October 11, 2019
Every year, Research Week at Northern Health showcases a range of local and innovative research projects and presentations from the best and the brightest of research leaders from around the world.
Research Week underlines Northern Health’s commitment to support the creation and implementation of new knowledge that will improve the lives of people here in Melbourne’s north.
Research Week 2019 ended today with a masterclass on ideation conducted by Johannes Mang, Chief Venture Officer from MedTech Actuator – Australia’s premier medtech commercialisation initiative. MedTech Actuator activates ideas from clinicians, researchers, staff and students through industry-led specialised entrepreneurship education and training programs.
Dr John Ferguson, Chief Medical Officer at Northern Health, believes research provides an opportunity to progress current ‘best practice’ and to look to the future of health care and its evolution.
“It helps in keeping us always looking at what can be done better and that inquisitiveness is vital to keep progressing,” says John.
He saw Research Week as a great opportunity to showcase what is happening here at Northern and to educate, stimulate and invigorate our people.
“It is due recognition of much hard work and individual and collective vision(s) on how we can improve our care and services,” adds John.
Molly Galea, Allied Health Education Lead, who keenly followed Research Week 2019 said:
“At each session I picked up a few tips that have had an immediate impact on my work. It was a great chance to put my head up from the day-to-day, look around and notice the inspiring work my colleagues are doing. It’s important that we never stop learning. Research Week makes me look at my work through a new lens.”
Molly also had this to say about the following sessions:
Ideas Lab: I attended a quick intro on design thinking and immediately started thinking about how I can incorporate user-led design into developing our internal education sessions. I took really specific strategies that I can implement straight away.
Oral Presentations: I loved the breadth of these short papers. I felt privileged to be working with such a passionate bunch of health professionals who are working to improve our practice in so many areas.
The Great Debate: A fun way to close the week. It hasn’t convinced me to give up being a vegetarian though, despite the popular vote!
This year there were 44 poster and 18 oral presentations highlighting the quality of research activities occurring across the clinical spectrum.
“The high calibre and quality of the posters demonstrated a real maturity and depth of knowledge from both nursing, medical and allied health staff,” says Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Deb Bourne.
She went on to say:
“Research Week has again proven to be one of the highlights of the year for me. The guest speakers were all interesting and added value and knowledge to Northern Health. The research team needs to be congratulated for all the hard work and effort they put in to produce a truly worthwhile event for Northern Health.”
