Category: Newsletter

Our “Getting to Know You” segment ensures PREDICT members are aware of new members, their interests and areas of expertise and where they are located.

This month we introduce Leah Armit from Flinders Medical Centre, SA.

“I work at Flinders Medical Centre, South Australia which provides care for both adults and children. I work as a Clinical Research Nurse within the Emergency Department(ED). My role involves patient follow up and clinical data collection as well as staff education and administrative/co-ordination duties. This is newly created role within our ED and I feel privileged to work with a brilliant researcher and be involved at a foundation level to help foster a culture of research which contributes to the improvement of health and wellbeing of both adults and young people.”

Welcome to PREDICT Leah.

 

 

 

 

 

Our “Getting to Know You” segment ensures PREDICT members are aware of new members, their interests and areas of expertise and where they are located.

This month we introduce Simone Hughes from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide.

“My name is Simone Hughes and I work as a member of the research team at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide. My research journey started with APHIRST. I feel so privileged to work alongside talented and hardworking research colleagues and I am lucky to provide such high-quality care to our paediatric population in Adelaide. 

In addition to research, I have worked as a Clinical Nurse in the Emergency Department for 15 years and have a keen interest in paediatric trauma and education. 

Thank you for accepting me as a part of the PREDICT Network!”

Are you interested in undertaking a PhD to improve bronchiolitis management in regional and rural acute care settings?

We are seeking expressions of interest (EOI) from highly motivated candidates interested in pursuing a PhD within the 5-year MRFF funded ‘Regional and Rural Translation in Bronchiolitis-RART-B) project starting in January 2025. Working as part of a multidisciplinary research team, supported by the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) network), this program of research aims to improve the care of infants presenting to Australian regional and rural hospitals with bronchiolitis.

It will:
i) explore the implementation and use of a PREDICT regional and rural hospital improvement platform to improve bronchiolitis management and
ii) determine the dose of implementation support needed at these sites.

Comprised of world leading Australian and international researchers, the RART-B project will improve the uptake of evidence in relation to bronchiolitis care, build research capacity in implementation science, and facilitate knowledge translation and collaboration in regional and rural hospitals. The PhD would ideally be full-time initially with the option to becoming part-time in the latter years.

Funding:  a stipend of $38,497 per annum (2024 rate, indexed annually) for 3.5 years.

Selection criteria

•  Prior clinical training (medicine, nursing, allied health, or paramedicine)

•  Interest in improving acute care (ideally regional and rural settings)

•  Experience in research (ideally trials, health services research or quality improvement)

•  Peer reviewed publications (ideally 1st author)

•  Project management skills – capacity to engage with a range of healthcare stakeholders – organisational, time management and planning skills

•  Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills

Location: flexible, anywhere in Australia but ideally University of Melbourne.

Please email Emma Tavender for further information.  

Congratulations to the following PREDICT authors:

Lee WH, O’Brien S, McKinnon E, Collin M, Dalziel SR, Craig SS, Borland ML. Study of pediatric appendicitis scores and management strategies: A prospective observational feasibility study. Acad Emerg Med. 2024 Jul 17. doi: 10.1111/acem.14985. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39021271.

Summary: The SPASMS feasibility study identified 30 Clinical Prediction Scores that could be validated in the majority of patients to compare their ability to assess risk of pediatric appendicitis. The pARC-ED had the highest predictive accuracy and can potentially assist in risk stratification of children with suspected appendicitis in pediatric EDs. A multicenter study is now under way to evaluate the potential of these CPSs in a broader range of EDs to aid clinical decision making in more varied settings.

 

 

 

Our congratulations to Donna Franklin for her success in securing her second consecutive QACRF fellowship grant for the PARIS on Country study.  This is for $250,000 over three years.  Some wonderful work already being undertaken with this study as these pics show. 

 

The PREDICT publications guidelines have been updated and added to the Resources tab. 

Please familiarise yourselves with these guidelines.

 

Congratulations to PREDICT Executive Member, Associate Professor Bronwyn Griffin from Griffith University/Queensland Children’s Hospital, who has secured a $1.6 million NHMRC Investigator EL2 grant over 5 years. Her fellowship will focus on transforming burn care for Australian children, regardless of location, the initiative integrates advanced technologies for rapid and effective treatment within the critical 24-hour window post-injury.

Key objectives include:

• Improved Urgent Care: Tailored urgent burns care model for remote areas.
• Pain and Distress Alleviation: Evaluating virtual reality’s efficacy in reducing distress during treatment.
• Access Expansion: Adapting advanced therapies for regional emergency care.

Expected to commence in early 2025, the initiative aims to enhance paediatric burn care nationally, under Associate Professor Griffin’s leadership.

PREDICT has been successful in securing RCH Foundation funding of $666,000.00 over 3 years for development of the Paediatric Adaptive Sepsis Platform Trial (PASSPORT) study.

A/Prof Elliot Long will lead the study which will use novel trial design to test multiple treatments for sepsis simultaneously with the aim of improving sepsis outcomes for children. The trial will incorporate adaptive enrolment, treatment allocation, and domain completion/commencement over time so that participants are always exposed to the best treatment combination.

Study planning and statistical simulations will commence mid-2024, with the aim to begin enrolment in 2026.