2011-NMMU-Research-Report - Research Management - Nelson ...

Together they have published extensively in the past and in 2011
they focused on producing a book entitled: Career Counselling
and Constructivism, as well doing presentations at international
conferences and other research forums. In total, these and other
researchers in the Faculty for the year 2011 produced 28 research
articles, five books (four of which were produced by staff from
the Nursing Science Department), 20 papers and 17 posters at
international research conferences and six papers and four posters
at national research conferences.
The Faculty's fifteenth (15th) annual Student Research Conference
in 2011, proved to be a great success with 13 podium and five poster
presentations offered. The highlight of this event was the keynote
address: “Across the Miles: International Collaborative Research”
presented by Prof Watson and his two international collaborators,
Prof McMahon and Prof Brimrose, sharing with the Faculty's
postgraduate students their journey to success in research in their
particular field of specialisation.
Researchers in the Faculty produced
28 research articles, five books (four of
which were produced by staff from the
Nursing Science Department), 20 papers
and 17 posters at international research
conferences and six papers and four
posters at national research conferences.
The Faculty also houses a substantial postgraduate student
component and we are very pleased that the year 2011 saw 41
Masters degree and three Doctoral degree students completing
their studies and qualifying for graduation. We firmly believe that
research is important both for the generation of new knowledge
and for the purposes of informing our teaching and learning. We
are therefore proud of the Faculty’s achievements in this regard.
Prof Rosa du Randt
Acting Executive Dean: Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty Researcher
of the Year
Prof Ilse Truter
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Prof Ilse Truter’s research focuses on the management of medicine.
It includes studies on the prescribing and usage patterns of medicine,
the cost of medicine, identifying the potential abuse and misuse of
medicine, factors related to why and how people use medicine and
also on other non-pharmacological systems of healing. The research
is termed "Pharmacoepidemiology", and includes drug utilisation
and pharmacoeconomic studies amongst others. In addition to
Pharmacoepidemiology, she is also involved in various Pharmacy
Practice and Clinical Pharmacy research projects.
Her main research objective is to determine whether medicine is used
rationally and cost-effectively, in other words, to determine whether
patients and consumers are getting the best possible treatment for
their disease state or condition at an affordable price, and to also
determine whether patients are using their medication optimally.
These studies will become increasingly important as South Africa
moves towards a system of National Health Insurance (NHI).
Prof Truter’s main research objective is
to determine whether medicine is used
rationally and cost-effectively.
Her main research achievements in 2011 include, apart from her
unit’s (DURU) research outputs, eight international peer-reviewed
publications, seven peer-reviewed articles in a professional journal,
a chapter in a book, an MPharm student who graduated and 21
presentations at international conferences. She was also invited
to serve on a NRF SARChI Panel and was privileged to attend four
international research conferences.