Contact
Biography
Sarah is an Assistant Professor of Nursing, Healthcare Contexts and Society at the University of Nottingham. She is a Registered Adult Nurse, Registered Nurse Teacher, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and medical sociologist - more particularly, a sociologist of nursing, health and healthcare contexts.
Her research and teaching draws on sociology of/in nursing, focusing on the sociocultural context in which nursing, health and healthcare are constructed, practiced and experienced. Sarah's expertise is methodologically and theoretically focused. She applies insights from the social sciences to the study of a wide range of topics and issues. In previous work, this has included the role of hospice volunteers, second-hand smoke exposure and smoke-free homes, nursing culture and organisational change, prognostication following cardiac arrest, the impact of care experience prior to nursing education (policy research), the impact of hospice night support services, and the meaning of total pain in living and dying with dementia. Most recently, her work has focused on communication in dementia care.
Themes within her work include:
- Nursing and healthcare organisational culture
- Nursing education, professional socialisation and identity formation
- Professionalisation and the nursing professional project
- The nature of nursing knowledge, work and professional boundaries/the division of labour in healthcare
- Gender, power, identity and hierarchy
- Professional engagement with and the implications of organisational processes, systems, quality improvement and change
- Nursing, managerialism and neoliberalism
- Workforce issues, including recruitment, retention and professional wellbeing
- The nature, construction and impact of medical practice, knowledge and power
- The impact of social narrative, discourse and communication on constructions and experiences of health and illness.
Sarah has expertise in qualitative, ethnographic and mixed-methods methodologies. She has published internationally, and presented at numerous international conferences, in fields including nursing, education, sociology, and organisational change management.
Sarah teaches students at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and leads postgraduate modules in mixed-methods, and organisational aspects of risk, quality and safety. She supervises BSc, masters and doctoral students.
Selected Publications
FIELD-RICHARDS. S.E., AUBEELUCK, A., CALLAGHAN, P., KEELEY, P., REDSELL, S.A., SPIBY, H. and STACEY, G., 2024. The impact of prior care experience on nursing students' compassionate values and behaviours: A mixed methods study. International Journal of Nursing Studies. 153, 104732 VEHVILAINEN, E., CHARLES, A., SAINSBURY, J., STACEY, G., FIELD-RICHARDS. S.E. and WESTWOOD, G., 2024. Influences of Leadership, Organizational Culture, and Hierarchy on Raising Concerns About Patient Deterioration: A Qualitative Study Journal of Patient Safety. 20(5), e73-e77 FIELD-RICHARDS. S.E., AUBEELUCK, A., CALLAGHAN, P., KEELEY, P., REDSELL, S.A., SPIBY, H., STACEY, G. and LYMN, J., 2023. The impact of care experience prior to commencing pre-registration nurse education and training: a scoping review Nurse Education Today. 120, 105625
Publications
Pollack, K., Field-Richards, S.E., O'Connor, M., Wilson, E. (2025). The role and value of a hospice night support service in supporting out-of-hours domiciliary care: A qualitative study of staff perspectives. Health Open Research. Url: healthopenresearch.org/articles/7-4/v1
Field-Richards. S.E., Aubeeluck, A., Callaghan, P., Keeley, P., Redsell, S.A., Spiby, H., Stacey, G. (2024). The impact of prior care experience on nursing students' compassionate values and behaviours: A mixed methods study. International Journal of Nursing Studies. 153, 104732. Url: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020748924000440
Vehvilainen, E., Charles, A., Sainsbury, J., Stacey, G., Field-Richards. S.E., Westwood, G. (2024). Influences of Leadership, Organizational Culture, and Hierarchy on Raising Concerns About Patient Deterioration: A Qualitative Study Journal of Patient Safety. 20(5), e73-e77. Url: https://journals.lww.com/journalpatientsafety/fulltext/2024/08000/influences_of_...
Field-Richards. S.E., Aubeeluck, A., Callaghan, P., Keeley, P., Redsell, S.A., Spiby, H., Stacey, G., Lymn, J. (2023). The impact of care experience prior to commencing pre-registration nurse education and training: a scoping review Nurse Education Today. 120, 105625. Url: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0260691722003616
Field-Richards. S.E., Timmons, S. (2022). A technical solution to a professional problem: The risk management functions of prognosticators in the context of prognostication post-cardiac arrest. Frontiers in Sociology. 7(804573). Url: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2022.804573/full
Fisher, N., Bramley, L., Cooper, J., Field-Richards. S.E., Lymn, J. (2022). A qualitative study exploring the influence of a talent management initiative on registered nurses' retention intentions. Journal of Nursing Management. 30(8), 3641-4598. Url: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jonm.13885
Bond, C, Stacey, G, Field-Richards, S, Callaghan, P, Keeley, P, Lymn, J, Redsell, S., Spiby, H. (2018). The concept of compassion within UK media-generated discourse: A corpus-informed analysis Journal of Clinical Nursing. 27(15-16), 3081-3090. Url: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jocn.14496?saml_referrer
Field-Richards. S.E. (2017). The lived reality and meaning of Lean Thinking for nurses and nursing at an NHS Hospitals Trust At: Nottingham eTheses. Url: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45825/
Field-Richards, S., Arthur, A. (2012). Negotiating the boundary between paid and unpaid hospice workers: a qualitative study of how hospice volunteers understand their work American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. 29(8), 627-631. Url: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1049909111435695
Conference presentations
Field-Richards, S.E., Aubeeluck, A., Callaghan, P., Keeley, P., Redsell, S., Simpson, A., Spiby, H., Lymn, J., Stacey, G. (2021). The impact of prior care experience on pre-registration nursing students' compassionate values and behaviours. Royal College of Nursing International Research Conference.
