons at Regional Health Authorities (RHA) Dublin and South East. In her previous role as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in chronic disease management, vascular and dermatology, she witnessed first hand the impact of referral duplication, lack of referrals, poorly standardised care, overuse of antibiotics, and the resource drain that wound care places on health care and community services. 

Her research is the first and only independent study of its type and scale focusing on community and primary care wound care services and delivery in Ireland.

Recognising the financial constraints and economic cost to both services and patients, I am hoping to raise awareness of the financial burden and associated challenges on the delivery of optimum wound care service provision.

Louise Skerritt PhD candidate and winner of Simon Cross Research prize for the best oral research presentation

Reflecting on her research journey, Louise stated, "A key focus for me when embarking on my research journey was to highlight the impact and burden of chronic wounds to those providing and receiving wound care in community/primary care settings. Recognising the financial constraints and economic cost to both services and patients, I am hoping to raise awareness of the financial burden and associated challenges on the delivery of optimum wound care service provision."

Prof. Martina Gooney emphasised the importance of Louise's work, stating, "Wound care is an area of health care that requires urgent standardisation, accountability, and integration to ensure that these clients are provided with best practice, cost-effective, and efficient wound care."

Louise's research is expected to significantly benefit national and local service development as healthcare services strive to achieve current government and Department of Health strategies. 

These strategies aim to provide a quality, equitable service delivered by the right person in the right place, at the right time. The development, implementation, and adoption of specific programmes and strategies that support healthcare providers in delivering a timely, quality, equitable, and integrated health service are essential.

The Department of Nursing and Health Care at SETU congratulates Louise Skerritt on her outstanding achievement and looks forward to the continued impact of her research on the healthcare community.

Louise's first publication from her research is available by tapping here.