ANZCTR search results

Anxiety associated with medical procedures is common, with 40-80% of children experiencing significant symptoms and postoperative consequences, including distress and delirium, increased intensity/duration of pain, prolonged hospital stays, behavioural/sleep disturbance and avoidance of medical encounters, which often remain into adulthood. Extensive consumer research has shown that a key priority for Australian consumers of all ages in relation to paediatric hospital care is addressing the fear and anxiety in children throughout the hospital experience (second only to anaesthesia safety for adults and third following anaesthesia safety and pain management for children). The STARFISH trial was driven by our consumer partners, particularly our youth consumers. It is well known that distraction is a coping strategy that can help with perioperative anxiety, and all members of the perioperative team commonly employ distraction techniques with patients during routine clinical care. One potential form of distraction involves sensory activities - fidget devices or sensory toys such as spinners, putty, and stability balls are increasingly being used within school settings to help students academically and behaviourally, with applicability for neurodiverse (e.g., autistic, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)) children being one area of particular interest. However, the research behind sensory toys is inconclusive. Sensory toys have been suggested to our team—from numerous consumers of all ages, including neurodiverse and neurotypical consumers—as a method to reduce anxiety in the preoperative period, thus leading to the design of the STARFISH trial. This project aims to assess the use of a sensory toy (of the child’s choice) in the perioperative period on the day of surgery to reduce perioperative anxiety and distress.

The gut microbiome plays a pivotal role in modulating gastrointestinal function, emotional well-being, sleep quality, and immune responses through complex bidirectional communication within the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Disruptions in gut microbial composition have been associated with digestive discomfort, altered bowel habits, psychological distress, and sleep disturbances. Emerging clinical evidence supports the potential for targeted probiotic interventions to improve these symptoms by restoring microbial balance and modulating neuroimmune pathways. This randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial will investigate the effect of low and high-dose Lactiplantibacillus plantarum BMB18 (DSM 35214) supplementation in improving digestive function over six weeks compared to placebo, with a follow-up at eight weeks. This trial will also investigate the effects of the dietary probiotic supplement on self-reported indicators of quality of life, sleep quality, and mood, such as depression, anxiety, and stress. The present study will recruit healthy male and female adults aged between 18 and 65 years who report mild digestive symptoms and/or occasional sleep or mood disturbances without a diagnosis of any major gastrointestinal or psychiatric disorders (e.g. IBS or MDD). The outcomes of this trial will broaden the literature on the promising potential of probiotic supplementation by characterising clinical benefits and generating translational evidence for future trials as the first study examining the effects of L. plantarum BMB18 in humans.

Healthier Wealthier Families (HWF) is a partnership between Queensland Health, UnitingCare Queensland, the Australian Research Alliance of Children and Youth, and academia, that aims to reduce financial hardship and improve the mental health of caregivers with young children. Through the first randomised trial of its kind, HWF will connect universal Child and Family Health Services (well-child health care delivered via home visits) with financial wellbeing services in Queensland, and evaluate the benefits and costs, and opportunities for scaling nationally.

This study aims to investigate the effect of early oral feeding (initiated within 5 days post-surgery) in comparison to traditional postoperative care involves withholding oral feeding for 7–12 days, in free flap reconstruction after head and neck cancer resection. Who is it for? Participants will be adults, who have undergone an intra-oral cancer resection who require a free tissue transfer for reconstruction and have not undergone previous radiation. Study details Patients will be randomised to either standard feedings (diet introduced at day 7 postoperatively) or early feeding (diet introduced day 1 postoperatively). Pre-operative and post operative swallowing assessments will be done by speech pathology. Data will also be collected on key outcomes such as nasogastric tube removal, days spent in hospital, and complications. It is hoped that findings from this study will help researchers and clinicians determine if early oral feeding offers benefits in terms of reduced hospital stay and faster recovery.

This study is a pilot randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial to determine the effects of a single dose of two amino acids L-theanine and L-Glycine (The-Gly) on resting cardiovascular responses in postmenopausal women. This study involves two visits, one for the measurement of baseline parameters and second visit for the intervention and 60 minutes and 120 minutes follow up.