Field-Richards, S.E., Aubeeluck, A., Callaghan, P., Keeley, P., Redsell, S., Simpson, A., Spiby, H., Lymn, J., Stacey, G. (2021). The impact of care experience prior to undertaking NHS funded education and training, on pre-registration nursing students' compassionate values and behaviours, and patient experiences of care. NET Conference.
Fisher, N., Lymn, J., Timmons, S., Field-Richards, S.E. (2021). NHS policy and nurses' post-registration development: considerations of data availability and generation. Royal College of Nursing International Research Conference.
Fisher, N., Lymn, J., Timmons, S., Field-Richards, S.E. (2021). NHS policy and nurses' post-registration development: considerations of data availability and generation. NET Conference.
Fisher, N., Lymn, J., Timmons, S., Field-Richards, S.E. (2021). Frontline workers researching frontline workers: navigating the insider-outsider game. Connectedness, Activism and Dignity at work in a Precarious Era: British Sociological Association Work, Employment and Society Conference.
Fisher, N., Lymn, J., Timmons, S., Field-Richards, S.E. (2021). Countervailing powers, the professions and development: a healthcare perspective. Connectedness, Activism and Dignity at work in a Precarious Era: British Sociological Association Work, Employment and Society Conference.
[Three paper Symposium] Field-Richards, S.E., Bond, C., Kelly, A., Stacey, G., Callaghan, P., Keeley, P., Lymn, J., Redsell, S., Simpson, A., Spiby, H. (2018). Providing a 'compass' for 'compassion' - exploring orientations and new directions for navigating the landscape of compassion in nursing. NET conference.
Field-Richards, S.E., Redsell, S., Simpson, A., Callaghan, P, Keeley, P., Lymn, J., Spiby, H., Stacey, G. (2018). Prior care experience as prescription for nursing's caring and compassionate ills: weighing up the benefits, risks and side-effects. Royal College of Nursing International Research Conference.
Field-Richards, S.E., Redsell, S., Simpson, A., Callaghan, P, Keeley, P., Lymn, J., Spiby, H., Stacey, G. (2018). Of dice and dominos; a methodological analysis of challenges encountered during research exploring the impact of care experience prior to commencing nurse training, on caring and compassionate practice. Sigma Theta Tau International 4th European Conference.
Bond, C.A.E., Stacey, G., Field-Richards, S., Callaghan, P., Keeley, P.N., Lymn, J., Redsell, S., Spiby, H. (2018). A discourse analysis exploring the construct of compassion within UK media-generated discourse. Is prior care experience an effective strategy to enhance compassion? NET NEP. 7th International Nursing Conference.
Field-Richards, S.E., Andrews, S., Callaghan, P., Keeley, P., Redsell, S., Spiby, H., Stacey, G., Lymn, J. (2016). The impact of care experience prior to commencing nursing education on students' academic competence. NET Conference.
Field-Richards, S.E., Andrews, S., Callaghan, P., Keeley, P., Redsell, S., Spiby, H., Stacey, G., Lymn, J. (2016). Help, hindrance or indifference? The impact of care experience prior to commencing nurse training, on caring and compassionate practice. Royal College of Nursing International Research Conference.
Field-Richards, S.E., Andrews, S., Callaghan, P., Keeley, P., Redsell, S., Spiby, H., Stacey, G., Lymn, J. (2016). Care experience prior to entry into undergraduate nursing degrees: the recommendation, rhetoric and reality. Royal College of Nursing International Research Conference.
Field-Richards, S.E. (2014). The Trust-Nurse Game in the context of organisational change. 8th International Conference on Healthcare Systems and Global Business Issues. [Invited speaker and expert panel member].
Field-Richards, S.E. (2013). 'Lost amidst Lean? A critical analysis of the implications of crisis-driven change for the profession of nursing'. 11th conference of the European Sociological Association 'Crisis, Critique and Change'.
Field-Richards, S.E. (2013). 'Lean on me; nurses' emotional work and labour in Lean times'. British Sociological Association Medical Sociology Annual Conference.
Timmons, S., Field-Richards, S.E. (2012). A technical solution to a sociological problem? Predicting mortality post-cardiac arrest. British Sociological Association Medical Sociology Annual Conference.
Field-Richards, S.E. (2012). Negotiating the boundary between paid and unpaid hospice workers: A qualitative study of how hospice volunteers understand their work. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust 2nd 'Engage, Empower, Enthuse' Conference.
Field-Richards, S.E. (2010). Negotiating the boundary between paid and unpaid hospice workers: a qualitative study of how hospice volunteers understand their work. 6th Research Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care.