Latest Posts

Clinical Incident Investigations – Reporting, Investigating, and Improving

We come to work each day to do the very best for our patients, however in some instances, patients are harmed by the care that was intended to help them.  Such clinical incidents affect not only the patients and families, but also the well-intentioned staff.  Problems are confounded if information is not provided and there are gaps in learning and improvement. In the busy clinical environment, incidents may be discussed but not thoroughly investigated to understand what happened and why. 

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Prevention of child drownings: everybody’s business. Lessons from Life Saving Victoria in 2020-21

Fifteen children aged up to 14 years drowned in Victoria in July 2020 to June 2021.  This is an alarming increase on the 10-year average of four child drowning deaths per year. Life Saving Victoria (LSV) is the peak agency in the State for water safety recognised by the Victorian Government. LSV analyses data on fatal and non-fatal drownings each year among people of all ages, to identify prevention and risk-mitigation strategies and inform education programs.

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High blood pressure in children – why should we care?

The relevance of regularly measuring blood pressure in childhood and adolescence has been a subject of debate. This Grand Round will present the case for routine blood pressure screening in the young, including data on blood pressure tracking from childhood to adulthood, and the association of high blood pressure in childhood with intermediate markers of cardiovascular disease.

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Family Violence – Listening to and learning from young people with lived experience

 ‘Family violence is rarely seen or understood through the eyes of children and young people. Way too often, we are the ones you leave behind.’ 

This Grand Round invites you to listen to young people with lived experience of family violence and see family violence through their eyes. We will be joined by Berry Street’s Y-Change Lived Experience Consultants to learn how practitioners can better support children and young people with experiences of family violence and understand what can make a difference to a child or young person in your care.

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The pathogens causing child pneumonia: An ever-changing spectrum

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.

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Double agents: adventures as a clinician and scientist

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.

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Vernon Collins Oration – The ethical life of the hospital

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.  Vernon Collins held this position from 1949 to 1960 and then became the first Professor of Child Health in the University of Melbourne, before retiring in 1974. The 2021 Vernon Collins Oration will be delivered by Professor Lynn Gillam AM, an experienced clinical ethicist and Academic Director of the Children’s Bioethics Centre at The Royal Children’s Hospital.  

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The legacy of acute kidney injury: Strategies to mitigate long-term risk

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.

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