Research Profile

Rachel Flynn

Biography


Dr. Flynn is a Lecturer at the School of Nursing and Midwifery. She holds a BSc in Nursing (2008) from Waterford Institute of Technology, an MSc in Nursing (2011) from UCC, a PhD in Nursing by publication at the University of Alberta (2018,) where she was awarded the Genevieve Gray PhD Medal in Nursing for highest academic standing. She completed a 2 year nationally funded Canadian Institute for Health Research Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2021) on the sustainability of  a multi-component pain intervention for neonates at the Hospital for Sick Kids, Toronto and the University of Alberta. During her doctoral and post doctoral training she was awarded 17 competitive scholarships, awards and prizes to the total amount of $484,478.00 CAD (not all accepted). Most recently, she was an Assistant Professor (2021) at the University of Alberta. She spent 10 years in child health services research in Canada. 

Dr. Flynn has has been a co-investigator on 9 peer-reviewed, funded research grants in Canada (total $8.2 million CAD), 1 in Ireland (total €7.5 million EUR) and principal/co-principal investigator on 3 peer- reviewed funded grants (total $2 million CAD). She is currently Co-PI on Project ECHO Autism Diagnosis and Integrated care Opportunities (ECHO AuDIO) ($1,992,331). 

She has over 80 research outputs including 26 peer-reviewed research papers, provided 38 scientific presentations and 21 invited workshops at international, national, and local meetings.   

Her research program - Sustaining Innovations in Child Health (STITCH) aims to improve child health outcomes using implementation science to understand the best methods to implement and sustain effective evidence-based innovations (i.e., practices, programs, or policies) in real world contexts. Through patient and public involvement, she co-designs knowledge translation strategies to facilitate the long-term use and impact of effective innovations for child health. Dr. Flynn offers expertise in implementation science, innovation sustainability, realist methods, qualitative research and knowledge synthesis approaches.

Research Interests
Dr. Flynn's research is focused on 5 key areas:
1. Evaluation of the implementation and sustainability of innovations (clinical pathways, digital technologies, new models of care) for complex childhood conditions and contexts (pain, autism, cerebral palsy, transitions in care, NICU);
2. Advancement of the science of implementation and sustainability of large scale health system innovations;
3. Engagement and inclusion of children and families as partners in child health research;
4. Knowledge mobilization for parents and families (putting evidence into practice);
5. Realist methods to understand how complex health innovations work or not, for whom and under what contexts.



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School of Nursing and Midwifery

Scoil an Altranais agus an Chnáimhseachais

Brookfield Health Sciences Complex College Road Cork, Ireland , T12 AK54

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