112: Nurse Academia and Research with Jed Montayre
Nurse Academia and Research with Jed Montayre
Join me on this latest episode as I dive into the captivating journey of Jed Montayre. In this episode, I had the honor of speaking with Jed, an esteemed clinician, associate professor, and director of the Center of Evidence-Based Practice for Healthcare Policy at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Discover the remarkable career path Jed has forged and the invaluable contributions he has made to the nursing field, in particular aged care and healthy aging.
Jed's story encompasses the transformation from clinical practice to academia, where he started as an emergency nurse, relishing the dynamic nature of acute care. Transitioning to medical-surgical nursing, he fostered deeper connections with patients during extended periods of care. Fueled by his passion for research and the desire to enhance nursing practice, Jed embarked on an academic journey, pursuing a Ph.D. and embracing teaching roles across different universities.
Jed's Ph.D. experience was both challenging and rewarding, contributing valuable insights to nursing knowledge. He emphasizes the multitude of pathways that a Ph.D. can open within nursing, including academia, research, policy development, and leadership roles.
Jed Montayre's inspiring career journey from clinical practice to becoming an associate professor and renowned nurse researcher serves as an inspiration to aspiring nurses. His unwavering commitment to gerontology and nursing research has significantly influenced the field, while his dedication to enhancing healthcare for aging populations is truly commendable. Jed's story is a reminder that with passion, hard work, and a lifelong commitment to learning, nurses can leave a lasting mark on the lives of others.
Don't miss this captivating episode, available now for your listening pleasure!
Key takeaways:
03:16 - Jed’s Career Story
05:58 - From Clinical Practice to Academia
09:08 - The Path to Gerontology and Research
10:28 - The PhD Experience and Beyond
14:18 - Exploring Pathways from a PhD in Nursing to Improving Clinical Practice
15:56 - Exploring the Value of Research in Aging
21:37 - Promoting Healthy Aging
25:01 - Surprising Discoveries
29:42 - What is like to be a Nurse Academic and Researcher
32:14 - Nursing Challenges
35:07 - Advice for Clinicians Embarking on a Research Journey
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**This transcript was automatically generated using Descript.**
Jed: a nurse is always a nurse and whatever you do in nursing education or wherever you practice, you always go back and relate it to, what you learned in the clinical environment.
Liam: Hello and welcome back to the High Performance Nursing Podcast. I'm very excited. Today we have another career chat where we are chatting to an amazing clinician who has built an incredible career. And today we are talking to Jed Mon. Oh my god, Jed. I'm already doing it. Jed Montayre. montayre.
Jed montayre. I got it right. Apologies. We were laughing before cause I knew I was gonna but it, there you go. Your thoughts. Create your results, people. So today we're talking to Jed and I'm gonna tell you a little bit more about Jed. Jed is recording this from Hong Kong. I'm super international today, so.
Jed is an associate professor in the school of Nursing and the director of Center of Evidence-Based Practice for Healthcare Policy at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Jed is a strong clinical background in gerontology and medical surgical nursing. He's an experienced nurse academic who has worked in the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and Hong Kong.
Jed's research focuses on healthy aging, age-friendly communities, cardiovascular health, nursing policy, and advanced nursing practice. Jed's reputation and expertise in nursing and gerontology research resulted in various professional organization's, national committee appointments. Jed served as a member of the Nursing Council of New Zealand Registrant and Education Quality Committee.
He was also the chairperson of the New Zealand Nurses Organization nursing research section, and was an executive committee member of the New Zealand. Association of gerontology. You've been busy, Jed. I love it. In Australia, Jed , was an executive committee member of the Australian Association of Gerontology New South Wales chapter, and also served as the deputy chair of the healthy Aging faculty of the Australian College of Nursing.
Jed is the deputy editor and chief of the Australian Journal on Aging. That my friends, is how you butcher an introduction. But Jed, I'm so grateful that you are here. I'm excited to dive into all of the amazing things that you've been doing. Welcome to the podcast. How are
Jed: you going? Thanks very much, Liam.
I'm very good, and thank you so much for having me.
