Skip to content

Professor Sonya Osborne

Professor Sonya Osborne
Name Sonya Osborne
Pronoun She/Her/Hers
Position Honorary Professor
Section School of Nursing and Midwifery
Email
Qualifications BSc Louisiana SU , BSN Louisiana SU , GCertNurs(Periop) Western Sydney , GCertHigherEd Canberra , MNurs Canberra , PhD QUT

Sonya Osborne is Professor of Nursing in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at University of Southern Queensland (Ipswich Campus). Dr Osborne's role is built on almost 30 years post registration nursing experience across a range of acute care, ambulatory and academic settings. Her doctoral study (QUT, 2009) explored the relationship between practice culture and barriers to implementation of evidence-based practice, while testing the effectiveness of strategies in changing culture and enabling sustainable practice change. The impact of this research is on organisational strategic planning and capacity building in introducing and sustaining changes to improve patient- and service-level outcomes. Dr Osborne's research interests include knowledge translation and implementation science within the contexts of nursing, hospital and health services, and at the intersection of primary and acute care. Dr Osborne is experienced in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research approaches. Current projects include implementation evaluation studies in integrated care across local, regional and rural communities, developing an implementation strategy for uptake of teledermatology using whole body imaging for early detection and monitoring of melanoma in high risk populations, and exploring determinants of criteria-based decision making in hospital bed allocation. Clinically-focused research projects include tracking determinants of perioperative nurses¿ uptake of evidence-based practice standards, estimating risk of opioid induced prolonged and profound perioperative hypothermia in perioperative patients, and exploring risk and long term impacts of retained surgical items after surgery. Dr Osborne is a Fellow of the Australian College of Perioperative Nurses (ACORN) and has held the inaugural position of Standards Editor for ACORN's Standards for Perioperative Practice in Australia from 2013-2018. She is currently serving as Editor for the Cochrane Wounds Group and Editorial Board member for the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) and the Journal of Perioperative Nursing (JPN).


  • Nursing ( 111000 )
  • Public Health and Health Services ( 111700 )
  • Health Services And Systems ( 420300 )
  • Nursing ( 420500 )
  • Implementation Science And Evaluation ( 420312 )
  • Nursing not elsewhere classified ( 420599 )

• implementation science within the contexts of nursing, hospital & health services, and integrated care
• comparative effectiveness research in acute care, surgical and perioperative nursing and patient safety
• clinician capacity building in introducing and sustaining changes to improve patient- and service-level outcomes

Accredited HDR supervisor for Honours, Masters, Doctoral Programs; 8 completions


Australian College of Nursing (ACN)
Australian College of Perioperative Nurses (ACORN), Fellow
ACORN Queensland
Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses, Fellow
Health Services Research Association of Australia & New Zealand (HSRAANZ)
Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN)
Higher Education Research Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA)
Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society (Sigma) /Phi Delta-at-large chapter (no. 482, founding member)


American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC), Editorial Board Member
BMC Health Services Research, Editorial Board Member
Cochrane Wounds Group, Editor
Cochrane Peripheral Vascular Diseases Group, Author
Journal of Perioperative Nursing, Editorial Board Member
Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (Metro North HHS), Visiting Research Fellow


  • Institute for Resilient Regions (IRR)
  • Centre for Health, Informatics and Economic Research (CHIER)

Teaching, coordination and curriculum development experience in acute care nursing, nurse practitioner, evidence-based practice, implementation science and research

Courses/Programs in last three years:
HSC8050 Research Methods for the Health Sciences
HSC8060 Research Project Design
HSC8070 Masters Project A
HSC8080 Masters Project B


17 Years


Associate Head of School (Research)
Chair, SONM Research and Research Training Committee
USQ Research Integrity Advisor


  • Health Services And Systems ( 420300 )
  • Nursing ( 420500 )
  • Implementation Science And Evaluation ( 420312 )
  • Nursing not elsewhere classified ( 420599 )