Providing care for children with chronic and complex conditions is challenging. The clinical decision making is complicated and providing best care often means trying to join up services that have no natural connections in the current system, both within and outside RCH. We know our best attempts currently fall short of the needs of children and their families and attention to this issue is critical in modern healthcare systems. A team of healthcare professionals have been working to develop a Complex Care Pilot Program with the departments of Developmental Medicine, Respiratory Medicine, Nephrology and General Medicine, and much of the presentation will focus on this local work.
SPEAKERS
Dr Doug Bryan is a paediatrician and Medical Director of RCH@Home. His interests are in the care of children with medical complexity. Doug is a co-founder of RCH@Home (incorporating the Family Choice Program, Hospital in the Home, Post Acute Care, School Care and Home Care), the ACE Program, the Victorian Paediatric Palliative Care Program, the Victorian Paediatric Rehabilitation Service and the RCH Education Institute. His sabbatical in 2011 in North America and the UK was in Complex Care. Doug is the clinical lead of the RCH Complex Care Project.
Dr Tom Connell is a Paediatrician, Infectious Disease Physician and Director of the Department of General Medicine at RCH. Tom’s current work includes a combination of clinical care, health services research and education activities. He has a keen interest in clinical research and how this relates to developing models that will lead to improved quality of care for our patients and families.
Nicki Mountford is a Paediatric Nurse who trained and worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital before moving to Melbourne in 2003. Since then she has held various nursing roles at the RCH and for the past 8 years she been Nurse Coordinator on the Neurosciences unit. She is now Clinical Nurse Consultant in the Complex Care program.
Professor Katrina Williams is the APEX Chair of Developmental Medicine at The University of Melbourne and Director, Developmental Medicine Royal Children’s Hospital. Her current work includes clinical care, service development, research and evidence synthesis and translation.
A/Prof Sarath Ranganathan is Director of Respiratory Medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Honorary Principal Fellow at the University of Melbourne and Head of Respiratory Research at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.