Liam: I'm so excited. I was telling Jared that I've been creeping him on LinkedIn and watching on the sidelines, just seeing how much incredible work that he's been doing. And I really love seeing nurses thrive , in their careers and find the thing that they love to do.
So I'm very excited because we've had a couple of academics come on, but I'm really excited to dive into your work in particular, especially within gerontology age care, healthy living. So, let's dive in. Can you tell us in summary, cause you've done a lot of things, talk us through your nursing career up until this point.
Give us a bit of a synopsis of where you started and tell us the story of your career up until now.
Jed: Wow. Thanks Liam. Yeah, sure. So I think I would start like, I mean, just like anybody else in the profession we all started somewhere very clinical. And when I say very clinical, something very grounded in practice.
So I was an acute emergency room nurse, so that was like my first spend in nursing where, you look after patients in emergency care environment and I love that. that's where, where I started. I thought it was something that, it's very dynamic.
it's something that really stimulated my, younger years, in my earlier years in nursing. And then, I guess as just like anybody else, you kind of find your way around. You know, after doing a spin in Ed had some interest in medical surgical and so I, went into the Hospital wards and do more of a medical care kind of management for patients, you know, nursing as a staff nurse.
And then that just consolidates the use of like learning about patient care about nursing. I realized when I was working in the ward that, you know, based on my experience in Ed the nature of, care, although they are the same, but in the wards, it's where I've found so, so much.
Interactions with patients. I'm not saying that as ed nurse, I don't interact. but what I'm saying here is because you provide care to them in, you know, an eight hour shift and you're allocated to patients, you get to communicate with them more with your family. And it has developed my skills in, in, specializing that part of nursing.
And then later, I thought, oh, maybe I'll do something like I wanna study, I wanna look into research and, you know, perhaps come back and improve practice or do something in terms of practice. So that leads me to my academic career in the early 2015 when I've started my PhD and, took a, you know, academic role in the university.
So to sum it up, I think it's a journey of, you know, very grounded in practice doing clinical work you know, as a registered nurse. But then I still identify myself as a nurse, even though, you know, I've been practicing in teaching in the university for quite some time, but I still, you know, introduce myself as a nurse because, you know, a nurse is always a nurse and whatever you do in nursing education or wherever you practice, you always go back and relate it to, what you learned in the clinical environment. So, yeah.
Liam: Amazing. I love that we summarized that in less than a minute. I love that. So good. But it gives us heaps of time to explore how you got to where you are, because this is what I think perplexes a lot of students, right?
I mean, you see this, you work with student nurses and they're always have these big visions and these plans for their career, and they're thinking, but how do I get there? What are the steps? Like, what's the path? Like, can you give me a prescribed step to get to being a, a gerontology associate professor, you know, in nursing.
What does that look like? And I'm sensing that you've got some advice, but talk to us about , how that shift happened for you, right? Because you were working, you were clinical and you know, maybe you can, maybe I'm incorrect, but can you jump from being clinical nurse straight into a PhD? What did that look like?
Jed: Yeah, I mean, to me personally, it was a time where you have to really actually think it through and you know, it's something that you need to, because being a clinician and, and doing something like a very heavy research kind of focus, I mean, they are related, but these are two different worlds.
As a clinician, I would worry about, of course, like. During the shift I do this, I do that. I provide care what things I haven't done and what things I should be doing. And of course, the safety of your patient is a priority and of course the quality of the care you provide. When you transition into being an academic, there is that sense that, although.
the responsibility might not be as urgent in a way that, you know, if you don't do this, I mean it will lead to life threatening conditions or implications. But there is that big responsibility that as you produce research, as you produce evidence from your research, it is something that will be usable and, could inform practice. So I think to me personally when I was nursing in the ward, in the medical surgical ward, I found that a lot of our patients are older people. So you know, the population groups that we. Catering, providing care each day, each week are aging. And an thought like, okay, so this is why I'm seeing we get 80 years old who had surgeries, you know, something that we never had in the past.
