The Royal Children’s Hospital Children’s Bioethics Centre has recently appointed the first Bioethics Clinical Nurse Consultant, Dr Jenny O’Neill. In this Grand Round, we introduce Jenny, and explore the role of the nurse ethicist and the value they can bring to a healthcare service. We will highlight the unique perspective that a nursing background brings to ethical deliberation and clinical ethics consultation.
Over recent years the number of children with advanced heart failure from cardiomyopathy and congenital heart disease receiving treatment has increased considerably. The Royal Children’s Hospital has been the nationally funded centre for heart transplantation in children for 30 years. The RCH heart failure program involves medical, surgical, nursing, allied health and biomedical technology. Successful management of severe heart disease in children requires a detailed understanding of the aetiology, likely disease trajectory and balancing an increasing number of treatment options.
It is World Pneumonia Day on November 12th. Pneumonia remains a leading cause of death among young children despite the widespread introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common respiratory virus that may cause severe respiratory disease especially in infants. We will describe the findings of a systematic review, which was part of a series for WHO, which aimed to determine the common aetiology of severe and non-severe community acquired pneumonia among children 1 month to 9 years of age in low- and middle-income countries globally. We will also discuss the impact of the global pandemic on the epidemiology of respiratory infections with a focus on RSV.
Through a significant contribution from the RCH Foundation, the Clinician Scientist Fellowship program supports doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to undertake research up to 2 days a week for up to 5 years. The Fellowship enables talented, clinically qualified professionals who have gained a higher research degree to pursue academic research alongside clinical practice.
The Melbourne Children’s Campus is seeing an increase in the number of clinical trials of gene therapies, especially in vivo viral vector therapies. With some of these therapies now approved by the TGA, there is an expectation by families that these therapies will be available at the Children’s.
The long-term outcomes of acute kidney injury are an area of increasing interest, with epidemiological studies reporting a significantly increased long-term risk of chronic kidney disease, hypertension, dialysis dependence, and death following an episode of acute kidney injury.
“Vaccine inequity – The world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure, and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries.”
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
The availability of effective vaccines for the prevention of covid-19 has led to an unseemly competition as countries rushed to sign deals with manufacturers, often outbidding each other for access, to the exclusion of poorer countries. In high income countries 60% of people have received at least one dose of Covid vaccine, while in low income countries the figure is 3%.
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?
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.
Reproductive carrier screening has been possible since the 1970s. Initially conducted by testing of blood analytes for carrier status for haemoglobinopathies and Tay Sachs disease, screening for an ever increasing number of conditions became possible by genetic testing from the late 1980s. The advent of genomic sequencing means that it is now possible to screen over 1000 genes, a process called expanded carrier screening.
