Dr Susanne Kean

Susanne is a Research Fellow in the Edinburgh Critical Care Research Group

Background

Susanne qualified as a nurse in 1983 in Marburg (Germany) and worked in surgical wards at the University Hospital Zürich (Switzerland) and the University Hospital Kiel (Germany) before moving into intensive care nursing. In 1991 she qualified with a Diploma in Nursing Management & Education and held senior positions in both areas. In 1998 Susanne graduated with an MSc in Nursing and Health Studies from the University of Edinburgh and worked as a research assistant before commencing her PhD. Susanne’s PhD research examined the experiences of families in intensive care and nurses’ perceptions of families in this environment.

Between February 2008 and January 2009 she held an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Susanne is an associate researcher at the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR), a European Academy of Nursing Science (EANS) Scholar and a member of the Scottish Critical Care Interdisciplinary Research and Liaison group (SCCIRL).

Research

Susanne’s research interests revolve around families' experiences of critical illness and the recovery from a critical illness. She is particularly interested in families with children and young people and the way they process a critical illness event but also in ICU nurses and their experiences in working with families. Her current research interest is focusing on different aspects of critical illness and recovery of ICU survivors and their families from critical illness. A further dimension in this broad remit is the care interface between the acute and primary health care sector (integration of health and social care). Susanne also has an interest in critical leader -followership research.