You know, we had. Like 80 years old on insulin injections. I mean, it just means that people are living longer and longer with chronic conditions and they also have to learn how to manage their condition despite all of this age related physiological decline. So, so I thought, okay, I'll, I'll pursue a career in gerontology cause this is something that I think I can contribute further into health and nursing.
And I guess what I found Liam is I. I situate myself in a place where I can add value. So I think this is an advice to all of the nurses as well out there as a start in this conversation is like, if they're still trying to figure out where they should situate themselves, do they want to stay in, you know, in this particular clinical environment or when to transition from clinical to academia?
It should be something that one, you need to be very passionate about, but also in a place where you can add value. Yeah.
Liam: Yeah, I love that. So you went from being a clinician and then did you do a master's, did you do post-grad cert or did you go straight from clinician to
Jed: PhD?
That's a very good question. So I did a master's in nursing as a start. That was I think important because as a clinician, of course you did your undergraduate, there's a little bit of research in your undergraduate, but not quite enough for you to embark into a full-blown research when you're doing PhD.
So I did a master's degree. It taught me how to learn about research methodologies, you know, what is research, get to introduce you, the world of research and evidence-based practice, I should say. Then after that it was, you know, sometimes you feel like, okay, why am I doing this? And then you, you get the spark saying like, oh, you really like doing this.
I mean, you know, like sometimes. And so, yeah, I ended up pursuing a PhD, so I went into undergraduate. Gained some experience. Did a master's for two years, and then after that when I finished my master's, went into a PhD program.
Liam: Yeah. I love that and I, like that you acknowledge that there are moments, regardless, even when you're passionate about something where you're like, oh my goodness, am I doing the right thing?
Right. I think that, some of us listening and maybe myself included, think that when we follow our passions, that all of a sudden it's gonna be rainbows and daisies, and that's not relief actually. Right? Correct. We have this ebb and flow, this high and low. Of the reality of life. Right. So I I'm really glad that you touched on that there.
Now doing a PhD is no easy feat ride. It's not easy. So talk to us about that experience for you. And, you know, you've done your masters, you've got a bit of research experience, and then you make that decision. What was it like starting that and talk us through the PhD process?
Jed: Yes, that's right. Normally, I mean, to me what happened was I.
Pursue something which was based on what I did for my masters. I mean, that's how it kind of like role in terms of, the interest pursuing a PhD. But then you realize that, you know, what you've started perhaps, I mean there's a lot of factors.
What I'm saying here is there's a lot of factors that you need to consider. So there not be things that, you know, at the start, You're very passionate and you think this is something that you need to do, and you feel like you see the gap out there in practice, but when you know more and you read more, you kind of think that, oh yes, there is a more important Gap that you need to address or as a priority.
And that happens to all people, I guess not all, but for most people pursuing a PhD, they started, with something in mind, like they really wanna do that. Maybe a continuation of their master's study or whatever. And then suddenly when they engage themselves with the literature with, further the readings, they find that, you know, there's something that perhaps we need to prioritize and you want to pursue more than the initial idea. So I think that happened to me, like I was starting into a particular like area, but then I thought, oh, I would like to do something in age care, in aging.
so that journey to me wasn't as you've said, it's not an easy feat. It's something that, you know, you, are, there are a lot of factors. So first your commitment to it, cause this is not just like a, a two month course or even a year. It's something that perhaps you need to recover afterwards.
Yeah. Like doing it. so to me, I mean, choosing the right topic and you know that I'm. Very passionate about is 1 area that I should say has driven me to pursue and complete it. Cause this is something that when you think about it, you envision yourself that in the next five, 10 years, is this something that I will still be interested?
You know, is this something that when I talk to people or when I talk about my PhD or the work that I did, is this something that still, you know, sparks as like, it was just the first day I thought about the topic, so mm-hmm. So that continuity and that passion needs to sustain until you finish.
Also to me. The other thing that I should share in that journey is support from your colleagues and from the supervisors, your mentors is really important. So It is not just a study or a research, it's also about accepting that you are there to, produce. Novel or new knowledge.
And with that new knowledge, you need support from colleagues, from people around you. so that's also important to think about. Yeah.
