Dr Jane Robinson

MA PhD FRCN

Jane Robinson practised as a nurse and health visitor for more than 15 years before entering academic work, where in the 1980s and 1990s she became a leading expert in nursing and health policy research.

She says that the need to work and an intellectual curiosity were the drivers for a career which has taken her into the national and international health and nursing policy arenas. She is Emeritus Professor in the Postgraduate Division of Nursing, Medical School at Queen’s Medical Centre, University of Nottingham.

In 1997 she became an editor of the internationally renowned Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN) and served as Editor in Chief from 2000 until 2003, when she took up a new appointment as Editor for the International Council of Nurses’ International Nursing Review.

She enjoys being able to help nurses from less developed countries publish and says "we must always keep in mind that publishing nursing research and opinion is not about the aggrandisement of the nursing profession. The most important task at hand is to find ways to improve the nursing care of patients."

Jane reckons her "sheer stickability" is why she has remained involved in nursing from her teenage years into retirement. Latterly she has developed a passion for research ethics and is currently the nurse member of her Local Research Ethics Committees (LREC) group. She is about to take on a national role when she becomes involved in auditing LRECs.

She also enjoys contrasting contemporary nursing with historical trends - "mainly by boring people with my stories!"

She lives in Newcastle under Lyme.

Publications

From an extensive list of publications, Jane Robinson considers her more significant recent work to be:

  • Robinson, JJA (2002) "Research for whom? The politics of research dissemination and application" in Buckeldee, J and McMahon, R (editors) The research experience in nursing (1994), London: Chapman Hall, republished in Rafferty, AM and Traynor, M (editors) Exemplary research for nursing and midwifery (2002) London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-2416 2
  • Robinson, JJA and Wharrad, H (2001)The relationship between attendance at birth and maternal mortality rates: an exploration of United Nations’ data sets including the ration of physicians and nurses to population, GNP per capita and female literacy, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 34 (4), pp. 445-455.
  • Elkan, R; Kendrick, K; Hewitt, M; Robinson, JJA; Tolley, K; Blair, M; Dewey, M; Williams, D and Brummell, K (2000) The effectiveness of domiciliary health visiting: a systematic review of international studies and a selective review of the British literature, Health Technology Assessment, 4 (13) http://www.ncchta.org
  • Robinson, JJA and Wharrad, H (2000) Invisible nursing: exploring health outcomes at a global level. Relationships between infant and under-five mortality rates and the distribution of health professionals, GNP per capita and female literacy, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 32 (1) pp. 28-40.
  • Robinson, J; Avis, M; Latimer, J and Traynor, M (1999) Interdisciplinary perspectives on health policy and practice. Competing interests or complementary interpretations? Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. ISBN 0 443 05992 6
  • Wharrad, H and Robinson, JJA (1999) The global distribution of physicians and nurses, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 30 (1), pp.109-120. http://gateway.uk.ovid.com/gw1/ovidweb.cgi
  • Rafferty, AM; Robinson, J and Elkan, R (editors) (1997) Nursing history and the politics of welfare, London: Routledge. ISBN: 0 415 13836 1
  • Robinson, J and Elkan, R (1996) Health needs assessment: theory and practice, Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. ISBN: 0 443 05233 6
  • Hawley, C; Stilwell, J; Robinson, J and Bond, M (1995) Nurses manage: issues in nursing and management in the general hospital, Aldershot: Avebury.
  • Robinson, J (1994) Nursing beyond the year 2000: report of a WHO study group, Geneva: World Health Organization. (as Adviser to WHO Study Group)
  • Elkan, R; Hillman, R and Robinson, J (1994) Project 2000 and the replacement of the traditional student workforce, International Journal of Nursing Studies, 31, (5), pp. 413-420.
  • Robinson, JJA (1993) What counts? Nursing and the research assessment exercise, Nurse Researcher, 1 (1), pp. 84-93.
  • Robinson, J; Gray, A and Elkan, R (1992) Policy issues in nursing, Buckingham: Open University Press.
  • Robinson, J and Strong, P (1990) The NHS under new management, Buckingham: Open University Press.
  • Robinson, J (1982) An Evaluation of Health Visiting, CETHV/ENB.