Pediatric rapid response systems were first described right at RCH Melbourne in a paper published in 2005. The medical emergency team and the activation criteria described in that paper helped launch worldwide efforts to implement rapid response systems to reduce cardiac arrest and mortality, and inspired researchers to pursue efforts to refine and further improve systems to detect deteriorating patients. Now, 11 years after the original description, significant improvements in arrests and mortality have been described worldwide, yet children still experience preventable deterioration outside the ICU at many hospitals.

May 4, 2016.

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the most common malignancy in children. Although 5 years event-free survival rates reach 90%, some children still succumb to the disease and others achieve cure with significant late effects. Improving on this will require alternative treatments. This Grand Round will describe new options for refractory disease, and discuss some of the ethical aspects of embarking on these new treatment options.

December 16, 2015.

Variation in care has been long recognised and is often a part of good clinical practice. However, sometimes variation in care is unwarranted and can lead to variation in quality of care and increased costs. The inaugural Australian Atlas of Variation in Healthcare will be launched later this month by the federal minister for health, Susan Ley. Harriet Hiscock will present data on variation in care for some of the paediatric conditions included in the Atlas and discuss reasons why such variation might be occurring.

November 25, 2015.