Liam: Yeah. So good. I think one thing when you mentioned support I was saying earlier my partner did a PhD, so you also need a supportive partner in your life if you have a partner, because for five long years, My partner was doing his PhD and you know, it was incredible.
And he was very passionate about his topic. And I think that you're right when you say that, I also think that it's important to acknowledge for people listening, cause some people think, oh my goodness, doing a PhD very specialized. You know, and like you say, you then kind of become known for your work, right?
That's your whole world. It becomes your world professionally. But that's one path, right? That's one path from a PhD, which is the whole academia, the research, like doing post-doctoral you know appointments and things like that. You know, my partner took a different path where he works in the industry and that's what he wants to do.
So is it the same in the nursing realm? What other pathways come from a PhD
Jed: in nursing? Yeah. Very good question, Liam. Yes, correct. So I think increasingly what we can see These days, I mean, recently is there is a pathway of what we called clinical academics or people who are really good clinicians, pursued a doctorate degree or a PhD and would like to stay in the clinical setting and
improve practice and, you know, in their settings. I think that is something that there are courses that we called this professional doctorates or doctor of nursing or you know, doctor of Healthcare practice, something like that. And. Means these are people who pursued a career, a higher degree a PhD, a doctorate, that with the intention of you know, improving practice and imparting the research and the gaps between clinical practice and research.
how can you, Research evidence, how can you bridge that? And I think that's the main role of these pathways where you've got someone who learned how to do research, who knows the clinical environment, and someone who can bridge that gap between current practices and evidence-based practice.
Yeah, I
Liam: love that. And I think we're starting to see more of that, right? In Australia, predominantly, I think that these pathways have been in the US I could be wrong, but I've seen a lot of like D n P things online. So that's super interesting, right? For those that are listening, that are thinking, I still love clinical, but I want to develop, there's a pathway there and a process.
That's so good. So tell us a little bit more about your body of work. The work that you've created and the value that you've added, talk to us about that contribution and you know, why you chose to go
Jed: down that path. So primarily my program of research is in aging. So I guess in a nutshell, I am very interested in You know, all of these psychosocial aspects or psychosocial factors that influence individuals to age healthily.
and in saying that, you know, aging is an inevitable process like we all age and we. Experience aging very differently from one another. Mm-hmm. So, with the work, with the research that I've done particularly, I might wanna speak first about my PhD topic or which was on older people or older immigrants.
So my PhD was on older immigrants in host countries or destination countries or in, you know, the countries that they've relocated to. So I look into What are their transition experience? What is it like for them? Especially when they're growing old in a country post majority speaks a different language from them or they speak a different language from the mainstream or from the majority.
So I look into that at the end and see what are the challenges that they've experienced. And a lot of these things that we've found boils down into. Of course the importance of social connections importance of family Friends social networks, but although they're trying to adjust in their host country they still need that connections or that they still need that support from the.
Culture from the language, from the systems that they are familiar with. So I think that is an important addition to the literature because how policies are made in terms of age care can be very generic, although we try to say that we provide person-centered care because that's what we really want to do.
Yeah. And that should be reflected in our policies as well. And for example, with aged care, It is impossible to accommodate and be very specific with all, for example, different cultures in drawing or in outlining all of these policies. But I think that's important to know, particularly for practicing nurses, for clinicians that We are there to provide care, but we are also there to be culturally you know, sensitive to their needs.
And it might just be a matter of asking the person in terms of are there any cultural preferences that you think will be helpful while you're staying here in the hospital? Or it might be something, for example, in the nursing homes or in aged care facilities. It is something that are culturally or language related that.
the staff needs to be mindful. So that was the area of my research at that time, who's open that kind of thinking that although we live in a very diverse society, we have some kind of generic policies, how can we fit, how can we integrate? Because I. the things that I really encourage Liam is not segregation.
Mm-hmm. Although some people would say like, okay, we identify people and we segregate them from another because they have different needs. I don't think that's the solution. It's about integration and people being used with it. You know, being inclusive with each other and how can we work together.
