Emeritus Professor Debra Griffiths AM

PhD, LLM, LLB, BA, RM, RN, Legal Practitioner

Debra is a registered nurse, midwife and lawyer with many years of clinical experience in Australia and Britain. She practiced law in Melbourne before joining Monash University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery. Debra has combined her legal and health expertise to provide education in relation to the law and clinical practice.

She has taught in a range of areas including nursing, midwifery, medicine, paramedic studies, physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

Debra was an inaugural director of the Nursing and Midwifery Health Program Victoria. A competitive grant she received has resulted in the development of a medium fidelity interprofessional simulation laboratory at the Peninsula campus. The ongoing development of simulation at the school has led to: a project titled ‘A pilot evaluation of clinical simulations to enhance interprofessional communication skills’; the establishment of a simulation asset hub; and enhanced simulation resources for the Peninsula region. Debra is working on a project evaluating material published by WorkSafe on occupational violence in healthcare.

Research interests

• Occupational violence in healthcare
• End of life decision-making
• Documentation of elderly citizens transferred to hospital
• Interprofessional care in the emergency department
• National competency standards for enrolled nurses
• Interprofessional simulation laboratories.

Research methodologies

• Qualitative methods including grounded theory
• Mixed methods

Research / supervision projects

• Refer to Debra’s researcher profile
• Accredited Level 2 Supervisor

• Nursing and Midwifery Health Program Victoria, Director

• Peninsula Health’s Human Ethics and Research Committee

• Refer to Debra’s researcher profile