Our overarching aim is to challenge established ideas and to investigate interventions that may lead to:
• better patient outcomes
• greater staff satisfaction
• better health economic outcomes.
Our key is to search for the most appropriate care. We research acute clinical conditions in the Emergency Department, where doing less may be better. The overarching theme aligns with the ‘Deliberate Clinical Inertia’ concept.
Some examples of this research focus are the following completed projects:
• conservative treatment for primary spontaneous pneumothorax (air leakage
between the lungs and chest) rather than inserting a drain-
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1910775
• finding the best balance for fluid resuscitation in sepsis -
https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.13469
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00134-018-5433-0
• treating boxers’ fractures with a buddy strap rather than plaster-
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2019.01.032
• avoiding unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions-
https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dky447
• treating intoxicated patients with observation alone, rather than intravenous
fluids-
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1742-6723.12151
In the last 12 months until early 2020, our pillar had various successes. Specifically, we became involved in >15 active projects, with our grants totalling approximately AUD $4 Million AUD. The group was involved with > 20 peer reviewed papers, and we supported a research registrar, several junior medical staff and over 10 medical students to become involved in projects.
Pillar aims
We encourage staff and students to challenge current practice and seek improvement areas, avoiding unnecessary treatments that are without evidence or may even cause harm.
These research questions aim to result in:
• Increased junior researcher numbers
• Multi-centre and multi-disciplinary collaborations.
Our team
| Name | Job title/s |
| Ms Amy Sweeny | Research Development Manager |
| Ms Emma Hall | Research Nurse |
| Ms Rachael Dunning | Nurse Unit Manager |
| Dr Joann Chua | Research Fellow |
| Dr Chloe Wong | Current Research Registrar |
| Dr Laura Hamill | Prior Research Registrar |
| Ms Amanda Harley | Research Nurse |
| Dr Richy Pellatt | Research Fellow |
| Mr Hugo Evison | Queensland Ambulance Service Officer |
| Dr Kerina Denny | Registrar & Queensland, Junior Doctor Scholarship recipient |
| Ms Brittany Skelsey | Department Support Officer |
Research themes
Our research focuses on themes including:
• Appropriate overall use of antibiotics but also for subgroups such as urinary
tract infections, skin infections, dog bites, and otitis media in children.
This includes support for clinical decision making (including the DECIDE
application - www.gchdecide.com
• Hemodynamic resuscitation in patients with sepsis.
• Appropriateness of peripheral intravenous cannulae (PIVC) insertions in
the emergency setting.
• Respiratory studies about dyspnoea (breathing difficulties), management
of pneumothorax (collapsed lung), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,
and asthma.
Our partners
We collaborate with several partners, including:
• Australia and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Group (ANZICS CTG)
• Bond University
• Centre for Clinical Research in Emergency Medicine Perth (CCREM)
• Griffith University
- Vascular Biology, Biochemistry and Imaging/Experimental Laboratory Science
(XLabS) research group
- AVATAR group
• The University of Queensland
Our pillar also collaborates with seventy other Emergency Departments throughout Australia and New Zealand.