I think to me is the way to go rather than putting people in boxes because, you know, they're just different. So, yeah,
Liam: I'd love to jump in there, if you don't mind, because I think that what I love about research and you know, I haven't done research, but what I love about it is like that new contribution of knowledge and just how it gets you to think.
But like, as you're talking there, and you're talking about, you know, immigrants and people and like I'm an immigrant in Australia, a little are thinking about, oh my God, my. Experience of that in the future. But then I'm thinking about how quickly the world is evolving and how, you know now, we've gotta be inclusive in all ways.
Shape. Well, we don't have to, we get to like, we choose to be inclusive. Right? And I'm thinking of. Like the L G B T Q I community, you know, how we identify, non-binary, all of these things as we move forward. The landscape as we get older is gonna be so fascinating and I know I've attended some trainings specifically on inclusion in the L G B T Q I community in care facilities.
And that's like something that's totally just looked over. It's not even like some facilities will even take you. I was so surprised and I thought, oh my goodness. Like I'm thinking of my future self and I'm like, I'm gonna find that place now that I need to go to. But I think that the work that you're doing is highlighting the importance of.
Acknowledging where people are at, asking the simple questions like how do you identify or like what is your cultural background? And then creating a care package that allows that person to live out who they are authentically. I think that's a beautiful thing. Thank you for doing that Mark. Sorry to interrupt you.
Jed: No, that's great. And you're totally correct in terms of what your observation cause I think a lot of of us would say that we are preparing and, you know, there's a lot of work done around in inclusivity and, acknowledgement of diversity amongst populations and especially.
In an aging population, but I think there's a lot of work that needs to be done for us to get to that stage where we can openly say that, you know, this is something that we really want to create a society you know, a very inclusive and something that could cater the needs of individual people, individual groups at the same time something that acknowledges their values.
Yeah.
Liam: I love that. So tell us more about the work that you're doing now. Like, that was your PhD work. What are you doing
Jed: now? Yeah, so I'm very interested in the promotion of healthy aging practices and one of these things is to creating environments that promote healthy aging.
So what do I mean by that is, you know, for people to age healthily, they should be, you know, the environment their experience , the mechanisms that support. These people to age healthy should be available. So I'm talking about age-friendly communities. So for example, if someone is aging in a city, in a very city environment like Hong Kong, for example.
Mm-hmm. Or Sydney or, you know, like all those really busy places, we're seeing a whole lot of challenges. And what we did in one study is we look at how older people thrive in a very organized environment. So how do they go to from one point A to point B? Are transport systems enough or adequate for them?
You know, do they find it hard to get into the train or, you know, so these are the things that I really like doing, and we really have been doing some initial work or some groundwork on this in asking people their experience about how age friendly is. Their environment. And with that age friendliness, is it promoting healthy aging or health and wellbeing on their point?
Mm-hmm. So one example that I can mention Liam in my previous work is we interviewed people, as I mentioned earlier about transport, for example. So people, you know, I guess in most cities we have very. Good, like really beautiful parts, right? Mm-hmm. Very beautiful spaces or recreational spaces, but if older people in particular cannot go there because there's no transport.
If the facilities, for example, does not allow wheelchair access, it does not allow them to walk with walkers or whatever in there. Those facilities, you know, are useless. I'm sorry, but because Cause they don't. Promote people being able to go to these places to enjoy or to, you know, so, so that's one thing.
Or even access to services, like we might have a very, you know, state of the art hospital somewhere, but if people can't access them because they're live in a rural environment or very far from where it is, then that also defeats the purpose. so, Really interested in that one, how environments can be created more age-friendly, so that as the endpoint for that is for them to, age well.
to age healthily and, quality of life.
Liam: Yeah. Oh, I've never heard that term. Age-friendly. Maybe I'm just naive, but I love that term. I think that that's such a good term. And as you're talking, there's so many things come to mind. Like I live in Paris at the moment and we live on the seventh floor and our lift in our apartment block like this, suburb that we're in, is full of lots of age, like your elderly people.
And it's super interesting because when that lift is not working, I've literally had to help and support some of the residents down the stairs. I don't speak French, so that's a whole cultural experience. But you know, the way that the world is going, right? Like we're just not, this walk is so important.
