Dr Hila Dafny
Senior Lecturer
College of Nursing and Health Sciences
I am a senior lecturer (Nursing) and researcher in the College of Nursing & Health Sciences at Flinders University. I teach across a broad range of nursing subjects in the nursing program, including undergraduate, postgraduate and HDR students, with a focus on successful HDR student completions.
I teach clinical practice, clinical education, and evidence-based practice to undergraduate and postgraduate students. In 2021, I served as the First-Year Level Coordinator and Topic Coordinator, contributing significantly to the curriculum, assessments, and content of the first-year NURS1002 topic, Context of Nursing and Primary Health Care (over 700 students), and I led a team of more than 40 staff members. I have experience teaching a wide range of topics, including Introduction to Nursing Praxis, Foundations of Nursing Practice, Acute and Chronic Care, Introduction to Research and EBP (UG and PG) and Communication for Nursing. In 2022-2023, I served as the coordinator of all Critical Care Postgraduate topics.
In the relatively short period since I joined Flinders University (October 2020) in a balanced position, I have developed a strong publication record (11 H-index) in workplace violence, burnout and wellbeing, receiving international recognition as the international Top-Cited Article award for the top 10 most-cited papers and the most download paper published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing (top 10% Q1) from John Wiley demonstrating the impact of my study on research, nursing and communities. In 2024, I received recognition for the Most Downloaded Paper in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, and this year, I was awarded the National Industry PhD Program (NIPHD) – Industry Researcher Award. Of the 36 peer-reviewed articles, 46% were published as the first author; 90% were published in Q1 journals, of which 45% of publications were in the top 10% journals in Scopus by CiteScore. As a balanced position (teaching and research), I published 36 papers in 4 years, and an H-index of 11 (Scopus). According to ResearchGate, my research interest score is higher than 97% of ResearchGate members who first published in 2020. I demonstrate a growing influence in my field of workplace violence and wellbeing with the presentation at international conferences and supervising (mainly as a principal supervisor) of 3 PhD and 4 Master's students, with the completion of two PhD students and five Master's students.
My total research funding received is $627,374.81, and I am leading three research groups and working collaboratively with national researchers.
Academic Qualifications:
2017 - PhD in Nursing, Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences, The University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Thesis title: “The perceptions of nurses regarding violence, strategies and support in a regional Queensland Hospital”. Name of advisor: Professor Don Gorman and Associate Professor Gavin Beccaria.
2011 - Master of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
2009 - Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Magna Cum Laude, School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah Ein-Kerem Hospital, Israel.
Formal/Professional Qualifications:
2023 - FLAME - Flinders Leadership Program Silver. CNHS, Flinders University.
2022 - FLAME – Flinders Leadership Program Bronze. CNHS, Flinders University.
2022 - JBI Comprehensive Systematic Review Training Program.
The Top-Cited Article award. My research on workplace violence (WPV), which I lead, has been recognised as one of the top 10 most-cited papers published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing (Top 10% Q1 journal), highlighting its impact on Research, Community, and Nursing.
Fellowships:
2021-2022: National Disability Research Program. Recipient of Everybody’s Game grant funds that awarded the team $286,151.
March 2021: Recipient of a CNHS, Flinders University Kickstarter Research Grant of $5,000.
2014-2016: Internationally one person chosen from all over the world to receive this Fellowships Fund Inc (FFI). Total of $84000, amount of $2800 each year.
Magna Cum Laude, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah Ein-Kerem Hospital, Israel.
Research responsibilities include conducting research, being involved in CFI, Critical care, and Cardiac research teams, supervising HDR students, and leading research projects within the CFI - Mixed methods, umbrella reviews and systematic reviews.
Teaching responsibilities - Teaching within the undergraduate and postgraduate at the CNHS and Topic coordinator and leading the Postgraduate Critical Care Topics teams. In 2021 I acted in the role of the First year level coordinator and led a team of 42 tutors and coordinated NURS1002, first year topic with 700 students. Significant contribution to the BN Redesign from 2021 until currently in the Nursing practice and clinical skills working group.
