Dr
Leona
Bannon
Academic biography
Leona Bannon is a critical care nurse and Assistant Professor in General Nursing at Dublin City University. As an early career researcher, she is committed to driving a collaborative programme of nurse-led critical care research to improve patient outcomes in intensive care settings. In 2015, Dr. Bannon was awarded a Doctoral Fellowship from the Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland (£150,350), where she led the design of her doctoral studies in collaboration with Professor Bronagh Blackwood. She contributed to impactful trials as part of the Northern Ireland Clinical Trials Unit (NICTU), including HARP 2 and LEOPARDS, working with Professor Danny McAuley. Leona is a registered nurse with a BSc (Hons) Nursing Science (2004), and earned her PhD in Medicine (2021) at Queen’s University Belfast.
Leona is also an active member of the HRB Irish Critical Care Clinical Trials Network (HRB-ICC-CTN), the Irish Critical Care Nurse Researcher Group (ICCNRG), Irish Association of Critical Care Nurses (IACCN) (research lead) and has strong collaborations with the Northern Ireland Clinical Research Network for Critical Care. In add
Research interests
My research interests center on improving outcomes for critically ill patients through the prevention and management of delirium, with a strong emphasis on non-pharmacological interventions within intensive care and acute healthcare settings. I am committed to designing, testing, and implementing multicomponent nursing interventions supported by contemporary theories and sound methodological frameworks, aiming to reduce delirium incidence and duration while promoting patient safety and recovery. A core aspect of my work involves advancing the uptake and integration of evidence-based interventions into routine clinical practice, addressing barriers to implementation, and evaluating their effectiveness in real-world settings. I am also interested in exploring strategies for facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration and supporting nurses in the translation of research findings, guidelines, and protocols to enhance patient care and professional development.