Even when we go to the airport, like if you're trying to travel, like to walk from one end of the terminal to the other, like it's frigging miles. So how fascinating. Like, such important work. what surprised you in doing this work? Like what are the, some of the things that you've picked up on that you were just like mind blown by?
Jed: What surprised me is the actual, like the lack of, and maybe it's a little bit critical to say this, but I mean, what, surprised me is the lack of perhaps consideration in all of these things. Mm-hmm. Because, you know, when we designed houses, buildings, as you've said, that is a very good example.
How come we can't even think about people struggling to navigate or, even access these things? So that surprised me and mm-hmm. And this is not like putting the blame to people or anyone, but it's more of like awareness about these things. And it's probably because by the time . They've.
Designed these spaces or did design these places they haven't thought of like people living longer and living in their homes and you know, doing all of this stuff. So that is surprising in a way. And this is a work that, of course, not isolated to my research, but this is a work that has been, Campaigned globally, particularly with, by the World Health Organization.
So the W H O wrote a there was a big guideline on, or a report on AJ and health in 2005 to start with, and that was the first kind of, I mean, the initial steps around creating environments to be age-friendly. Mm-hmm. And that has been around for quite some time.
So some countries are very, You know, recognizant of that. And they're aware that the world is aging, therefore we need to do something about aging population. Therefore we need to rethink how we design spaces access to services. And the Covid Pandemic, as you know, \ had a very huge implication to all of these because, you know, particularly with healthcare services like Telehealth, for example, like it is great, but we can do teleconsultation and for older people to be protected because they are considered vulnerable. They can just stay at home and actually use telehealth. But the question was You know, how savvy are they in using those technology?
So these are layers upon layers in terms of design, the thinking, and what are the things, how can we make places inclusive? Because to me, Liam, if the environment is age friendly, it is friendly to everybody.
Liam: yeah. I love that. And I think that some of us might be sitting here thinking, oh, you know, but it'll be different when we're, you know, older.
But the thing is we will have the same job. hopefully we'll have, you know, better services available and it'll be more age friendly, but I. Technology is always evolving, right? And we're always having to learn and we will also naturally probably move away from being as tech savvy as we are right now.
So I think that it's easy to sit here and look and be like, how, like how can you not just turn on your phone and like have a telehealth consult, but you know, that will be us in the future. I think it's so, so important. That's work. Oh my God. We could talk forever about that. Where can people find you?
Obviously we will list everything there, but where can people find, like your research? Is there a go-to place or is it best to just connect with you? How does all of that work in the
Jed: research world? So yeah. Thank you. So I think the best way is, I mean, I think these days it is very convenient to Google people.
I've done that myself. So I think if they wanna read more about my research, they can always go to Google Scholar, type my name in and cause a lot of us, I mean, in the last five years I've been very active publishing our work. so it's all captured in those papers that we've written about.
The work that we did in that space. And yeah, to get in touch is a really, I mean, I am very responsive to emails and, queries from colleagues. so I encourage them to, cause some people, I guess I'll just take this point as well, I'm Liam because a lot of people, including myself when I first started, we are very.
Say reserve and shy to approach people. And like for example, if you know a professor who's very high profile in the particular field, sometimes you feel like, oh, is he or she or are they gonna read this email? I don't think they will, but you know, there's that reservation. But my advice is, just go, you know?
Yeah. Like connect, type in approach. And you know, 99% of the time they come back and say, you know, and, and that's what I did in my career. I approach people, you know, respectfully and of course, I mean, Most of the time at once. Yeah.
Liam: I love that so much. I think everybody listening will put a, a link in the show notes to go and connect on Google Scholars, and have a look at Jed's amazing work.
I wanted to, as we kind wrap up and I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about probably what's on everybody's mind, which is. What is it really like being a nurse, academic and a nurse researcher? What surprised you about that world? Because I think a lot of people think, oh, one day when I become a lecturer or an academic or a researcher, I get my PhD.
