About Laurent Aydon
Laurene holds two substantiative positions at Perth Children’s Hospital, Child and Adolescent Health Service. As a senior staff member in the neonatal unit she has been a clinical nurse facilitator since 2008 and a clinical nurse for the previous 20 years specialising in neonatal care. She completed a Master of Nursing in 2008 whilst undertaking quality improvement projects and reviewing bundle approaches to central venous line care within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Laurene has held the nurse researcher position for neonates since 2010.
In 2017 and 2022 she contributed to a chapter and revised chapter of a neonatal nursing handbook related to infection of the neonate. In addition to infection control she is passionate about thermoregulation and the impact on the neonate and associated outcomes. She is constantly reviewing guidelines surrounding the approach to thermoregulation within the neonatal unit and the care of tiny babies. Documentation is also another area of interest, and she promotes efficiency and excellence in clinical handover.
Laurene has a long-term interest in quality improvement and along with her experience both in the clinical and research fields she has the ability to translate research into practice which aids in improving care for babies in the NICU.
As a member of a multidisciplinary team of both medical and nursing colleagues she aims to improve the focus of research involving nurses within the neonatal directorate. She does this by mentoring nurses as research assistants and engaging staff through a Delphi study to create and list priorities for research in the directorate, informed by nurses with all levels of experience. This has enabled her to investigate many topics involving neonatal nurse education, thermoregulation practices in the NICU, medication administration, parents’ experiences within the SCN and their experiences and preparation for discharge, and breastfeeding experiences for late preterm mothers. More recently she has undertaken reviews of unplanned extubation and admission practices with in the NICU relating to clinical handover and the golden hour.
Imbedding evidence from the golden hour study within the clinical guidelines has improved the transition of neonates from the birthing area to the NICU. The team has developed a stepwise approach to the golden hour practices within this setting. Flowing on from this research an online educational package was developed with colleagues to provide a visual and written display of the newly implemented guideline. A current focus has flowed from this study and Laurene is actively working with the Tiny Babies special interest group. The Mother-to-Infant Bonding Study recently completed and awaiting final outcomes was conducted to find out the experiences of mothers around bonding with their babies in the NICU.
