The last 3 decades has seen major advances in neonatal intensive care – this has led to increased survival in our tiniest and most immature newborns. The CRE in Newborn Medicine is in its 13th year, supporting new initiatives to improve how we care for our newborn babies. This presentation highlights the innovative work that is happening in newborn research.
Is long-term parenteral nutrition (LTPN) a step too far for children with severe neurological impairment (SNI)? Children with SNI are living longer and experiencing more gastrointestinal issues. However, clinicians remain hesitant to consider LTPN when enteral feeding fails in these patients.
Outcomes following the intensive care management of critically ill children have improved dramatically over the past few decades. Advances in the provision of intensive care has led to increased rates of survival, but for some children who experience critical illness there are lasting consequences.
Mental Health is an issue of growing concern across the community. This has been amplified through the COVID-19 pandemic. Child mental health is also an ongoing priority for the Melbourne Children’s Campus (MCC) and its three partners. The RCH treats many vulnerable patient groups (e.g., children with chronic illness, neurodevelopmental disorders, psychosocial challenges) with elevated risk of psychological and mental health difficulties. This extends across our inpatient and outpatient services and into the community. Despite this, mental health services can be fragmented and difficult to access.
Hand transplantation is a technique to reconstruct absent and functionless upper limbs using cadaveric donor limbs.
In the 20 years since the world’s first hand transplant, the technique has developed into a reliable and valuable option for carefully selected adult amputees. The downside is the need for immunosuppression with its inherent risks (metabolic, infective, neoplastic, and renal impairment) for the duration of the transplant.
Pain is described as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage”. This definition from IASP guides clinicians to potential prevention and intervention points for a reduction in the experience of pain for our patients.
Use of the internet and social media is now almost ubiquitous amongst adolescents. Parents express concern about their children’s use of social media and the risk of exposure to both unwanted and sought-after content, especially sexual content. Negotiating the digital world and understanding who their children are communicating with is becoming more difficult for parents.
Hospitalisation for treatment of serious illness can place infants, and their families, at risk with respect to their mental health. Trauma responses are common, and optimal infant-parent relationship development may be disrupted. Significant additional environmental and psychosocial burdens were placed on this group in 2020 as a consequence of measures adopted to protect the community from COVID-19.
Neuroscience Advanced Clinical Imaging Service (NACIS) is the translational clinical and research program embedded in the Neurosurgery Department at The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH). Although officially established in January 2020, NACIS emerged from work since 2012 which was supported by a Clinical Paediatric Neurosurgery Research Fellowship from the RCH Foundation.
A Stepped Care Approach to Developmental Care is a Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation funded project which aims to ensure that children referred with a developmental concern are seen by the right person in the right place at the right time. To achieve this a new Allied Health centralised intake team apply a stepped approach that identifies the child’s needs and pathway.
