The RCH Advanced Heart Failure Programme: Heart transplantation and ventricular assist devices

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.

Trauma-informed care and developing integrated models of care from early parenting services and health services at all levels

Ms Jacquie O’Brien, is the CEO of Tweddle Child and Family Health Services, a statewide early parenting intervention and prevention health service and public hospital.  Jacquie will be speaking on trauma-informed care and developing integrated models of care with early parenting services. Ms O’Brien will describe, using case studies and experience, how working in an integrated way across health services can lead to better outcomes for all.

The Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity (CCOPMM) in the time of the pandemic

The Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity (CCOPMM) monitors the causes and factors involved in all child deaths throughout Victoria, and provides recommendations to Government, health care professionals and the community.  In recent years the Council has identified the social and economic gradient in risk of child deaths, which includes virtually all causes, from accidental trauma, drowning, SIDS, infections and chronic illnesses.  The Council has long recommended improvements in the systems for provision of child welfare and support to families who are vulnerable, especially families of children with chronic illness, and these needs are magnified in the COVID-19 pandemic era.

How can a 10 year old be sent to prison in Australia?

Currently in Australia, children as young as 10 years old can be arrested, held in police cells, taken before a magistrate and incarcerated in prison-like settings.  Most children who are incarcerated are never convicted of a crime. 

Journey towards Leadership

Jill will reflect on her journey towards leadership over her career, in the context of the changing understanding about effective leadership, gender issues in leadership, and her experiences of the Homeward Bound Women in STEMM leadership program during 2019

It’s possible! Rehabilitation from COVID-19 and the climate emergency

We are living through the greatest disruption of the post-war era; what is likely to be the defining historical period of our lives. This may be the end of the ‘good times’ for the world, but it has been a long time coming, and Covid-19 is simply an accelerant. Therefore, it is important now to focus on what has to be done, for all that stands between us and disaster is good government.

COVID-19: Decisions, ethics – and the impact on staff

COVID-19 has resulted in a flurry of high-stakes decision-making, at a public health level and an individual patient level, with significant impacts on how children are cared for, and how staff work. Many of these decisions have ethical dimensions.

Patient Reported Outcomes in children’s health services: why should we use them and how can they be embedded in Epic?

Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) have been used for decades in clinical trials, observational studies, population health surveys, and for estimates of quality of life in economic evaluations. However, the use of PROs as part of routine measurement in clinical settings is relatively new.  In this Grand Round, 3 speakers will discuss the use of PROs in the UK, in mental health at RCH and integrating PROs into the EMR.