Service to the CNHS – College of Nursing and Health Sciences:
2022: Leading and organising the ECR Workshop: an interactive Caring Futures Institute ECR workshop, by ECRs for ECRs.
November 2020 – currently: Work Health and Safety representative for CNHS, Flinders University, SA
August 2021-currently: involved in leading and redesigning the BN program and curriculum (Nursing), CNHS, Flinders University, SA.
2021 – Acting First Year-Level Coordinator (Nursing), CNHS, Flinders University, SA.
2022 – currently: Co-Chair Respect Now Always (R.N.A.) action plan and working group at the CNHS, Flinders University.
Service to the university:
2020 – current: Supervision of master’s student from USQ – University of Southern Queensland.
2022 – current: examining HDR students’ dissertations.
2025 - Examining abstracts for the ACN conference.
2022 – marking HDR students’ thesis and review papers for Q1 Nursing Journals.
2021 - Panel AGRTP and FURS domestic scholarship selection for HDR students.
August 2021 – Participating at the Open days at Flinders University, SA.
2021 - Open day planning and participating at Flinders University, SA
2019 – 2020 - Participating at the Open days and STEM days at USQ, Queensland.
Service to the Nursing Profession:
September 2021-currently: AHPRA International Qualified Nurses (IQN) OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Exam) Examiner, SA.
2025 - Examining abstracts for the ACN conference.
Introduction to Nursing Profession
Context of Nursing and Primary Health Care
Acute Care
Chronic Care
Transition to Professinoal Practice
Introduction to research and evidence base practice
Communication for Nursing
Nursing
Public Health
Intensive Care
Medicine Community
Qualitative Research
Mixed method research
Wellbeing
Clinical education
Workplace violence
Domestic violence
Critical Care Nursing Profession
Cardiac Care
Disability and community rehabilitation
Stroke
Cardiovascular
- Community/Public health
- Nursing
Dafny, H. A., Champion, S., Gebremichael, L. G., Pearson, V., Hendriks, J. M., Clark, R. A., Pinero de Plaza, M. A., Gulyani, A., Hines, S., Beleigoli, A., & Team, t. N. C. P. (2023). Cardiac rehabilitation, physical activity, and the effectiveness of activity monitoring devices on cardiovascular patients: An umbrella review of systematic reviews. European Heart Journal - Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes.
Dafny, H. A., Champion, S., Pearson, V., & Brown, S. (2022). Nursing students’ experiences of workplace violence in clinical practice: a qualitative systematic review protocol. JBI Evidence Synthesis
Adnan, N. B. B., Baldwin, C., Dafny, H. A., & Chamberlain, D. (2022). What are the essential components to implement individual-focused interventions for wellbeing and burnout in critical care healthcare professionals? A realist expert opinion. Frontiers in Psychology, 6027.
Adnan, N. B. B., Dafny, H. A., Baldwin, C., Jakimowitz, S., Chalmers, D., Aroury, A. M. d. A., & Chamberlain, D. (2022). What are the solutions for well-being and burn-out for healthcare professionals? An umbrella realist review of learnings of individual-focused interventions for critical care. BMJ open, 12(9),
Dafny, H. A., Chamberlain. D. & Parry, K. P. & Beccaria, G. (2022). Do nurses receive any support following incidents of workplace violence? A qualitative study. Journal of Nursing Management.
Dafny, H.A., Champion, S., Gebremichael, L., Pearson, V., Nesbitt, K., Pinero de Plaza, M. A., Bulto, L., Noonan, S., Hines, S., Hendriks, J., Clark, R. & Beleigoli, A. (2022). Effectiveness of using activity-monitoring devices on patients with cardiovascular disease participating in cardiac rehabilitation programs: an umbrella review protocol. JBI Evidence Synthesis, 20 (3): 1-11.
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