Duncan is passionate about children’s nursing. He has clinical experience of nursing children in hospital and community settings. These experiences have informed his research in which he has focused on the voices of children.
Duncan has published widely in peer reviewed journals, books and electronic media. He has presented his research work at international conferences and has organised research symposia with other leaders in the field of children’s nursing.
Duncan’s association with the Health Foundation has given him insights into health improvement processes and leadership in healthcare.
His most recent work has focused on children’s palliative needs funded by the Department of Health. Duncan has led the Involve to Evolve project.
https://mds-web.bham.ac.uk/involvetoevolve
Duncan started his nursing career in London training as a general nurse at the Middlesex and University College hospitals. On qualifying he relocated to the midlands and competed his children’s nursing at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. His career in children’s healthcare has seen him practice in neonates, general medicine/surgery as a health visitor and as a community children’s nurse.
With the assistance of a Leading Practice Through Research Award from the Health Foundation Duncan was able to fund his doctorial studies at the University of Warwick. His qualitative study into children’s views of nursing showed that children can have negative regard for nursing and nurses as well as positive. He used a mosaic approach (Clarke 2005) that included observation, photo elicitation; interviewing and arts based group work. A child’s version of the thesis can be viewed at :
http://www.abpn.org.uk/Portals/_Rainbow/Documents/87299ChildViewsbook.pdf
During this time Duncan was also admissions tutor for nursing and Honorary Secretary for the Association of British Paediatric Nurses. Duncan Completed his doctorial studies in 2010 and also undertook a Universitas 21 fellowship. The fellowship looked at cultural understanding of children’s nursing in Australia and Singapore. Through the fellowship Duncan has made links with children’s nurses and educationalists in both countries.
On returning from his fellowship Duncan was awarded a Department of Health grant under the Children’s Palliative Care 30 million programme, in partnership with Acorns Children’s Hospice. The Involve to Evolve project had three objectives
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To design and create a database of Children’s Supportive/Symptom Focus Care needs ( palliative and end of life needs)
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To design and create an education programme on consent and confidentiality issues that surround database or registries for children’s palliative care needs
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To evaluate the education programme
The results of the project can be seen at
https://mds-web.bham.ac.uk/involvetoevolve
In addition to his research work Duncan also coordinates the children’s nursing field of practice and leads two undergraduate modules one on long term conditions and palliative care and one on health promotion and health education for children. At postgraduate level he teaches mixed methods in research and is module leader for an online distance learning module on research governace and project management.
RESEARCH THEMES
Health Services Research, Maternal and Child Epidemiology
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
Doctoral studies at The University of Warwick on children’s community nursing (completed 2010) funded by the Health Foundation
Universitas 21 Staff fellowship project: Australia and Singapore 2010 Cultural understanding of children’s perspectives on health service improvement.
Involve to evolve project in partnership with Acorns Children’s Hospice a Department of Health funded project on consent and confidentiality issues when recruiting children and families to a palliative care database
Co investigator on the Beyond lables project in partnership with Acorns Children's Hospice a Department of Health funded study of a prognosis tool for children's palliative care and end of life needs
Gardner H and Randall D (2012) The effects of the presence or absence of parents on interviews with children. Nurse Researcher 19(2) 6-10
Randall D (2012) Children’s regard for nurses and nursing: A mosaic of children’s views on community nursing. Journal of Child Health Care 16(1) 91-104
Randall D (2012) Revisiting Mandell’s “least adult” role and engaging with children’s voices in research. Nurse Researcher 19(3) 39-43
Randall D and Hill A (2012) Consulting children and young people on what makes a good nurse. Nursing Children and Young People 24(3)14-19
Randall D and Hallowell L (2012) "Making the bad things seem better": Coping in children receiving healthcare. Journal of Child Health Care 16 (3)304 - 312
Williams R, Hewison A, Wagstaff C and Randall D (2012) ‘Walk with your head high’: African and African Caribbean fatherhood, children’s mental wellbeing and social capital. Ethnicity and Health doi10.1080/13557858.2011.645155
Randall D (2011) “To be like the others": Children's views of nursing in community settings. In: Ethical and Philosophical Aspects of Nursing Children, Brykczynska G & Simons J, eds., Oxford Blackwell,. pp77-87, Chapter 7
Randall D (2011) Who is shaping children's nursing? In: Ethical and Philosophical Aspects of Nursing Children, Brykczynska G & Simons J, eds., Blackwell, Oxford. pp251-260 Chapter 20
Randall D, Williams R and Wagstaff C (2010) The parent trap: promoting poor children’s mental healthPoverty: Journal of the Child Poverty Action Group, vol. 137, Autumn 2010, p11-15.
Randall D (2010) “They just do my dressings": Children's perspectives on community children's nursing, The University of Warwick, Un-published Thesis. (available via Steinberg collection at the Royal College of Nursing, London)
Randall D and Mc Taggart I (2009) Children’s nursing education: members club or street party ? Journal of Child Health Care 13 (2) pp 90-92
Williams R & Randall D (2008) Health, "equity" or choice, Poverty: Journal of the Child Poverty Action Group, vol. 130, no. Summer 2008, p. 11.
Randall D, Stammers P, & Brook G (2008) Asking children how to make good children's nurses, Paediatric Nursing, 20(5)pp 22-26
Randall D (2005) Development of the Immune system and immunity/ Development of the respiratory system and respiration. In: Chamley C ,Carson P, Randall D & Sandwell M Developmental Anatomy and Physiology of Children; a Practical Approach ,Edinburgh, Elsevier.
Randall D (2003) The health visitor in the care of oxygen dependent children, Community Practitioner 76(5) pp 166-170.