In recognition of Allied Health Professions Day on 14 October 2021, RCH is excited to extend the celebrations across the entire week of 11-15th October. Allied Health Professions Day first began in the UK in 2018 and has since become an international event to recognise and celebrate the Allied Health Professional community.
We have a National Roadmap, which includes COVID-19 vaccine coverage targets for the easing of restrictions. But how do children and adolescents fit into this, with regard the direct and indirect effects of Delta on their health and well-being?
This plenary session is named in honour of the recent Clinical Director of the Centre for Bioethics, A/Prof Jill Sewell. Professor Douglas Diekema will open the National Paediatric Bioethics Conference by considering the ethical underpinning of our conference theme, ‘Deciding with Children’. Deciding with Children is more than a vague abstraction or aspirational goal of children’s healthcare workers. Prof Diekema will demonstrate that Deciding with Children matters to the well-being of children and is a vital part of healthcare delivery. He will build on this foundation, using his clinical experience, to consider how best to authentically involve children in healthcare decisions.
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.
