Dr. Sara Lankshear
RN, BScN, M.Ed., PhD
Associate Dean, Nursing programs
Email: sara.lankshear@georgiancollege.ca
Phone: 249.388.1353
Biography
A nurse for over 35 years, Dr. Sara Lankshear obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) degree from Niagara University in 1982, Master of Education (M.Ed.) from Brock University in 1996 and PhD in Nursing from Western University in 2011.
She has been an educator for over 20 years, teaching in undergraduate and graduate programs – sharing her knowledge and passion for nursing!
Sara joined the nursing faculty at Georgian in 2014 and became the Associate Dean – Nursing programs in July 2020. Dr. Sara Lankshear’s areas of research includes professional practice structures and roles, scope of practice, role clarity, and collaborative practice. She has extensive experience partnering with a wide variety of health-care organizations who seek out her expertise and passion for creating systems-processes-practices that enable optimal professional practice and quality patient outcomes.
Meet Sara and learn about Georgian’s Honours Bachelor of Science – Nursing (BScN) program – Central Ontario’s first four-year nursing degree – and the approaches taken for innovative curriculum design through actively engaging health-care partners and subject matter experts. Watch Nurses’ Voices: New Curriculum Design to Help Graduates Be Practice-Ready with Sara Lankshear.
I always knew I wanted to go into health care, and nursing was the number one choice. The big appeal about nursing is the possibilities are limitless. You can literally re-invent yourself in so many ways over the course of your nursing career. It’s often said that nurses provide care “from the womb to the tomb” in practice settings from ICU, to long-term care and every place in between – and that’s just nursing at the point of care. You can also apply your nursing knowledge in roles as an educator, a researcher, an administrator, and in policy. That’s the wonderful thing about nursing – the bandwidth is limitless.
Dr. Sara Lankshear
- PhD in Nursing, Western University, London ON, 2011
- Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Adult Education, Brock University, St. Catharines ON, 1996
- Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN), Niagara University; Niagara Falls NY, USA, 1982
Professional affiliations
- Canadian Nurses Association (CNA)
- Canadian Academy of Nursing
- International Council of Nurses (ICN)
- Nursing Leadership Network of Ontario
- College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO), registered in 1985
Boards
- Georgian Bay General Hospital, Board of Directors (2013–present)
- Chair, Quality and Safety Committee (2014–2015; 2018–present)
- Vice-Chair, Board ( June 2015–2016)
- Vice-Chair, Quality and Safety Committee (2015–2017)
- Chair, Governance Committee
- Dr. Sara Lankshear has held roles in different practice settings (bone marrow transplant, intensive care, surgical care, and community/home care) and domains of practice (clinician, administrator, educator and researcher). She’s also owned a consulting practice (Releve Consulting) for 20 years, supporting a wide variety of health-care organizations across Canada.
- Career highlights include:
- Director, Operational Readiness – Practice, Niagara Health System, 2011–2015
- Evaluation and Knowledge Transfer, Cancer Care Ontario, 2007–2016
- Manager, Evaluation and Knowledge Transfer, Cancer Care Ontario, 2007–2013
Research interests
- Distinct and overlapping scope of practice between the various nursing designations (RN, RPN, NP)
- Innovative modals of care delivery
- Professional practice structures and roles
- Technology to support clinical decision making
Research projects
- Connecting care through real-time location service (RTLS): Using data to support professional practice and clinical decisions
- Role: Co-investigator
- Year funded: In process
- Funded by: Georgian College Innovation Grant with matching funds from the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
- Changing an unacceptable reality: Enabling nursing knowledge for quality resident outcomes in Ontario’s long-term care homes
- Role: Principal investigator
- Year funded: 2017
- Funded by: Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario
- It’s all about synergies: Understanding the role of the Registered Practical Nurse in Ontario’s health system
- Role: Author
- Year funded: 2014
- Funded by: Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario
Featured publications
- Prentice, D., Moore, J., Crawford, J., Lankshear, S., & Limoges, J. (2020). Collaboration among registered nurses and licensed practical nurses: a scoping review of practice guidelines. Nursing research and practice, 2020.
- Limoges, J., & Lankshear, S., & Church. J (2020). Real Time Location Systems: Is it Big Brother or a big opportunity for professional practice? Journal of Nursing Education in Practice 10(11); pp 67 – 75.
- Moore, J., Prentice, D., Crawford, J., Lankshear, S., Limoges, J., & Rhodes, K. (2019, July). Collaboration among registered nurses and practical nurses in acute care hospitals: A scoping review. Nursing Forum (Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 376-385).
- Cava, M. & Lankshear, S. (2019). Developing the role of leader. In J. Waddell & N. Walton (Eds.), Leading and Managing in Nursing (2nd Edition). St. Louis: Elsevier
- Lankshear, S. & Martin, D. (2019). “Getting Comfortable with ‘It Depends’: Embracing the Impermanence of Scope of Practice.” Canadian Journal of Nursing Leadership 31(1): 30–41. doi: 10.12927/cjnl.2019.25850.
- Lankshear, S. and Limoges, J. (2019). Intra-professional collaboration: Timing is everything. Canadian Nurse. https://www.canadian-nurse.com/blogs/cn-content/2019/05/06/intra-professional-collaboration-timing-is-everyth
- Limoges, J., Jagos, K., Lankshear, S., Madorin, S., & Witmer, D. (2018). Getting to the root of it: How do faculty address professional boundaries, role expansion, and intra-professional collaboration? Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 8(9), 113.
- Lankshear, S., & Limoges, J. (2018). Better together: A fresh look at collaboration within nursing. Canadian Nurse, 114(1), 18-20.
- Lankshear, S., Rush, J., Weeres, A., & Martin, D. (2016). Enhancing Role Clarity for the Practical Nurse: A Leadership Imperative. Journal of Nursing Administration, 46(6), 300-307.
- McFadyen, C., Lankshear, S., Divaris, D., Berry, M., Hunter, A., Srigley, J., & Irish, J. (2015). Physician level reporting of surgical and pathology performance indicators: A regional study to assess feasibility and impact on quality. Canadian Journal of Surgery, 58(1), 31.
- Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario. (2014). It’s All About Synergies: Understanding the Role of the Registered Practical Nurse in Ontario’s Health System. Mississauga, Canada: Author. (Principal Investigator/ Co-author).