Wherever the overall health of children improves, cancer inevitably emerges as a serious unmet health need. However, the spectacular improvement in the outcome of childhood cancer in Australia, and other high-income countries, is yet to be seen in in low- and middle-income countries, where 80% of the world’s children live.
Global demand for accessible, evidence-based and cost-effective healthcare is rising. Advances in technology together with its increasing use and declining costs have provided valuable opportunities for greater application of digital applications in healthcare. However, only a small percentage of digital apps have undergone clinical validation, and healthcare organisations are not traditionally equipped to innovate, evaluate and implement digital technology solutions.
All babies cry. What is normal and what is abnormal? Is the crying excessive or is that mother’s perception. What causes the crying – hunger, over handling, “wind”, “colic”, “silent reflux”, allergy?
Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) have been used for decades in clinical trials, observational studies, population health surveys, and for estimates of quality of life in economic evaluations. However, the use of PROs as part of routine measurement in clinical settings is relatively new. In this Grand Round, 3 speakers will discuss the use of PROs in the UK, in mental health at RCH and integrating PROs into the EMR.
One of the growing worldwide challenges in paediatric health care is how to understand and respond to some of the many ways in which families of sick children use social media. This presentation draws together a number of strands of thought from my recent sabbatical in the UK, where the paediatric hospital staff are still experiencing the flow-on effects of the high-profile (and high-conflict) social media campaigns run by parents of Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans. I will present some data from two recent studies of how families in UK and Australia use social media, especially crowd-funding, and then raise for discussion some of the ethical and social challenges arising from social media use.
Pneumonia is the commonest cause of childhood death throughout the world, especially in low and middle income countries. The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) has been available for 19 years, but there are still many outstanding issues in its use: how do we measure the impact of this vaccine when the causes of pneumonia are many; how do we monitor serotype replacement in the post-PCV era; how do we measure herd protection; and how many doses of the vaccine are really needed for optimal protection?
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) in children in countries throughout the world. The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) emergency department, wards and intensive care unit are full of patients with RSV infections (including bronchiolitis) from April to September, with a peak in June-July. The Melbourne Children’s campus has a long history of RSV associated research, including clinical trials encompassing preventative, supportive and therapeutic strategies.
Drawing on several recent and ongoing Australian research projects, funded by the Australian Research Council and the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC), ‘Young and Well’, this presentation focuses on how health care professionals can most effectively engage with sexuality and gender diverse children and young people to provide the most inclusive and affirmative care.
This Grand Round, presented by Dr Annapurna Poduri from Boston will explore the role of genetics in epilepsy and the importance of pursuing genetic diagnoses in patients with epilepsy as a step toward refined treatment and precision medicine strategies. Dr Puduri will emphasize the importance of integrating what we know from the clinic into clinically relevant model systems.
Can we reduce the number of children on Royal Children’s Hospital waiting lists, stem the flow of low urgency presentations to the Emergency Department, reduce low value care practices by clinicians, and improve mental health services for children?
