Latest Posts

Getting up to speed on qualitative research

Qualitative research has quietly and gradually moved from fringe to mainstream in health research. In this presentation, clinical and health services researchers from across Melbourne Children’s Campus will discuss the ways in which qualitative research can add value to health care research, and describe some of their own qualitative studies. Come along to gain an insight into the research that is happening around you, think about how qualitative research might work in your area of interest, and get up to speed on resources available to support and assist clinicians in performing rigorous qualitative research.

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Closing the global anaesthesia gap

Surgery is essential for improving a nation’s health, but it has been under-recognised in global public health initiatives. In 2015, three important events highlighted this: The World Bank cost-effectiveness analysis of surgery and anaesthesia, the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, and the World Health Assembly resolution on Safe Surgery and Anaesthesia. 

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Spotlight on CEBU: Biostatistics at the Melbourne Children’s

For more than 20 years, the RCH campus has boasted one of the pre-eminent biostatistics groups in Australia, as reflected in a recent international conference that was brought to Melbourne (and the southern/eastern hemisphere!) for the first time in its 39 years by an organising committee led by CEBU biostatisticians.

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Ethics, conflict and medical treatment for children: From disagreement to dissensus

Recent cases of conflict around medical treatment for seriously ill infants and young children have raised a number of questions about the nature, consequences and ethics of disagreement in neonatal intensive care.

How often do serious disagreements about treatment occur? Are they becoming more common? Why do disagreements occur? If there is disagreement between parents and health professionals about treatment for a child, what should the health care team do?

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The Super Power Baby Project: The impact and implications of language in healthcare

The language we use with patients and families has a profound impact on them, and shapes their relationship with health professionals. In Victoria there is a large cohort of children with complex medical needs.  Many are seen at RCH by a wide variety of professionals, over many years.  In the care of these children, communicating effectively with them and their families can be as important as any medical therapy or procedure. Language can make the difference between a powerless family and an empowered one. It also enables health professionals to empathise better with their patients, improving patient outcomes and practitioner wellbeing.

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David Danks Seminar: The contribution of the Gambia to improving child health in the developing world

Research throughout the small African county of The Gambia has provided many important lessons for the future of Global health. This seminar will discuss The contributions made by scientists working in the Gambia to reductions in child mortality, including demonstration of the impact of insecticide treated bednets, Haemophilus influenzae and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in reducing child morbidity and mortality.

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Personalised care of children with medical complexity and their families:

Dr Doug Bryan is a paediatrician who has worked at the Royal Children’s Hospital since 1970. During those 48 years the prognosis and life prospects for children with chronic and complex medical conditions have improved dramatically. This has occurred partly from the discovery of new interventions but also in large part to the development of systems of care that specifically focus on the care and needs of these children and their families.

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Australia’s refugee law and policy in a global context

Although Australia receives a disproportionately small share of the world’s refugees, the ‘problem’ of unauthorized boat arrivals has been a highly controversial and political one in recent decades.  In this Grand Round for Refugee week, Professor Michelle Foster, from the Melbourne Law School, will discuss the key problems with Australia’s current system of refugee protection, focusing in particular on mandatory indefinite detention.

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