DrPenelope (Penny) Casey

Research Interests

• Delirium and Cognitive Impairment (detection, screening, assessment, prevention, management, consumer/clinician experience) in acute, subacute, RACH and palliative care
• Nursing care of older people
• Quality and safety in nursing care
• Communication at handover
• Communcation for safer care
• Partnering with Patients, Families and Carers
• Health professional education including interprofessional education and simulation

Research Projects

Current- Delirium

• Hospital to home for older patients affected by delirium: family and carer experiences. (P.I. P Casey, Deakin University) 
• Interventions to reduce antipsychotic use in delirium management in hospital and aged care: Systematic review (P.I. E Tomlinson, Deakin University)
• Understanding factors that influence health professional use of antipsychotics to manage delirium (P.I. E Tomlinson, Deakin University)
• Developing and piloting new delirium education methods for hospital staff who care for older people (P.I.s: A Hosie UNDA & A Montgomery UTS)
• Safer psychotic use in delirium management: Targeting behavioural drivers (P.I. E Tomlinson, Deakin University)
• Evaluation of the 'Foundations in Delirium in Palliative Care' Educational Workshop. (P.I.s A Hosie UNDA & A Montgomery UTS)
• Applying delirium knowledge in practice: A Theoretical Domains Framewoprk-informed exploration of enablers and barriers for healthcare practitioners. (P.I. A Montgomery UTS)
• Developing an Australian and New Zealand consensus statement on delirium eductaion for healthcare professionals using the nominal group technique. (P.I. A Montgomery UTS)

Current- Quality and Safety in Clinical Care

• Doctor and dietitian adherence to the refeeding syndrome guideline for adults: an exploratory mixed methods study. (P.I. K Driscoll, Eastern Health)
• Redesigning the hospital environment to promote sleep time and recovery in chronic Obstructive pulmonary disease (REST-COPD). (P.I. A Young, Eastern Health/Monash University).

Current- Communicating for Safety in Hospital

• Preventing falls through communication support: A pilot falls intervention study. (P.I. R Sullivan, LaTrobe University)
• Can we identify patients with communication difficulty who are at greater risk of adverse events in hospital, early in admission? (P.I. R O'Halloran, LaTrobe University)

Recently Completed:

• The monitoring delirium in palliative care (MODEL-PC) study. (P.I. A Hosie UNDA)
• Evaluating the efficacy of a digital App to enhance patient-centred nursing handover (P.I. J Considine, Deakin University/Eastern Health)
• Driving quality in delirium care through a patient-centred monitoring system in palliative care (MODEL-PC) (P.I. A Hosie UNDA)
• Modifying overnight patient care to improve sleep: nurses' perspectives on barriers and enablers to changing delivery of care (P.I. L Tu, Eastern Health/Monash University)

Supervision of Graduate Student Projects- Current

• Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) 2025- Bilingual Nurses' Experiences of Acting as Informal Interpreters on General Wards. Student: C Zhou. Principal Supervisor: P. Casey. Co-Supervisor: N vanGulik
• PhD 2026- Graduate Nurses' Experiences of Caring for Patients with Delirium. Student: O. Duan. Principal Supervisor: E. Tomlinson. Co-Supervisors: P Casey, A Teodorczuk, J Considine.

Supervised Graduate Student Projects- Completed:

• Masters of Advanced Nursing 2025- Early career nurses and leadership. Student: A Gow. Principal Supervisor: P Casey. Co-Supervisors: J Considine, N van Gulik, M Omonaiye. 
• Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) 2025- Effective communication at handover. Student: C. Dalvean. Principal Supervisor: P Casey. Co-Supervisor: J Considine.
• Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) 2023- Modifications to Medical Emergency Team Activation Criteria on Discharge from the Postanaesthetic Care Unit. Student: D Fernando. Principal Supervisor: P Casey. Co-Supervisor: J Considine.
• Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) 2022- Junior nurses' experiences of implementing non-pharmacological interventions for delirium management: a qualitative descriptive study. Student: O. Duan. Principal Supervisor: E. Tomlinson. Co-Supervisors: P Casey, M Street, E Manias.