Demyelinating disorders of childhood include a broad range of conditions such as acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, optic neuritis, transverse myelitis, and multiple sclerosis (MS). When children present with a first demyelinating event, parents often ask the question: ‘Does my child have MS’?
Never in the field of health was so much learned by so many in so few months. This Grand Round will recap the lessons from last year, take stock of where we are in February 2022, describe the complex situation with vaccines, and look to what the year might hold for the pandemic and children in Australia and countries around the world.
Understanding and building trust is essential to the RCH Compact and to delivering Great Care, Everywhere.
Research shows trust underpins a good culture, positive relationships between team members and their leaders and with their organisation; and brings out the best in all of us for our patients and their families.
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.
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.
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.
‘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.
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.
