Tasmanian Judi Parson is enrolled in a university based in Rockhampton, has a collaborator in Melbourne, has supervisors in Brisbane, Hobart and New York and recently attended a conference in Korea where she was approached to teach in Taiwan.

The Central Queensland University doctoral student with a background in paediatric nursing is researching how nurses can use play to reduce fear and distress of child patients, in collaboration with educational play therapists.

Her main supervisor, CQU's Dr Pam McGrath, is based in Brisbane where she coordinates the International Program for Psycho-Social Health Research (IPP-SHR).

Her main collaborator, Leanne Hallowell, manages the Educational Play Therapy Department at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital.

Ms Parson and Ms Hallowell recently co-presented a paper at a conference on 'Excellence in nursing through collaboration', held in October to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the College of Nursing at Seoul National University.

"There were keynote and panel speakers from Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA. Apart from the key and panel topics, there were 72 paper presentations and an amazing 198 poster presentations so it was pretty full on," she said.

"The collaboration aspect was very important for me as Leanne and I were able to truly collaborate and bring the research-practice of procedural play into a complete whole, informing each other and those listening to our talk. We were asked if we would be interested in teaching procedural play in Taiwan."

Ms Parson's research specifically focuses on nurses' use of play as a therapeutic tool for children experiencing invasive medical procedures for the treatment of Cystic Fibrosis in acute paediatric ward culture.

Judi Parson presenting
Judi Parson (right) with collaborator Leanne Hallowell and Mei-Yu Kang from Taiwan's Changhua Christian Hospital