The RCH Handbook is part of the history of education at the Royal Children’s Hospital. It is 56 years old (1st ed 1964). The Handbook is a trusted guide to managing common and serious childhood illnesses, widely used by students and practitioners across medical, nursing, and allied health fields. In our 150th year we celebrate the launch of the 10th edition of the RCH Handbook while looking forward to what next.
Interpersonal violence against people with disabilities is a major public health concern. The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences enhance the already increased risk for abuse among people with disabilities. This Grand Round provides both clinical strategies and a broader call to action for addressing family violence and coercive control against people with disabilities.
Janine and Justin Mohamed will discuss their own experience of childhood in the context of Australia’s past policies towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and what continued failures in rights means for Indigenous children today.
It is World Pneumonia Day on November 12th. Pneumonia and other acute lower respiratory infections remain the most common causes of childhood death, and illness requiring hospitalization globally. This is despite the effective pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) being widely available, which points to the varied causation of childhood pneumonia in 2020.
recision (or personalised) Health is being promoted as the future of healthcare. Indeed, precision health is the key theme of the latest MCRI strategic plan and the focus of much attention on campus. One of the key tools in precision health is genomics. During this Grand Round, Prof Colin Robertson will reflect on his extensive experience as a clinician-scientist in paediatric respiratory medicine. In particular, he will focus on the successes and failures of genomics in conditions such as cystic fibrosis and asthma, and he will contend that the key to using genomics to improve patient care is a strong understanding of physiology in health and disease.
RCH is excited to be celebrating Allied Health Professionals Day on 14 October 2020. Allied Health Professionals Day first began in the UK in 2018 and has since become an international event to recognise and celebrate the Allied Health Professional community.
Vernon Collins Oration 2020
Championing child rights amidst the chaos of COVID-19
Professor Elizabeth Elliott, AM
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.
There has in recent years been a rapid increase in the number and complexity of clinical trials and novel therapies for neurogenetic conditions. Many of these conditions are individually rare, but their impact upon affected children and their families may be very severe. While the increasing awareness and availability of new treatments brings great hope and excitement for all involved in care of these children, it also presents significant challenges for clinicians and for patients and their families.
Fortunately, COVID-19 in children is generally mild. However, the necessary public health mitigation measures to control community transmission have resulted in many unintended consequences for families and children.
How are Victorian children tracking during the pandemic? What can families do to help their children through these uncertain times? And how are young people with disabilities faring?
