Nursing Trailblazers

About the award

The only of its kind in Australia, the Health Minister’s Award for Nursing Trailblazers (Trailblazers Award) recognises nurse leaders and innovators who lead the way to transform our health and aged care systems by impacting costs, improving quality of care and enhancing consumer satisfaction. The award acknowledges nurse-led innovations and models of care which significantly improve health outcomes for the Australian community through evidence-based processes.

Founded by the Federal Minister for Health, Greg Hunt MP in 2019, the Trailblazers Award is administered by the Australian College of Nursing (ACN). The award is designed to acknowledge that nursing has the solutions to many of the problems that plague the Australian health and aged care systems. This prestigious award is bestowed upon an innovative and outstanding nurse who has demonstrated leadership to bring new thinking to a wide range of health care challenges.

How to get involved

Nominations for the 2021 Health Minister’s Award for Nursing Trailblazers have now closed. Register your interest for the 2022 award to be notified as soon as information becomes available.

Congratulations to our 2020 Trailblazer Winner & Finalists

Shannon Wallis

Shannon Wallis MACN

2020 Winner

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Shannon Wallis MACN is the Virtual Care Nurse Unit Manager at West Moreton Health Service (WMHS) and is leading clinical teams to oversee the establishment of a virtual hospital, the MeCare program, the Heart Health Hub and a range of ‘light touch’ programs including COVID virtual beds and gestational diabetes program. Shannon strives to support, encourage and develop all staff who work within WMHS to deliver virtual care to ensure patients are provided with a suite of virtual care models that facilitate a smooth transition through different stages in their health care journey. These innovative programs use remote patient monitoring, telehealth, clinical software and reporting to focus on delivering personalised care to patients in their own home and reduce the burden on hospital resources.

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Matiu Bush MACN

Matiu Bush MACN

2020 Finalist

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Matiu Bush MACN is a hybrid nurse practitioner and designer who founded One Good Street, a social impact platform to encourage neighbour-initiated care for older residents at risk of social isolation and loneliness. Matiu is currently the General Manger for Infection Prevention Operation COVID-19 accommodation in Victoria, has a Master’s degree in Public Health and has broad clinical and managerial nursing experience, including working in Tijuana, Mexico with Nobel Prize Laureate Mother Teresa. Matiu was named one of the top 25 most influential people in the Australian Social Sector by Probono in 2020 and developed the concept for the world’s first wearable to detect loneliness.

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Lorna Cook

Lorna Cook MACN

2020 Finalist

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Lorna Cook MACN has had a long and rewarding career in nursing. As a young, single mother of three, she recognised the need to embrace continuous education and subsequently completed her Bachelor of Health Science, a Master’s Degree in Nursing and, as her career pivoted, an MBA.

This background gave her the insight to recognise opportunities available to nurses in a business setting. In 2012, Lorna co-founded a ground-breaking company called chemo@home which, as the name implies, provides chemotherapy to cancer patients in the patient’s home. Chemo@home has achieved significant success and is now a multi-award-winning national company, employing 80 staff and transforming cancer care.

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Read more about our Trailblazers

Tune in to Trailblazer Podcasts

In a one-off special, ACN Podcast Ben Jenkins MACN has recorded interviews with each of our Trailblazer Finalists to discuss how their innovative projects have shaped our health and aged care systems. Visit acn.edu.au/podcast to listen to Ben’s interviews with some of Australia and the world’s most high-profile nursing leaders.

2019 Trailblazer Winner & Finalists

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Nikki Johnston OAM MACN

2019 Winner

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Nikki became a registered nurse in 1989 and a Nurse Practitioner in 2008. She was recognised in the 2019 Australia Day Honors as a recipient of a Medal of the Order of Australia for her contribution to nursing.

Currently working for Calvary Health Care, Canberra Nikki believes all Australians deserve access to quality care in their last months of life regardless of their age, diagnosis or where they live. Currently end of life care experiences differ broadly for those living in residential aged care and access to specialist palliative care isn’t usual practice.

Nikki has initiated research through the INSPIRED trial which integrates specialist palliative care into residential aged care through the use of Palliative Care Needs Rounds. The trial found that regular rounds identified residents most at risk of dying without an adequate plan in place.

The INSPIRED trial has significantly reduced length of hospital stay and in-hospital deaths with significant costs savings to the community. Importantly, participants were more likely to experience a better-quality death (including better symptom control, advance planning, closeness with relatives and spiritual care).

Nikki’s approach improves Residential Aged Care Facility (RACF) staff confidence in discussing death and dying with families and planning for symptoms and goals of care at end of life. It supports palliative care in RACF and normalises death and dying, while providing essential anticipatory prescribing and better decision-making leading to planned care for residents.

Nikki’s work was influential in the Commonwealth’s decision to provide $32.8 of funding in the 2018-2019 Budget to support older Australian living in RACFs. The INSPIRED model of care is being rolled out in three States/Territories in Australia and being tested in rural and remote areas. Nikki has been recognised for her work nationally and internationally for integrating specialist palliative care into RACFs.

