The opportunity to play is a fundamental interest of children and play is also recognised as a child’s right (article 31 of the Convention on Rights of the Child). Play is necessary for a child’s development, their healing and to mediate their experience of medical care and procedures.
Interested in combining research with your clinical work? This Grand Round features clinician scientists from the Department of General Medicine. You will hear about their diverse career pathways and research programs, as well as how they balance research with their clinical work and other commitments.
The term ‘learning health systems’ is not new. But widespread consensus that learning is crucial for health system performance is not matched by shared understanding of how health systems learn. The speaker will present ideas for such shared understanding based on a recent report by the WHO’s Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research.
The Vernon Collins Oration was established in 1981, in memory of Professor Vernon Collins, the first Medical Director of The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. He held this position from 1949 to 1960 and then became the Professor of Child Health in the University of Melbourne, before retiring in 1974.
Illness and separation at a critical time for infant-parent attachment have adverse effects on infant and parent mental health. COCOON, which stands for the Circle of Care Optimising Outcomes for Newborns, is the patient-centred, family-integrated and baby-led model of care we designed to minimise these adverse effects in the complex medical and surgical NICU population, although the core principles can be applied in any healthcare setting.
The primary mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation disorders are characterized by clinical and genetic heterogeneity, limited treatment options, and poor outcomes. Part of the complexity is because both the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes may be involved. Mitochondrial DNA is maternally inherited. From a reproductive counselling perspective, couples with a family history of mitochondrial DNA disease often have limited reproductive options available to them.
Very large, truly population-representative pregnancy cohorts are rare internationally. Generation Victoria (GenV) is a whole-state cohort targeting all newborns (~150,000) and their parents over 2 full years. Components include (i) families recruited soon after birth, (ii) biospecimens from pregnancy onwards, (iii) extensive data linkage supplemented by (iv) minimal GenV collected data, all enabling (v) many additional integrated research studies, both observational and interventional.
Sibling sexual abuse is 3-5 times more common than father/step-father abuse. This study looked past the factors that might contribute to the occurrence of sibling sexual abuse with the aim of better understanding the experience of therapists working with families with such experience and collaboratively developing principles to guide practice in this complex area of child sexual abuse.
The Colorectal and Pelvic Reconstruction Service was created in 2019 to provide world-class care for children and families affected by complex colorectal conditions. Through the combined support of the RCH Foundation, the Victorian Government and the Federal Government, the service acts as a national leader for children born with anorectal malformations or Hirschsprung disease, and children affected by chronic constipation.
This session will describe a 10 year initiative to develop a data and evaluation platform for children and youth mental health and service delivery in Ontario, Canada’s largest province. The session will touch on the advantages and limitations of using routinely collected health system data for surveillance and performance measurement, and challenges in evaluating a large, system wide policy strategy to improve early identification and coordination of care for children and youth with mental health disorders.
