Individuals who present with physical symptoms for which no disease pathology can be found are common in medical practice. In neurology outpatient clinics, patients with Functional Neurological Disorders (FNDs) are the second most common reason for referral after headaches.
Rotavirus is a major cause of death and disease in children worldwide. Despite clear evidence of the success of rotavirus vaccines, barriers remain to global implementation with over 94 million children still lacking access to a rotavirus vaccine. These barriers include sub-optimal efficacy in low-income settings, lingering safety concerns and cost. Administering a vaccine at birth has the potential to address these challenges.
This presentation focuses on the earliest stages of child development: the period from conception to the end of the child’s second year – known as the first 1000 days. A growing body of evidence shows that experiences during this period can have life-long consequences for health and wellbeing. The presentation is based on research for the “Strong Foundations” project and an evidence paper “Getting it right in the first 1000 days”.
Addressing the increasing complexity of care is a new challenge in tertiary hospitals. We also all agree that a holistic approach is the standard of care. Multidisciplinary teams have the potential to offer a greater level of expertise with a more diverse approach to work on common goals of care.
Many children each year are born with complex congenital colorectal conditions. The most common of these are anorectal malformations (ARM) and Hirschsprung disease (HD), which each affect 1 in 5000 children. These children require multiple operations, and there is increasing recognition that they may require life-long care.
Before the advent of modern neonatal intensive care in the 1970s, many tiny babies died soon after birth, most commonly because they lacked pulmonary surfactant, leading to respiratory failure. Professor Lex Doyle first treated the breathing problems of tiny babies in the mid-1970s during his basic training in paediatrics.
The RCH National Child Health Poll was launched in December 2015 to build the level of public debate and discussion about child and adolescent health issues. The poll methodology combines the rigour of academic research with the timeliness and reach of online quantitative data collection to deliver new knowledge about the experience of children and young people, and the households and communities responsible for their wellbeing.
This Grand Round will provide an overview of the current status on the use of antimicrobials in Australia, using a One Health perspective. Professor Thursky will describe the challenges facing prescribers and health care organisations in ensuring the judicious use of antimicrobials, and will showcase some of the research underway by the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship.
Pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) is a newer subspecialty in child health starting in Canada in the 1980’s. To build the evidence base for clinical care, single center randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with small sample sizes were conducted. However, this led to potential of poorly designed and conducted trials with inadequate statistical power, which often were not published (if they gave negative answers). Systematic reviews of RCTs started to improve the situation, along with the establishment of research networks performing large RCTs provided more definitive guidance for the clinician.
Pathology tests are fundamental to the diagnosis and management of almost all children who present to RCH, and we collectively order thousands of them every day. Yet if we don’t know what is normal, how do we interpret what is abnormal?
