ANZCTR search results

This study will recruit sedentary parents/primary carers of children with epilepsy and their chosen support partner to a 4 week, group based physical activity promotion intervention delivered online through a private Facebook group. The group will allow members to receive information and contribute to weekly conversations on pre-specified topics related to physical activity, e.g goal setting, reducing sedentary behaviour and overcoming barriers. The purpose of the Facebook group is to facilitate social support and provide participants with a platform to exchange personal experiences including barriers and facilitators to commencing and maintaining a PA program. All participants will also be provided with a Fitbit and encouraged to set goals and track their PA levels as a way to support self-monitoring.

Currently, genetic testing is recommended to be undertaken by genetics professionals (e.g. clinical geneticists, genetic counsellors) following appropriate counselling. This approach requires an additional referral to a genetics clinic which often has a long waiting list. This research explores the feasibility of “mainstreaming” genetic testing for MODY by allowing genetic testing to be arranged by non-genetics professionals and in this case to be arranged by Endocrinologists in their usual routine clinical setting. The advantage of mainstreaming is that it can be done at point of care, as a one-stop shop, for the patients, rather than having them referred to a genetics unit. A genetic mainstreaming model has been successfully trialled in oncology care to guide breast/ovarian cancer management. Leveraging Next Generation Sequencing technology, MODY represents an ideal non-cancer disease model for genomic mainstreaming, as its point-of-care diagnosis will guide tailored management in those newly diagnosed with diabetes.

The primary purpose of the study is to estimate the impact on time to effective therapy of real-time pathogen sequencing direct from clinical samples when integrated with personalised antimicrobial dosing in children and adults on ICU with sepsis. It is hypothesised that real-time pathogen sequencing combined with dosing software to identify optimised personalised antimicrobial therapy will reduce the time to effective antimicrobial concentrations in critically ill patients with sepsis leading to improved patient outcomes. This novel approach to rapid pathogen sequencing coupled with antimicrobial dosing software has great potential to overcome the limitations of conventional sepsis diagnostics which often result in prolonged inappropriate antimicrobial therapy. This pilot study will yield key feasibility data to inform future studies which are urgently needed in the era of increasing antimicrobial resistance. Reduced time to optimal antimicrobial therapy may reduce sepsis mortality and ICU length of stay.

This project aims to identify whether patient self reported ability to climb a flight of stairs (FOS) correlates with objective measures, and whether self-reported or objective measures correlate with near infra-red spectroscopy (NIRS) measures of leg muscle oxygen saturation. Patients from an anaesthetic pre-admission clinic will be asked to self report their ability to climb a FOS before having a NIRS device (non invasive way to measure muscle oxygen saturation) attached to their leg, and then climbing a flight of stairs. Additional parameters will be measured including Borg scale, heart rate and duration of exercise.

Hospital-acquired infection is a major concern entailing personal distress and discomfort for patients and substantial financial burden for the Australian healthcare system. A lack of awareness among healthcare providers of the need to remove indwelling urinary catheters (IDC) in a timely manner is a major cause of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI). Previous research has demonstrated substantial variation in healthcare providers’ awareness of the duration and continued appropriateness of patients’ IDCs. Furthermore, patients are often uncertain of the reason for the IDC and may be reluctant to ask if it can be removed. We aim to assess the patient experience of having an IDC and identify any knowledge or practice gaps in healthcare provider awareness and appropriateness of IDCs at QEII Jubilee Hospital. We will ask patients with an IDC about their experience of the IDC, and then we will ask their healthcare provider about the patient's IDC, including reasons for the IDC, and staff awareness of any patient concerns with the IDC. Results of this study will aid future planning and implementation of strategies to overcome current limitations and bridge these gaps, leading to improved patient outcomes and reduced hospital costs.

The study aims to investigate whether enrolment into a public NSW Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service® (GHS) with or without the support of an exercise buddy, following treatment for older people with low back pain is more effective for improving physical activity and reducing use of health care services compared to usual discharge from treatment. It will be a randomised pilot clinical trial, single-blind, parallel, three-arm pilot study with 1:1:1 allocation ratio. Adults over the age of 50 years who have completed a course of physiotherapy, chiropractic or General practitioner treatment for their chronic low back pain will be included. Participants will be randomised either to Individual-Only Group, Buddy-Assisted Group or Control Group. Our hypothesis is that participants from the health coaching groups will present a greater mean daily number of steps at 3 and 6 months post-randomisation than people who continue with usual discharge care. Our secondary hypothesis is that participants who are randomised to the Buddy-Assisted Group will present a higher mean daily number of steps than participants who are randomised to the Individual-Only Group.

The wrist pain in SLAC/SNAC arthritis comes from wear and break down between specific bones in the wrist. By fusing the affected bones, surgeons can improve pain while maintaining some range of motion. To accomplish this, the ulnar-sided (the side of your little finger) bones can be fused (known as four-corner fusion). A second option exists where an extra bone is removed and the remaining bones are fused in the same way as for the four-corner fusion. (This is known as a 2-corner fusion). Surgeons have more commonly performed four-corner fusion for this problem. Two corner fusions have gained popularity and the outcomes of surgery with these two methods are similar. In addition to treating the pain from the arthritic joints, a two-corner fusion may offer improved range of motion compared to the four-corner fusion. This research will provide valuable information towards improving knowledge of SNAC/SLAC arthritis treatment. Currently, it is unknown whether one method is superior to the other. This study will help answer this question and ensure that future patients get the operation that gives them the best function.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of an online yoga exercise on mental health in women diagnosed with breast or gynaecological cancer. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are a woman aged 18 years or older, with diagnosis of breast/gynaecological cancer within the last 5 years. Study details Participants in this study arm are randomly allocated (by chance) to one of two groups: 1. 60 minute online group yoga class weekly, for 6 weeks 2. 60 minute individual yoga class weekly, for 6 weeks Participants will complete a number of questionnaires at the end of the 6 week intervention period. It is hoped that this research will help to determine whether an online yoga class will improve mental health in people diagnosed with cancer.

The aim of this project is to document over a period of a six-month period the post morbidity problems including pulmonary, functional, neurocognitive and health related quality of life for those patients infected with COVID-19. Results will be compared between severity levels of the infection (mild, severe and critical) and adjusted for the premorbid age adjusted Charleson Comorbidity Score. It is hypothesised those subjects with a positive diagnosis of COVID -19 will have abnormal results when compared to population norms in pulmonary function, functional ability, neurocognitive status and health related quality of life.

The project will examine workplace stress experienced by aged care workers. The experience of stress may cause physiological changes in immune and hormonal systems, and these changes can affect our mental and physical health. The project aims to extend the knowledge of the relationship between workplace stress, turnover intentions, and physiological markers of stress: salivary cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), and secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA). Using a waitlist control design, participants will engage with a mindfulness smartphone intervention for three weeks. It will establish the relationships between mindfulness, stress and pre-clinical markers of diease. Participants will provide saliva samples and complete questionnaires at three time-points: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 2-months post-intervention. This information is important as it will improve our understanding of the effects of workplace stress on the immune and hormonal systems and self-reported intentions to leave a vocation..