Rate My Professor Sherryl Gaston

Sherryl Gaston, Lecturer in Nursing at the School of Nursing and Midwifery within the College of Health at Adelaide University, brings extensive clinical and academic experience to her role. She earned her initial nursing qualification from the University of South Australia and began her professional career at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Following this, she spent about a decade in Alice Springs, working predominantly with Aboriginal clients. Her roles included haemodialysis nursing at the renal unit, nursing in the prison where the clientele was 80% Aboriginal males, and positions at the Aboriginal Medical Service. In 2009, she relocated to the University of South Australia Whyalla campus, where she taught across all three years of the undergraduate nursing program and coordinated both placement and theory courses.

Academically, Gaston completed a Clinical Fellowship with the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), pursued a master's degree there, and subsequently enrolled in a PhD program. Her research specializations include dementia in correctional settings and its impact on prisoners, staff, and the prison environment; nurse education, particularly in regional undergraduate programs; venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessment and prophylaxis; rural nursing; quality and safety in health care and education; isolation issues in correctional nursing; nursing in Australian Indigenous communities; and renal nursing. Notable publications co-authored by Gaston encompass "Caring for prisoners with dementia: a reflexive thematic analysis through a salutogenic lens" (BMC Nursing, 2026), "Dementia care behind prison walls: A descriptive study understanding nurses' knowledge and educational needs" (Nurse Education in Practice, 2023), "Correctional nurse education and training to care for and support prisoners with dementia: a systematic review of text and opinion" (JBI Evidence Synthesis, 2022), "Vulnerable prisoners: dementia and the impact on prisoners, staff and the correctional setting" (Collegian, 2018), and "Venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessment: rural nurses' knowledge and use in a rural acute care hospital" (International Journal of Nursing Practice, 2013). She currently teaches courses including HLTH 1036 Global and National Health, NURS 2041 Mental Health Nursing, NURS 3045 Nursing Context of Practice: Primary Health Care, NURS 3055 Evidence Based Nursing Practice, and NURS 3056 Transition to Professional Practice.