Northern Clinical Research Centre
Projects
Current Projects
Troponin rise after emergency orthopaedic geriatric surgery randomised to standard care versus cardiology care and its association with one year mortality.
Recruitment has been completed and results are currently being analysed.
What are the cognitive, personality, self-efficacy and mental health characteristics associated with poor outcomes for patients receiving a comprehensive diabetes management program? A prospective cohort study.
Recruitment has been completed and results are currently being analysed.
Evaluation of the Northern Alliance Admission Risk Programs
The NA-HARP includes chronic disease, aged care and psychosocial care. In 2010 Northern Health and its collaborating partners introduced a new model of care. The NCRC is evaluating the impact of the NA-HARP services efficacy and accessibility to clients.
Does an enhanced cognitive and exercise program reduce incident delirium?
Recruitment has been completed and results are currently being analysed.
Beyond Blue Study
Full Project Title: Is acculturation the nexus between chronic physical disease and depression and anxiety in a culturally and linguistically diverse population? A prospective cohort study.
TREAT - Telemedicine in Residential aged care facilities to Enhance Assessment and Treatment
This project is looking at the use of remote teleconferencing via a broadband network, in the care of elderly patients in the community.
This would enable:
- nurses to access specialist advice
- to assess and monitoring conditions
- Physiotherapists working in exercise rehabilitation to provide supervised exercise program
Which, in turn would provide the following benefits:
- Save time and travel costs
- Reduction in carbon emissions by eliminating travel for face-to-face meetings
- Extend consulting practice reach to patients in more regional and remote locations
- Facilitate collaboration with other specialists and other disciplines interstate and overseas
- Improve satisfaction in terms of patient/staff engagement
- Avoiding admission of at risk patients to hospital, easing the burden on public hospital beds
Is acculturation the nexus between chronic physical illness and depression and anxiety in a culturally and linguistically diverse population?
This is a collaborative project between the NCRC and Dr Suresh Sundram (Director) Northern Psychiatry Research Centre. The project investigated the prevalence of anxiety and depression in patients from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds with Chronic Physical Illness (Chronic Respiratory Disease, Chronic Heart failure or Diabetes). This project was funded through a Beyond Blue Research Grant.
Improving the quality of care for older people-Development of Quality Indicators for the frail, elderly in acute care. ‘ Clinical outcomes, staff and carer perceptions of acute hospitalisation of older patients.- InterRai Project.’
Collaborative project with Prof Len Gray Academic Unit in Geriatric medicine, the University of Queensland. Principle Investigator at NH A/Prof Kwang Lim. This project evaluated the use of the InterRai Comprehensive Patient Assessment Tool to predict patient outcomes following admission to acute care. This project was funded by the NHMRC, Research Grant No: 569682.
Monitoring and Improving Hospital Performance using Administrative Data
Collaborative project with Dr Graeme Duke (Director of Intensive Care, TNH), Dr Anna Barker and Dr John Santamaria (Intensive Care, St Vincents Hospital). This is an ongoing project which is evaluating the use of using Risk-Adjusted Mortality Prediction Models derived from administrative datasets to monitor hospital performance across Victoria.
Retinal microvascular disease in patients with chronic disease
Collaborative project with Prof Judy Savige (Department of Medicine (Northern Health, University of Melbourne). This project is investigating the use of retinal photography to identify microvascular disease and future risk of cardiovascular events in patients with chronic disease.
PREVENTING PRESSURE ULCERS And FALLS IN ACUTE CARE: Does nurse experience affect accuracy of risk assessment scoring and application of prevention strategies?
Collaborative Project with NH Injury Prevention Unit (Jeanette Kamar) and Dr Anna Barker. This project investigated whether nurse experience influenced the accuracy of pressure ulcer and falls risk assessment tools. This project was funded by a NH Small Research Grant.
Evaluation of A Rapidly Set-up Influenza Assessment Clinic: (H1N1-09 Pandemic).
Collaborative Project with Dr Sam Hume (Infectious Disease Consultant), Leanne Boase (ED Nurse Practitioner) and Craig Aboltins (Infectious Diseases Consultant). This project was funded by a NH Small Research Grant.
Northern Health Junior medical Staff Workforce Capacity Review 2009-2012.
Collaborative project with the Northern Health Clinical Support Services, project leader Julie Shalders (manager).This project is reviewing the current junior medical workforce at Northern Health and working on strategies to align the structure of the medical workforce at NH with future areas of growth as outlined in the strategic plan. This project is funded by a Department of Health (Victoria), ‘Developing organizational Capacity (DOC)’ grant.
Insulin Resistance Intervention after Stroke (IRIS) trial
Collaborative project with Dr Steven Ng (Consultant Neurologist) and funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. IRIS is a randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled trial that will enrol 3136 subjects from over 100 sites worldwide. 10 patients will be enrolled at Northern Health. The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of pioglitazone for preventing future strokes and heart attacks among people who have recently had stroke or TIA.
For further information on the above projects, contact Ana Hutchinson, NCRC Manager, Phone: 8405 2007
Completed Projects
| 
