Professor in Nursing

Sarah welcomes inquiries for doctoral study, particularly in child health and qualitative research.

Professor Sarah Neill is a Professor in Nursing in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health at the University of Plymouth. Sarah is a children’s nursing academic with over 25 years’ experience in higher education, initially focussed on teaching and learning for the next generation of children’s nurses, then gradually more focussed on research. Sarah’s research is focussed on acute childhood illness in children under five years of age, predominantly in the home and in first contact health services, such as primary care and urgent and emergency care. She works collaboratively with parents and health care professionals to understand patient and professionals experiences, their decision making and to develop interventions to improve access to care for acutely ill children. Sarah leads the Acutely Sick Kid Safety Netting Interventions for Families (ASK SNIFF) research programme www.asksniff.org.uk and was the Chief Investigator on the Before Arrival at Hospital (BeArH) NIHR RfPB funded project https://www.northampton.ac.uk/research/before-arrival-at-hospital-bearh/. Sarah is a qualitative researcher with a specific interest in Glaserian grounded theory. Sarah chaired the Faculty of Health's Faculty Research Ethics and Integrity Committee from February 2020 until October 2021. Internationally Sarah co-chairs the International Network for Child and Family Centred Care. 

International Family Nursing Association

International Family Nursing Foundation until September 2021

European Society for Person Centred Healthcare; Fellow

European Academy of Nursing Science

Children and Young People’s Nurse Academics UK (CYPNAUK)

Deterioration in children advisory group for NHS Patient Safety

Health Foundation Q Community

Royal College of Nursing

NICE Adoption and Impact Programme Reference Panel member

International Family Nursing Association: Co-Chair Conference Planning Committee. Board member of IFNA UK & Ireland Chapter.

International Family Nursing Foundation: Board member until September 2021

International Network for Child and Family Centered Care Co-Chair

Editorial Boards

Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing Journal (Previously Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing) (International journal)

Journal of Child Health Care (International journal)

Visiting Professorships

Adjunct Associate Professor, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia

PhD students

Completed

David Agom Full time student Sept 2014 – 2019 ‘Perceptions of expert palliative nursing care in addressing the burden of terminal diseases in south Eastern Nigeria’

Jude Ominyi Full time student Sept 2014 - 2019 ‘Influence of organizational culture on the implementation of evidence based practice in Nigeria’

Nicola Smithers Part time student 2015-2019 ‘Parents' experiences of decisions to withhold or withdraw treatment from their critically ill baby’

Current

Corinne Lindsey Part time student Sept 2020 onwards. 

'The importance of nursing culture for patient care: An ethnographic and narrative investigation into practice via nurses' professional identity.'

Doctorate of Professional Practice students

Completed

Deb Pugh Part time student project Dec 2012 – Feb 2016 ‘Listening to different voices in families using Alternative Communication systems within the home.’ 

Fiona Barchard Part time student project Dec 2013 – Jan 2019 ‘Exploring nurses use of courage in clinical practice.’

Current 

Tracey Ali Part time student project Nov 2013 - Aug 2021 ' Psychosocial influences of mentorship on paramedic students’ development' University of Northampton

The focus of Sarah's teaching is predominantly on research methods at postgraduate level and, with that, on qualitative research.