Lessons learned from the review of child deaths in Victoria in 2021

The independent Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity (CCOPMM) reviews cases of maternal, perinatal, and paediatric mortality and morbidity. Child deaths have been reviewed since 1985. The child and adolescent subcommittee of CCOPMM reviews deaths and develops recommendations and good practice points for practitioners and health systems.  

The Allied Health + Digital Health Intersection

In recognition of Allied Health Professions Day 2023, this year’s RCH Allied Health Grand Round explores future opportunities for Allied Health to harness and build upon digital learning and capability in the delivery of high-quality patient care. Going beyond the electronic medical record, our line-up of expert presenters will highlight the scope of digital health possibilities within allied health practice with a key focus on the themes of collaboration and co-design, audience reach and sustainability.

Vernon Collins Oration 2023 — Liana Buchanan, Children’s rights: progress and challenges

In this year’s oration, Liana Buchanan, will draw on what she sees in her role as Principle Commissioner and share her perspectives on the progress we have made for children in this state and the work yet to be done. We like to consider ourselves a society that values and nurtures children, but how well does that self-concept translate into practice, policy and investment? How well do we fare when it comes to realising children’s rights in Victoria?

VicHip: What makes this clinical registry so powerful?

The Victorian hip dysplasia registry (VicHip) is part of a transformative effort in Victoria to improve the diagnosis and treatment of hip dysplasia. In this Grand Round, four VicHip team members will speak about their approach, which includes a streamlined process for clinicians, integrated data systems, and stakeholder engagement and research. If you’re a health professional, researcher or parent looking for more information, tools and publications about hip dysplasia, this session will be a valuable resource.

The impact of a rare disease program on the Melbourne Children’s campus

Rare Diseases Now (RDNow) was established in 2019 with funding from The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation to provide an advanced, clinically integrated diagnostic pathway for children with rare diseases (RD). We have delivered value to children and families by providing access to frontier multi-omics technologies, working on solutions to optimise rare disease care and upskilling the workforce.  In this Grand Round we will describe the impact of our work at the individual, team and national levels and show how the Melbourne Children’s Campus is positioned as a global leader in rare disease care.​

14th Annual Bioethics Conference – The Ethics of Innovation

From the invention of the wheel, the telephone and the light bulb, to the first computer, innovation has been inextricably tied up with human curiosity and our tendency to think about and try new and better ways of doing things. In medicine, advances such as vaccine technology, the development of pharmaceuticals and data gathering and processing methods, to the completion of the human genome project, have impacted the health of generations, arguably for the better. Yet innovation raises important questions about who scientific “breakthroughs” serve and what values drive such “progress”. This presentation explores the relationship between bioethics and innovation. It considers the role of ethics in innovation and team science, and proposes a framework for a “bioethics of innovation” in paediatric research and practice. It concludes with a reflection on what doing “innovative bioethics” might entail.

Every child in every community needs a fair go

This Grand Round, in the lead up to Child Protection Week 3-9th September, will focus on how as a health service we can identify children who are at risk of missing out on essential medical care. Each year at RCH thousands of health care encounters are missed when children and young people are not brought for scheduled appointments. For some children this can lead to harm, and rarely even have fatal consequences. As a health service we need to consider what the impacts are for these children and be aware of our role in reducing the risk of harm in this vulnerable group.  

Reddihough Symposium: Disability care in 2023

What does disability care for children and young people look like in 2023, and what could it be like in the future? In 2023 it is more holistic, more funded, more early intervention, more complex, and more positive for children and their families.