Staff profile: Dr Alison Twycross
Position: Principal Lecturer in Children's Nursing
School: Midwifery and Child Health
Telephone: +44 (0)20 8725 0379
Email: a.twycross@sgul.kingston.ac.uk
Biography
Alison is a children’s nurse. She has worked clinically in both district general hospitals and a children’s hospital. Alison was a ward manager for four and a half years before moving into nurse education. She completed her PhD in 2004, which focused on nurses' management of children’s post-operative pain.
Alison teaches in a variety of children’s nursing related areas across both pre- and post- registration courses. She became chair of RCN’s children and young people’s field of practice advisory panel in October 2005. She chairs the twice yearly meetings and is involved in identifying the strategic direction of the field of practice. She is the spokesperson for the field of practice within and outwith the College. This involves liaising with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and other health care organisations on behalf of the field of practice. Alison also co-ordinate the field of practice’s activities at RCN Congress, including arranging the annual dinner and the accommodation requirements.
The Association of Child Health Nurse Researchers (UK) was established in 2004. This group is for child health nurses who are doctorally prepared or a considerable way along the process of gaining a PhD. Alisopn is the facilitator for this group.
In July 2006 Alison was elected as one of six forum representatives on the RCN’s Professional Management Structure Action Group. A key element of this role is ensuring that the group represents the views of the other 70 forum chairs as the RCN changes the way it delivers the professional services. Alison is seen as the convenor for the six forum representatives and also co-ordinate the Forum Chairs’ Meeting, which take place two to three times a year.
Alison is on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Nursing and regularly reviews paper for a range of academic and professional journals. She is committed to ensuring children and their families obtain the best possible care and much of her research has focused on identifying why current evidence is not used in practice.
Interests
Children’s nursing, pain management, evidence-based practice, clinical decision-making.
Publications
Article
Twycross, Alison and Dowden, Stephanie J (2010) Do organizational quality improvement strategies improve pain management?
Twycross, Alison (2010) Managing pain in children: where to from here?
Twycross, Alison (2009) An interprofessional approach to the ethics of undertaking research with children.
Twycross, Alison and Dowden, Stephanie J (2009) Status of pediatric nurses' knowledge about pain.
Twycross, Alison and Shields, Linda (2008) Content analysis.
Twycross, Alison (2008) Does the perceived importance of a pain management task affect the quality of children's nurses' post-operative pain management practices?
Gibson, Faith and Twycross, Alison (2008) Editorial: Getting it right for children and young people's health care services.
Twycross, Alison , Gibson, Faith and Coad, Jane (2008) Guidance on seeking agreement to participate in research from young children.
Twycross, Alison (2008) Practice based research.
Twycross, Alison and Corlett, Jo (2007) Challenges of setting up a multi-centred research study.
Twycross, Alison (2007) Children's nurses' post-operative pain management practices: an observational study.
Gibson, Faith and Twycross, Alison (2007) Children's participation in research: a position statement on behalf of the Royal College of Nursing's Research in Child Health (RiCH) Group and Young People's Rights and Ethics Group.
Twycross, Alison (2007) Modernising nursing careers: implications for children's nurses.
Twycross, Alison (2007) What is the impact of theoretical knowledge on children's nurses' post-operative pain management practices? An exploratory study.
Twycross, Alison and Powls, Lucy (2006) How do children's nurses make clinical decisions? Two preliminary studies.
Twycross, Alison (2006) Managing pain during the first year of life.
Corlett, Jo and Twycross, Alison (2006) Negotiation of care by children's nurses: lessons from research.
Corlett, Jo and Twycross, Alison (2006) Negotiation of parental roles within family-centred care: a review of the research.
Coad, Jane and Twycross, Alison (2006) User involvement: not just a box to be ticked.
Twycross, Alison (2005) Book Review of: Resources for nursing research: an annotated bibliography by Cynthia Clamp et al.
Shields, Linda and Twycross, Alison (2005) How randomised controlled trials (RCTs) work.
Twycross, Alison and Shields, Linda (2005) Reliability and validity in practice: assessment tools.
Twycross, Alison and Shields, Linda (2004) Statistics made simple: part 1 Mean, medians and modes.
Twycross, Alison and Shields, Linda (2004) Statistics made simple: part 2 Standard deviation, variance and range.
Twycross, Alison and Shields, Linda (2004) Statistics made simple: part 3 Statistical tests terminology.
Twycross, Alison and Shields, Linda (2004) Statistics made simple: part 4 Choosing the right statistical test.
Twycross, Alison and Shields, Linda (2004) Validity and reliability - what's it all about? Part 1, validity in quantitative studies.
Twycross, Alison and Shields, Linda (2004) Validity and reliability - what's it all about? Part 2, reliability in quantitative studies.
Twycross, Alison (2003) Book Review of: Managing and implementing decisions in health care, Young, A.P. & Cooke, M. (eds.).
Twycross, Alison (2003) Book Review of: The evidence-based practice manual for nurses, by Jean Craig and Rosalind Smyth.
Shields, Linda and Twycross, Alison (2003) The difference between incidence and prevalence.
Shields, Linda and Twycross, Alison (2003) The difference between quantitative and qualitative research.
Twycross, Alison (2003) Published research.
Twycross, Alison (2003) Research & commentary: post-surgical pain relief.
Shields, Linda and Twycross, Alison (2003) Understanding research: the infant mortality rate.
Twycross, Alison (2003) The web.
Twycross, Alison (2002) Educating nurses about pain management: the way forward.
Twycross, Alison (2002) Managing pain in children: an observational study.
Twycross, Alison (2001) Achieving consensus about pain content for child branch curricula.
Twycross, Alison (2001) Oral dosing of dexamethasone was as effective as intramuscular dosing for outpatient treatment of children with moderate croup.
Book
Twycross, Alison , Dowden, Stephanie and Bruce, Elizabeth, eds. (2009)
Book Section
Twycross, Alison (2010) Pain management in children and young people.
Twycross, Alison (2009) Careers in research and education.
Twycross, Alison (2009) Non-drug methods of pain relief.
Twycross, Alison (2009) Pain: a bio-psycho-social phenomenon.
Twycross, Alison and Dowden, Stephanie J. (2009) Where to from here?
Twycross, Alison (2009) Why managing pain in children matters.
Twycross, Alison (2008) Careers in research and education.
Twycross, A and Unsworth, V (2007) The assessment and management of postoperative pain.
Twycross, Alison and Smith, Joanna (2006) The management of acute pain in children.
Grants
- Twycross A (2007). To develop best practice guidelines for health professionals in relation to young people and electronic health care records. Young people’s views will be sought though focus groups and a web-based questionnaire. Royal College of Nursing. £4,705
- Twycross A (2006). Internal pump priming grant from the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences. Research Investment Opportunity. £5,000
- Twycross A (2003). To study nurses’ decision-making when caring for children with a medical condition. Yorkhill Children’s Foundation Research Grant. £9,996.86
- Twycross A (2000). To undertake an observational study about nurses’ management of paediatric pain. Smith and Nephew Nursing Research Fellowship. £30,000
- Twycross A (2000). To study pain management practices and research in Eastern Australia. Florence Nightingale Foundation Travel Scholarship. £3,000
- Twycross A (1996). To develop a clinical protocol for pain management within Birmingham Children’s Hospital (with a former colleague). Visited areas of clinical expertise in England and The Sick Children’s Hospital, Toronto, Canada. Innovation in Nursing Practice Award. West Midlands Regional Health Authority. £2,000
