Sam Lapkin

Biography

Sam Lapkin serves as the Course Coordinator for the Master of Nursing (Graduate Entry) program at Southern Cross University's Faculty of Health. He is an experienced nurse, researcher, academic leader and Associate Professor at Southern Cross University's Faculty of Health. Sam has held academic and research positions, including Senior Lecturer at the University of Wollongong's School of Nursing, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Research in Nursing and Health, and a Lecturer at both the University of Technology Sydney and CQUniversity.

Research

Sam's program of research is dedicated to enhancing Safety and Quality in Practice by optimising healthcare delivery. With a proven track record of mentoring clinicians, Sam addresses critical healthcare challenges and improves patient outcomes through evidence-based practices. The focus of Sam's research includes the holistic assessment of back pain, error prevention, adherence to best practices, outcome monitoring, and supporting consumers and informal caregivers to ensure efficient, effective, and equitable care. His contributions are reflected in 94 publications (as of June 2024), an h-index of 29, an i10-index of 54, and over $340,000 in secured research funding from both independent and collaborative projects.

Research areas: Clinical Nursing, Patient Safety, Medication Safety, Back Pain, Incident Investigation, Evidence-Based Practice, Interprofessional Collaboration, Nursing Education, Workforce Development, Quality Improvement, Aged Care, Fall Prevention, and Clinical Simulation.

Community engagement

Journal Editor:

• Nursing and Health Sciences Journal (2023- current)
• BMC Nursing (2022- Current)

Peer reviewer: Active reviewer for 15 high-impact journals, including the Journal of Nursing Management, Nurse Education Today, Journal of Interprofessional Care, BMC Health Service Research, Instructional Science and Pharmacy. Sam has also mentored undergraduate nursing students through the Australian College of Nursing Career Coaching program.

Supervision

Sam has supervised 10 higher degree research students to completion consisting of 8 PhD and two Master's degree by research. He is currently co-supervising two PhD candidates.

Teaching

Sam is a skilled educator, having served as the Academic Program Director (Course Coordinator) for the Master of Nursing Pre-registration degree at UOW and as a subject/unit coordinator at the University of Wollongong, University of Technology Sydney and CQUniversity.