Dr. Angela Kucia currently works in a number of settings related to cardiovascular nursing. She works with the Cardiology and Emergency Departments at the Queen Elizabeth and Lyell McEwin Hospitals as a Clinical Practice Consultant in Acute Cardiac Assessment (ACS). Angela has worked in acute cardiac nursing for over 20 years and her primary clinical interest is risk stratification and management of patients with acute coronary syndromes. She has also been involved in research and has publications related to the nursing role in risk stratification and management of patients with ACS. Angela is also currently employed 0.2 by the Cardiology Research Department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and is working with other researchers in the department in studying the pathogenesis and natural history of Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy. Angela was employed as a lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery from 2005-2008 and during this time completed a Graduate Certificate in Education and drove the development of the Postgraduate Cardiovascular Nursing Program in which she still teaches. During this time she also developed and delivered the first course in the Critical Coronary Care Nursing Program which is a joint venture between the University of South Australia and the prestigious National Heart Institute (Institut Jantung Negara) in Malaysia. Angela was the Deputy Chair of the Ethics of Human Research Committee for the North West Adelaide Health Service and has a keen interest in the ethics of human research. As part of her PhD thesis, she completed a study of understanding of clinical trial details in patients who were acutely ill with ACS, and this was published and editorialised in the American Heart Journal. Angela has published several articles and presented at a number of national and international conferences. She is a reviewer for several journals and publishers. Angela’s latest project is co-authoring a book with Professor Tom Quinn from the UK titled “Acute Cardiac Care: A Practical Approach for Nurses” which will be published by Blackwell Wiley in early 2010.
Articles
N-Terminal Pro-Brain Natriuretic Protein Levels in Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy (with T Nguyen, C Neil, A Sverdlov, G Mahadavan, Y Chirkov, J Stansborough, J Beltrame, J Selvanayagam, C Zeitz, A Struthers, M Frenneaux, and J Horowitz), American Journal of Cardiology (2011)
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) is characterized by reversible left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction independent of fixed...
ST/T wave changes during acute coronary syndrome presentation in patients with the coronary slow flow phenomenon. (with N Cutri, C Zeitz, and J Beltrame), International Journal of Cardiology. (2011)
The coronary slow flow phenomenon (CSFP) is an angiographic finding characterised by delayed opacification of...
Evolution of ECG changes in Tako Tsubo Cardiomyopathy: arrhythmias first, QT prolongation later? (with C Neil, T Nguyen, J Beltrame, M Arstall, and J Horowitz), Heart, Lung and Circulation (2010)
Electrocardiographic changes previously described in Tako Tsubo Cardiomyopathy (TTC) include T-wave inversion with QTc prolongation,...
Relationship between precipitant stressor and timing of clinical diagnosis in Tako-Tsubo Cardiomyopathy. (with C Neil, H Nguyen, A Sverdlov, A Chan, D Dautov, I Mohasseb, J Selvanayagam, M Arstall, C Zeitz, J Beltrame, and J Horowitz), Heart, Lung and Circulation (2010)
In practice, TTC is diagnosed almost exclusively either via (1) emergency cardiac catheterisation, primarily for...
Can an acute cardiac assessment nurse reduce time spent in ED for patients presenting with chest pain? (with D Wright, A M. Northey, K Ooi, and J D. Horowitz), Heart, Lung and Circulation (2009)
Cardiac-trained nurses have been introduced into some emergency departments (EDs) in an attempt to reduce...
Books
Acute cardiac nursing: a practical guide for nurses (with Tom Quinn) (2010)
Acute Cardiac Care - a practical guide for nurses. Cardiovascular diseases touch the lives of...