Olga Petrovskaya

Biography

Prior to calling Edmonton home in January 2017, I completed my PhD in Nursing at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. The title of my dissertation is Postmodern and Post-Structural Theory in Nursing—A Comparison of American and Selected Non-American Nursing Literature from the Late 1980s to 2015 (Supervisor Dr. M. E. Purkis). In the dissertation, I examined how nurse scholars applied various social science theories to advance nursing knowledge. Specifically, I compared a conception of theory underpinning American ‘nursing theory’ and more recent Australian, British, and Canadian nursing writings informed by continental philosophy and French social theory (e.g., the work of Michel Foucault). Analyzing American nursing theory, I drew on powerful criticisms by M. Risjord and J. Paley. Analyzing social-theory informed and Foucauldian nursing scholarship, I delved into a wide array of publications: ethnographies of nursing practice by C. May, M. E. Purkis, T. Rudge, Davina Allen, C. Ceci; philosophical musings of John Drummond and G. Rolfe; self-proclaimed “war-machine” provocations by Dave Holmes and his nurse colleagues at the UofOttawa; historical excursions by S. Nelson; as well as theoretically-sophisticated writings by American nurse scholars M. Sandelowski, J. Liaschenko, and David Allen. Inspired by this heterogeneous group of writings, I argued for the importance of these selected theory-informed, empirical studies of nursing practice for helping nursing students understand, and possibly influence, the realities of contemporary nursing work. My Doctoral studies were supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Joseph-Armand Bombardier Graduate Scholarship $105,000 in 2009-2012.

Research Interest

Research My research and scholarly interests prior to current employment with the UofA included: Nursing scholarship informed by Continental philosophy (e.g., contemporary French thought in nursing, phenomenological nursing research) Metatheoretical nursing issues - status of theory in the discipline of nursing Philosophical inquiry Rhetorical aspects of nursing philosophical scholarship Qualitative research methodologies - general aspects Historical and professional trends in nursing practice and scholarship (e.g., professional self-regulation, interprofessional practice) The notion of the difficult patient Pediatric nursing Nephrology nursing Electronic Health Record Current research and scholarly interests Although my doctoral work had a philosophical / theoretical bent, my clinical background is in pediatrics. I am interested in developing my program of empirical, theory-informed research in relation to the following topics/fields/ subjects: Child health & interprofessional pediatric health care practice - Theory-informed field studies (i.e., ethnography) of pediatric nursing practice - The “difficult patient/family” in the context of pediatric nursing practice Electronic health record & patient portals (implementation; provider and patient experiences and attitudes; effects on provider workflow) - Implementation of MyChart patient portal in the Stollery outpatient clinics Understanding the notion of the “difficult patient” in health care Research methodologies - Ethnography, comparative case study, and discourse analysis - Systematic literature review - Mixed-methods research.