Initial treatment of snake bite involves early first aid with the application of a pressure bandage and immobilisation (PBI) of the limb. There is limited data to support the basis of this technique and emerging evidence of harm when applied incorrectly. This project sets out to evaluate PBI compared to another technique involving the application of a pressure pad (PP) at the bite site (which is easier to do, and used in most countries outside of Australia), The project aims to determine whether each technique is effective, and whether the PP technique is at least as effective as PBI. To do this 24 participants will be recruited to undergo study with mock venom injected into their hand or foot and having either PBI or PP applied. The mock venom will then be traced with a gamma camera to determine rate of flow through the lymphatic system, which is how venom travels in the body. It is expected that the project will demonstrate the efficacy of both techniques, and that the PP will be at least as effective as PBI. This will provide a basis for change in the current first aid recommendations for snake bite first aid in Australia, and improve the care provided.

This study will explore the efficacy of the mobile health app, cpThrive. Families of children with CP will participate in the study, using cpThrive for 12 months to explore whether this improves health knowledge and impacts function. cpThrive is a mobile app that has been co-designed with people with lived experience, to provide people with cerebral palsy and their families with up to date information on intervention options. cpThrive allows users to search interventions that are relevant to their age, functional ability and current goals and priorities. It includes fact sheets and real-life video examples of interventions. cpThrive aims to improve access to health information, which may in turn lead to improvements in function and participation.

The research questions will be addressed using a small, carefully controlled clinical study administered to adult contact lens wearers. This research aims to find out whether a new contact lens packaging solution improves comfort for people who wear contact lenses compared to the current solution and to two other commercially available contact lenses on the market. The study will explore how comfortable the lenses feel after six hours of wear and whether the new packaging helps reduce the build-up of natural deposits on the lenses. Each participant will try four different types of daily disposable contact lenses over several weeks at UNSW Sydney’s Eye Research Group clinic. Participants will be fitted with each lens type in a randomised order (like flipping a coin). Participants will insert the allocated study lens in the morning on Day 1 and return on the same day after 6 hours of lens wear. Participants will provide feedback on comfort and vision, their eyes will be assessed and the worn contact lenses collected. Participants will then be dispensed with a 7-day supply of that same lens type and asked to wear the lenses during the week and return for follow-up assessment after wearing the lenses for 6 hours at the 7-day follow-up visit. Simple eye tests and questionnaires will be used to collect information, and lenses will be examined after wear to understand how well they stay clean. These methodologies and target populations are appropriate to meet the research aims because the study design allows direct comparison between lenses under real-world conditions. Experienced contact lens users can reliably describe comfort differences and follow the required routines safely. This approach will help determine whether the new packaging solution offers practical improvements for everyday lens wearers.

Burnout and poor wellbeing are commonly experienced by healthcare workers. Patient safety may be affected by healthcare workers' level of burnout and wellbeing. The ‘ACT in the Workplace’ program is based on an evidence-based workplace intervention. This project aims to determine if the ‘ACT in the Workplace’ program and its evaluation are feasible and acceptable to Australian healthcare workers to help design a future, larger study. Additional aims include exploring if the program changes levels of burnout and wellbeing, psychological flexibility, perceptions of the organisation, and sleep quality. The program is a group training for healthcare workers, involving three 2-hour meetings and a follow-up 2-hour meeting scheduled over 4 consecutive weeks. For healthcare workers attending the program who consent to participate in the study, participation will involve completing questionnaires using REDCap taking 7 minutes three times: before the program starts, just after completing the program, and 3 months after completing the program. We expect the program will be feasible and acceptable to Australian healthcare workers, and will improve wellbeing and reduce burnout. This is the first study to evaluate the program implementation among Australian healthcare workers.

Patient-reported antibiotic allergy labels are a major public health concern with an estimated 18% of all hospitalised Australians reporting an antibiotic allergy. In one study, the prevalence of paediatric antibiotic allergy labels was 5.3%, with an increasing incidence of reported antibiotic allergy labels with age. Paediatric inpatients with an antibiotic allergy are more likely to receive inferior antibiotics and those reporting a beta-lactam allergy are more likely to have a prolonged hospital length of stay. In the paediatric population, penicillin direct oral challenge has been demonstrated to be a safe delabelling strategy in the outpatient setting, however the safety and effectiveness of paediatric inpatient direct oral challenge and its subsequent impact on antibiotic prescribing and antimicrobial resistance is ill-defined. Furthermore, a national implementation strategy for an effective paediatric antibiotic allergy toolkit has not been previously published. We seek to prospectively audit implementation of paediatric clinical antibiotic allergy delabelling programs, via the International Network of Antibiotic Allergy Nations (iNAAN) platform, to assess safety and the subsequent effects of antibiotic allergy delabelling on antibiotic prescribing and patient outcomes.