Vivienne Leigh

Teaching Strengths

Intensive Care Nursing
Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Nursing
Recognising and responding to clinical deterioration
Clinical education

Ms Vivienne Leigh

Lecturer, Nursing

School of Nursing and Midwifery

College of Health


Ms Vivienne Leigh is a course coordinator – postgraduate Nursing at the Adelaide University, College of Health.
Viv has completed three undergraduate degrees in Nursing, Science and Education. Her Nursing degree was completed at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle; Bachelor of Science (microbiology) at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand and a Bachelor of Education (Adult) at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand. Upon completion of her Nursing degree, Viv pursued a career in cardiothoracic intensive care nursing at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney where she remained for six years before moving to Adelaide. She completed her postgraduate certificate in critical care nursing at the University of Technology Sydney in 2015. Viv has worked in both public and private ICUs across Adelaide as a critical care qualified nurse, ICU educator and ICU clinical manager prior to returning to clinical education.
In 2019, Viv completed a Master of Clinical Science at the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), University of Adelaide, entitled “The effectiveness and harms of pharmacological interventions for the treatment of delirium in adults admitted into the intensive care unit after cardiac surgery: a systematic review” and in 2023, began on her PhD journey with the UniSA.

2023-current: PhD Candidate - Thesis title " Development of evidence-based guidelines for the management of medical device alarms that aim to improve patient safety within Australian intensive care units: a mixed methods study"

2017-2019: Master of Clinical Science - Thesis title "Effectiveness and harms of pharmacological interventions for the treatment of delirium in adults in intensive care units after cardiac surgery: a systematic review"

Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
2023 Award Unstoppable Award 2023 University of South Australia Australia -

Year Citation
2026 Leigh, V., Grech, C., Roderick, A., Kelly, M. A., & Pelentsov, L. (2026). Management of medical device alarms in intensive care units: A scoping review. Australian Critical Care, 39(1), 101511-1-101511-22.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2019 Leigh, V., Stern, C., Elliott, R., & Tufanaru, C. (2019). Effectiveness and harms of pharmacological interventions for the treatment of delirium in adults in intensive care units after cardiac surgery: A systematic review. JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, 17(10), 2020-2074.
DOI Scopus10 Europe PMC6
2018 Leigh, V., Tufanaru, C., & Elliott, R. (2018). Effectiveness and harms of pharmacological interventions in the treatment of delirium in adults in intensive care units post cardiac surgery: a systematic review protocol. Jbi Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, 16(5), 1117-1125.
DOI Scopus5 Europe PMC2
2018 Leigh, V., Tufanaru, C., & Elliott, R. (2018). Erratum to: Effectiveness and harms of pharmacological interventions in the treatment of delirium in adults in intensive care units post cardiac surgery: a systematic review protocol. JBI database of systematic reviews and implementation reports, 16(9), 1903.
DOI

Year Citation
2019 Leigh, V., Tufanaru, C., & Elliott, R. (2019). Effectiveness and Harms of Pharmacological Treatments for Delirium in Adult Intensive Care Patients After Cardiac Surgery: A Systematic Review. In AUSTRALIAN CRITICAL CARE Vol. 32 (pp. S3-S4). ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC.
DOI

Year Citation
2020 Hibbert, P., Schultz, T., & Leigh, V. (2020). A Review of SA Health and Wellbeing’s Safety Learning System.

Unstoppable Grants 2025, UniSA Early Career Academic Grant, value: $7322

Titled: Exploring the use of serious games in online critical care nurse education: a novel approach to building skills in HALO settings

Recipients: Ms Vivienne Leigh and Dr Allison Roderick

 

 

Courses I teach

2026

  • NURS 5007 Essentials in Critical Care

2025

  • NURS 5172 Introduction to High Acuity Nursing and Midwifery (2025)

2024

  • NURS 2023 Health of Adults (2024)
  • NURS 5118 Critical Care Nursing (2024)
  • NURS 5172 Introduction to High Acuity Nursing and Midwifery (2024)

Programs I'm associated with

  • CRACAGDNUR - Graduate Diploma in Nursing specialising in Critical Care
  • CRITGNUR - Graduate Certificate in Nursing specialising in Critical Care
  • ICNG - Graduate Certificate in Nursing
  • ICNS - Graduate Certificate in Nursing (SA Health Clinical Specialisation Program)
  • IMNI - Master of Nursing

Date Role Board name Institution name Country
2025 - ongoing Representative Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN) ACCCN Australia

Date Role Committee Institution Country
2025 - ongoing Vice-President Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN) ACCCN South Australia/ Northern Territory Branch Australia
2023 - 2025 Member Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN) ACCCN South Australia/ Northern Territory Branch Australia

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