Nicky Woollaston
Nicky was looking for an opportunity to undertake doctoral study while maintaining her busy career, managing a healthcare team, and spending time with her family. She found it within the Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc).
“I have found the DHSc really inspiring so far! I work in a very small profession as a Hospital Play Specialist, so I really value the fact that you can approach the DHSc from a wide variety of health backgrounds. After a long period of time away from any formal study I was a little bit anxious stepping back into the academic world - but I am really enjoying it. I have felt very supported and have been able to make some valuable connections with others who are helping to guide my studies.
The approach is collaborative, the timelines flexible; I am really grateful for the way the courses are set up which create opportunities to develop networks and personalise my assignments and projects to contribute to my own research.
“In my small profession we focus on psychosocial care and wellbeing of children - helping pepe, tamariki, rangatahi and their whānau to manage the challenges of healthcare experiences and hospital stays. There is not a lot of research coming out of Aotearoa as yet that highlights the value of play in hospitals or the benefits of being able to minimise healthcare related anxiety from a play specialist perspective. I hope to raise awareness of how we engage with children in clinical settings, the impact of the language we use, children’s rights in healthcare, and explore how we support children and their whānau to feel like valued members of their health care team. There is a focus on equity, engagement, collaborative care and creating positive healthcare experiences.
“It's really easy to get caught up in the day-to-day busyness of work; enrolling in this course has enabled me to stop and have the space to think about some of the big-picture stuff. It has really allowed me to carve out some time for that thinking and future planning.”