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Professor Sandy Middleton FACN

2019 Finalist

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Sandy Middleton is Professor of Nursing and Director of the Nursing Research Institute, a collaboration between St Vincent’s Health Australia Sydney and Australian Catholic University. Professor Middleton was the lead investigator on the landmark NHMRC-funded QASC cluster trial demonstrating decreased death and dependency following implementation of nurse-initiated, multidisciplinary protocols to manage fever, hyperglycaemia and swallowing post-stroke. Working with the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation, Professor Middleton led the successful translation of these protocols into all 36 NSW stroke services. An independent economic evaluation demonstrated that over a 12-month period, if only 65% of eligible Australians received care in line with these protocols there would be a saving of $281M. This work now informs care recommendations in the Australian Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management and internationally. These protocols now have been translated into 12 languages and are being implemented into 300 hospitals in 14 European countries. This program of work won the 2014 NSW Premier’s Public Sector Award for Improving Performance and Accountability, and multiple international awards. Professor Middleton also won the prestigious 2014 NSW Health Nursing and Midwifery Award for Excellence in Innovation Research. Professor Middleton has obtained extensive competitive funding and published in high impact journals including Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine. Professor Middleton is a member of the Board of Directors for the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation and the Clinical Excellence Commission. She is leading the implementation science component of the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE) one of Australia’s nine NHMRC-accredited Advanced Health Research and Translation Centres. She is also a Ministerial appointment to the NHMRC Health Translation Advisory Committee.

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Professor Jeanine Young FACN

2019 Finalist

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Professor Jeanine Young, University of the Sunshine Coast, has worked in Australia and the United Kingdom in neonatal intensive care, paediatrics and community child health. Jeanine has a special interest in infant care practices; in particular breastfeeding and parent-infant bed-sharing. She works closely with Red Nose to ensure national infant sleep recommendations are evidence-based, and is passionate about growing community capacity through partnership models to address health inequalities associated with infant mortality. Jeanine has established a research program to investigate Queensland’s high infant mortality rate, with a focus on evidence-based strategies to assist health professionals in delivering Safe Sleeping messages to families with young infants. Through international collaborations and local community partnerships, Jeanine first introduced the Pēpi-Pod Program, a portable sleep space combined with safe sleep education as a strategy to promote safe infant sleeping and breastfeeding in the context of shared sleeping. This culturally appropriate and feasible strategy to reduce infant mortality has been integrated into service delivery rural, remote and metropolitan Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, Queensland, and more recently in other Australian states and territories. Jeanine has also initiated the first Australian trial of a sleep enabler suitable for postnatal units to support breastfeeding and promote safer infant sleep environments in hospital. Jeanine works in partnership with government, industry, safety and regulatory bodies, and communities in translating evidence into practical advice for parents. Her efforts in reducing infant mortality through supporting the role of health professionals and health promotion within communities have received state, national and international recognition. In collaboration with Change for our Children New Zealand, Jeanine is the Australian lead for the Pēpi-Pod Program, which comprises a practical infant sleep space suitable for shared sleeping embedded in safe sleep education, now available in metropolitan, rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Jeanine has also initiated the first Australian trial of a portable sleep space suitable for postnatal units to support breastfeeding and promote safer infant sleep environments in hospital.

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Linda Campbell MACN

Linda Campbell MACN

2019 Finalist

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Linda Campbell has over 30 years of experience in nursing including working in rural and remote areas of Australia and New Zealand, as well as the USA. She has an interest in blood transfusion and its alternatives, and was appointed as the Clinical Nurse Consultant for Patient Blood Management (PBM) at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (WA) in 2012. Linda has led the program since its inception.

PBM aims to decrease the risk of blood transfusion by optimising haemoglobin (Hb) and iron stores prior to elective surgery involving significant blood loss. Preoperative optimisation facilitates the post-op recovery of Hb and has the capacity to change transfusion practice. This intervention has significantly reduced transfusion rates in elective joint replacement patients and the model has been replicated at a secondary site and is now rolled out to other surgical specialties at SCGH.

It is important to Linda that patients receive equitable care despite the geographical challenges of living thousands of kilometers from Perth. Creating networks with GPs and regional healthcare providers has been instrumental in the success of PBM. Over 1000 patients across the State of Western Australia are referred to Linda annually and audit has shown that 99% of joint replacement patients receive PBM review and care. Educating clinical staff about the impact of blood transfusion and PBM has led Linda to contribute to GP clinical pathways, deliver presentations at State, National and International meetings and provide tutorials for WA undergraduate medical students.

The overall transfusion rate has fallen by 30% at SCGH since PBM was introduced. This not only has significant cost saving benefits (over $1.2 million annually) but has made a major contribution to patient safety and reduced the demand on the blood supply; ensuring that donor blood is available for trauma or transfusion dependent patients. Although PBM is relatively new evidence based discipline in medicine it is one of the few areas where improved outcomes, reduced risks and cost savings are all made at the same time. This legacy will continue to improve patient care for years to come.

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2019 Health Minister’s Award for Nursing Trailblazers presentation

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