I'm finally gonna feel all of these things and all of that. Talk to us
Jed: about that experience for you right now. To me personally, and I guess also. Based on my observations you know, with my colleagues being an academic is something that requires a lot of like, perseverance and, patients just like, you know, when you're working as a nurse clinically however, it is something that I guess you don't see the results.
Right away. Mm-hmm. You know, it is very different. For example, when you are nursing and you provide the intervention and you've seen that the patient improved, that's very rewarding. Right. At that very moment. Yeah. When you're teaching, you go through the learning process, like you teach, the students learn may not learn.
This time you have to repeat what you. Teach them until such time, like when they graduate, they come back to you and you know, email you or tell you that, you know, Jed, I remember what you told us about this and that to me, that's rewarding. That's just, you know, something that, you know, in my career would say like, oh, I did have an impact to someone's life.
Or, you know, professional personal lives teaching them. So that's the joy of being an academic as a researcher, to me, it is about improving practice. It's all about evidence and finding ways to improve or change or to better how we do things, particularly in healthcare or in nursing, what we're doing right now, like this, this decade May be so different from what we are gonna be doing in the next 10, 20 years. If Florence Nightingale is alive today, she wouldn't be expecting us doing all of this stuff, although, you know, she might have expected it, but she would say like, oh, I never thought of that. So this is the same thing.
I'm talking about 2023, but 2033. So it's all about that evidence and how can you inform practice now and for the future?
Liam: Yeah. In your work, like, you know, it's such an evolving space cause we are all gonna live longer. Who knows what the future holds. Maybe we're gonna live real long, who knows? What's coming right in the next couple of decades.
You work with students you know, and nurses undergrad and post-grad and are wanting to get some insights into some of the things that you think. Would really help anybody listening that's studying, whether they're undergrad or postgrads, what are some of the the main challenges that you see and what would be your kind of advice
Jed: for them right now?
I mean, to me nursing, either in an undergraduate capacity or postgraduate capacity always entails say, there is, I mean, hard, all like perseverance I mentioned earlier, but it is hard work. I mean, I should just have to be straight with , that it takes , some effort, it takes , some courage to do it.
However, my advice, and I always see this, in students who just recently graduated. It's all about that connecting the dots after. You know what I mean? So some people would say, right now this doesn't really make sense. Why do, why do we get taught this subject or this topic? Mm-hmm. Or why is this necessary?
But then later on when you graduate and you in practice, you think you can just say like, connected the dot right then and say, ah-ha. Okay. That's why they taught us about good communication practices because we are gonna be talking to people, you know, so I think what you've got right now, sometimes they might not make sense to you right now mm-hmm.
But later in the future, when you graduate when you finish your course, that's something that will be very useful. And I guess it's up. To us to find value in these things. Although sometimes it might be hard, it might be hard work, but it's just like I'm doing this these are building blocks for me to become a good nurse, to become a, competent nurse in the future.
And that's the same with postgraduate students. Like every step that you're doing in your research will lead to the broader aim of what you're trying to do.
Liam: Yeah, that's such good advice. And I always talk about in coaching nurses across the spectrum of their career that we never really need to know the how in the moment.
You know, you just take the next step and then on reflection you'll be like, oh my goodness, I'm now a nurse academic researcher. And you can see how it all lines up beautifully. But if you're trying to. Manufacture that from the start and like know which way it's gonna go. I'm sure you probably never thought you would go to New Zealand and Hong Kong and do all of these things.
It's impossible to know you're just gonna take the next step, you know, listen to your gut and move forward closer towards your goals and then suss it out. I think something that's really came through today, and this always happens when I interview people, is that when they talk about the thing that they love doing, they really light up.
And I'm sure everybody listened and like could hear that when you started talking about. Age care and gerontology and age friendly practices and like how you gonna change the world through your research? That was really palpable for me. So I think that everybody listening, that's our mission. That's our mission in life, is to find that thing that lights you up.
Don't worry about anybody else, do your thing and just move towards it. I think that's so, so good. I do have one final question for you, and it's about. What advice you would give to anybody that's listening that is a clinician currently, and they're thinking about pursuing research. What would be the next couple of steps?
