2022 has been another challenging year due to the pandemic and natural disasters however things are gradually looking up and we can reflect on another significant year for our network – despite these things!
This year also marks the third year of our 2020-2024 NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) collaboration which will continue to support a program of excellent research in the years to come.
Please join us in reflecting on these and other outstanding achievements:
- PREDICT now has 183 members – in the past year we welcomed 34 new members.
- PREDICT has continued working actively with consumers in our research. Our mental health consumer group recruited for “The Kids are not Okay” program of research has been actively involved in the development and fine tuning of the Mental Health Delphi project, the PEACHY O and M studies, and the Prospective Observational study.
- We have commenced a Head injury/Concussion Co-design project that involves parents, youths and clinicians working in partnership to develop discharge materials for children with mild head injury/concussion. Lots of valuable insight has been gained to date.
- 47 hospitals across Australia and New Zealand have been actively involved in PREDICT research!
- This year we have had 2 large successful grants to the value of $6.4M.
- The Acute Head Injury Guidelines are completed and are available on our website! Supplementary materials, including a video on use of the head injury algorithm, and other education modules, are now also available.
- A mRNA Vaccine Chest Pain guideline has been developed in collaboration with ATAGI (Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation), IMAC (Immunisation Advisory Centre NZ) and CSANZ (Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand) to support an approach to the initial assessment and workup of children and adolescents presenting to the ED with vaccine-related symptoms. This is available on our website now with a recent update added in September 2022.
- Our two committed teams undertaking Cochrane reviews continue to progress work on:
“Triage tools for detecting cervical spine injury in paediatric trauma patients”
“Parenteral medication for the management of acute severe behavioural disturbance (ASBD) in the emergency department” - A number of studies are now well underway and recruiting this year after significant preparatory work and overcoming teething problems. These include: The Sepsis Observational (SENTINEL) study, currently enrolling in Australia and New Zealand (11 sites). The PEACHY O and PEACHY M RCT studies which focus on the care of children with acute severe behavioural disturbance in the ED are currently enrolling (7 sites + addition of 3 new sites); the SONIC study; and the Bronchiolitis Sustainability study is also underway with 23 Australian and New Zealand sites participating: the SPASMS project (on assessment of abdominal pain has commenced recruiting in WA with other sites identified and commencing in 2023.
- We continue to undertake work collaboratively with the international PERN Pediatric Emergency Research Network) group on the PERN COVID 19 project, and the PAINT study (Pain Management and Sedation in Pediatric Ileocolic Intussusception: A Global Multicenter, Retrospective Study). With PERC we continue to recruit in the BIPED study (Dexamethasone and Adrenalin for bronchiolitis) and our other international studies include the PROMPT Bolus Study (with PECARN (US) and PERC (Canada)).
- Kids THRIVE – the RCT on high flow for intubation has completed enrolment.
- BELLPiC – the RCT has been published in Neurology and further secondary papers are in draft from or have been submitted.
- Data analysis is complete and papers are underway for COVID 19 Audit; Western Australia Bronchiolitis Knowledge Translation Adaptability study; PERN pneumonia; PAINT study; Deferred Consent and the PARIS II.
- The PREDICT Executive reviewed and endorsed 11 new projects, many of which are now in various stages of development.
- We continue to mentor 10 PhD scholars and congratulate 2 PhD students- Sharon O’Brien (Perth) and Sonia Singh (UC Davis/Melbourne) – have recently submitted their thesis!
- Thirteen papers were published in various journals including The Lancet, Archives of Disease in Childhood, Neurology, BMC Health Services Research, BMJ Open Respiratory Research, Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, Emergency Medicine Journal, Paediatric Critical Care, Medical Journal Australia and others!
- The annual PREDICT members meeting was held in October in Melbourne with a live and online audience of 65 members. It was great to be able to see people again!
Thank you to all members and collaborators for your contributions and support.