Latest Posts

Designing better trials with patients who have glomerular disease: Using consensus methods to develop a core outcome set

Trials typically report outcomes that lack relevance to patients and caregivers trying to make treatment decisions. Also, outcomes are often reported inconsistently which impairs evidence synthesis. Core outcome sets can address these important shortcomings with current trial outcomes by developing a set of outcomes to be routinely reported in all trials in a particular field.

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Launching the Paediatric Academy, one place to connect and collaborate

We are excited to launch the Department of Paediatrics Academy, a community of practice on a shared platform across University of Melbourne, RCH and MCRI, as well as collaborating organisations. 

In the digital world we live in now, communities of practice can be highly effective where the working context can be complex and ambiguous. This presentation will highlight the functions of a community of practice, learn firsthand from Boston Children’s Hospital’s Academy, as well as local experience from RCH Centre of Health Analytics. 

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Utilising simulation to improve organisational safety and processes

Traditionally being considered a method for training healthcare professionals in basic and advanced life support, Simulation Based Education in healthcare has grown over the past 30 years and is now recognised to be effective in many other aspects of healthcare training. Focusing on enhancing patient safety, simulation initially concentrated on clinical procedural skills training and immersive deteriorating patient simulations, as well as simulations to enhance communication between staff and with patients and their families.

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Making mental health everyone’s business, an update on the Campus Mental Health Strategy

The Melbourne Children’s Campus (the Campus) has the culture and expertise to provide our infants, children and young people, and their families with world class mental health care (The RCH), built on sound evidence (MCRI), and workforce training and education (University of Melbourne, Department of Paediatrics). The integration of mental health research, education and care across the Campus underpins the Campus Mental Health Strategy (Strategy), a five-year Strategy that has been funded for the first 2 years by The RCH Foundation. A team of 14 people will lead and implement the Strategy, supported by many leaders and staff from across the Campus.

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Healthcare Sustainability – current actions, future directions

The Australian healthcare system is a significant contributor to climate change through its own carbon footprint, which is estimated to be 7% of Australia’s total carbon emissions. National and international peak health organisations are urging healthcare sectors to decrease their emissions as quickly as possible, in order to uphold our core mission to sustain health and our responsibility to first do no harm.

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Community capability and capacity building – the secret to great care everywhere

What does great care, everywhere really look like when one in five children begin school with an established or emerging health or development need? One of the best strategies for optimising children’s health is building the capability and capacity of communities to meet their needs locally.

This Grand Round explores the partnership between the Wimmera Southern Mallee By Five project and the Centre for Community Child Health. It examines what it looks like when primary health, education and social care unite to build relational practice, capability and capacity for the sake of a community’s children.

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Exploring the Role of the Nurse Ethicist

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.

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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.

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Breaking the bias in healthcare: ways forward in 2022

International Women’s Day (IWD) is an annual global campaign, marked on 8th March, which celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality. Each year the IWD campaign has a new theme, and in 2022 the theme is #BreakTheBias.  https://www.internationalwomensday.com/theme

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