I know we've talked but what advice would you, give
Jed: Thank you, Liam. would like to impart is Try and explore potential pathway for you. So if you are a clinician look into. People who can be your examples, I should say, like role models or someone that you know around you if you don't have anyone that you can use as an example or a, I call it a template to your career.
You can always look into internationally. So, I think it's important because this is something that you can say people has done this, that. This has been successful and there's no way, or there's no reason for me to not to be like them or not to be successful like them. So I think that's a good inspirational kind of start in saying, you know, I know someone who's a clinician, but now they are a nurse practitioner and they do a whole lot of research.
So that could be me in the future. So that's something that you know, you might really wanna consider the second one. I, think it's always good to have a mentor. Or someone who can coach you through this process. And that's something that to myself, I'm very privileged to be mentored by the people who's not only top.
In the field, but someone who, who understands, who's seen the potential in me. Because sometimes it's really hard to, to, to state your case. And that's what happens in academia. Or if you want to be an academic or researcher, cause you have to prove yourself that from being a clinician you can do research and you're ready for research.
So you really need someone who has been in that same kind of journey, who can relate, who can tell you the steps. You know that, okay, you're transitioning to this, therefore, The thinking could be a little bit more of a researcher rather than a clinician or if you are a researcher, how can you apply this in practice?
So having a mentor or a coach is really, really important. And the last thing that I should advise is follow your passion. I know it's a very cliche thing to, to say, but it works because your passion reminds you why you're there. It reminds you like when you're tired, when you don't want to do, when you're confused, you just wanna go back and say, why am I here in the first place?
And that reminds you, that's very powerful to say like, oh, I can be a researcher. I can do something wonderful things. Yeah.
Liam: I think reconnecting to your why is so important, right? Really. Tuning into that and I'm getting to a place where I'm realizing that sometimes we need like 10 different whys, 10 different reasons why we do something.
cause one day maybe that why of like, I'm gonna be a nurse researcher. Your brain's like hell to the note, I don't wanna do this anymore, but maybe a different why. It's like I'm providing for my family, I'm quitting a life or I'm adding value. Creating a little collection of wise will drive you forward. I love that so, so much.
And I think that when we think about passion, sometimes passion can feel big and like unachievable and maybe distant. cause we're like, well, what is our passion? And I teach people just to listen to their gut. Like really just when you're in the moment, get aware. Raise your awareness of what lights you up?
is it the research paper that you read and you're like, wow, how good would it be to contribute this to the world? Or is it patient advocacy or is it being a critical care specialist, or is it just educate? Like whatever it is, really tune into your body and think about that, cause that's gonna be your guiding force as you move forwards.
Yeah. Incredible. Jed. Thank you so much for your time. It has been a privilege. I'm so glad we connected. I did exactly what Jed said you guys should do. If you want to be a researcher. I just approached them and creeped on them in LinkedIn. So so do that. And this is what happens. You get to meet incredible people and learn so much about what's happening.
Your work is incredible. Thank you for the contribution that you make to the world, cause we will all, everybody listening for future episodes to come thousands of episodes later. We're all gonna benefit from the work that you're doing, so thank you, thank you, thank you. If people want to get in touch with you, where can they find you?
Google Scholar, but with your name. Where else can they find you?
Jed: You can also follow me on Twitter. I'm very active on Twitter, so you can, you know, just start my name, Jasmine Tires. J e d capital M. O N T A Y r e or you can also email me or find me in the, Hong Kong Polytechnic University website.
And you can get my email address there. It's quite long. So, but you can definitely, you know, Actually, you know, it sounds really, but you can Google me I guess. Yeah, Google.
Liam: No, Google. Google. We love Google. And I will pop your email if you're happy in the show notes. So people that come and listen can just go straight there and you guys can connect with Jed.
But Jed, thank you so much for your time. That is all we have for today. Thank you everybody for listening. If you've got any questions, queries, reach out to Jed. Let us know what you think of this episode. Let us know if you're gonna become a nurse, research and academic. If you're gonna go do your PhD, let's chat about it on social media.
And until next time, stay safe and stay forever curious. I'll see you on the next episode.
