ANZCTR search results

Multi-disciplinary team care, including access to pulmonary rehabilitation, are key recommendations in the COPD-X guidelines for the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, access to multidisciplinary team care and referral to pulmonary rehabilitation is low in primary care. The aim of this randomised controlled trial is to evaluate the implementation, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of two new healthcare strategies (services) to improve the provision of evidence-based management for people with COPD compared with usual GP management of COPD. The two new strategies are to: 1) Upskill registered nurses to provide Multi-Disciplinary Team care planning with the GP for people with COPD (MDT), 2) Provide access to an 8-week PUlmonary REhabilitation program in Primary Care (PuRe Primary Care) delivered by private exercise physiologists or physiotherapists in the community. The study will be conducted in three geographical areas serviced by our partners 1) South West Sydney Local Health District and South West Sydney Primary Health Network, 2) Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network, and 3) The Healthy Communities Foundation Australia. They have all identified that there are unmet health needs for people with COPD in their local area and this is a priority for service innovation and delivery. We anticipate that the implementation of these strategies will improve the management of COPD, improve health outcomes for people with COPD and, in turn, reduce pressures on the hospital system. Our project will focus on the health of the priority populations of those experiencing diseases of ageing, COPD prevalence increases with age, and with people living in rural and remote areas.

This study examines the impact of prehabilitation programs on patients undergoing total knee and hip replacements in Australia, where osteoarthritis is prevalent. Research indicates that these programs, which include supervised exercises and educational sessions, can significantly reduce hospital length of stay and costs, especially for total knee replacement patients. Participants in prehabilitation also report improved functional outcomes, reduced pain, and enhanced muscle strength post-surgery. Despite the positive findings, patients at SJOG Berwick Hospital currently lack access to preoperative education from allied health professionals. The study aims to assess whether implementing an educational session prior to surgery can reduce hospital length of stay for these patients. The hypothesis of this study that attending an education session prior to hip or knee replacement surgery will reduce hopsital lengh of stay post-operatively

The primary purpose of this study is to compare the effects of home-based High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) with laboratory-based HIIT on the health of women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) who are overweight or obese. The study will examine various health outcomes over a 12-week period, including cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and glycaemic control. The hypothesis is that home-based HIIT will be as effective as laboratory-based HIIT in improving these health outcomes. This study aims to provide a more accessible exercise option for women with PCOS, potentially offering a cost-effective and convenient way to manage their condition through home-based training. Participants will undergo baseline testing, engage in the HIIT program, and complete follow-up assessments to evaluate the long-term benefits post 12- week intervention. The study involves researchers from Victoria University, the University of Adelaide, and Monash University, ensuring a comprehensive approach to improving the quality of life for women with PCOS.

To address harm from falls in hospital that disproportionally affects older patients with cognitive impairment, St John of God Midland Private and Public hospital are committed to engaging patient and caregivers as partners in the design and transformation of practice through this realist evaluation of a co-designed dementia-specific caregiver education program. The question we are aiming to answer through the co-design process are, how can existing documentation tools for falls and cognition screening, assessment, and communication be regularly used by the multi-disciplinary team to identify patients with deteriorating mental state, and how can existing workflows be enhanced to support the patient with identified cognitive impairment? Caregiver participants and the researcher will purposefully engage in critical reflection during education sessions and on-ward training to understand real-life situations in their workplace, and create solutions by applying their experience-based knowledge to change practice. We hypothesize that the co-designed caregiver education will be feasible and cost-effective for the hospital and that caregivers will be more prepared to address falls prevention for patients with cognitive impairment, including engaging with their family.

Thrombectomy for large vessel occlusion (LVO) has been the mainstay since publications of 5 landmark trials in 2015. However, these trials had very restrictive inclusion criteria and excluded elderly patients or those with premorbid disability. The aim of this trial is to deliver high quality evidence of the effectiveness of LVO thrombectomy in patients with premorbid disability.

The study explores two approaches to diabetes management in Indigenous Australians living in remote communities. Communities will be randomly assigned to either intensive weekly clinic visits, including tirzepatide injections, blood glucose monitoring and other medication oversight, or standard care with usual clinic visits. The primary goal is to determine if the intensive approach improves blood sugar control. Researchers will also assess whether it reduces complications such as kidney, eye, and heart disease. The study aims to provide insight into which strategy offers better health outcomes for this population.

This study is investigating a novel personalised medicine approach to the use of Hyperthemic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) at the time of Cytoreductive Surgery (CRS) for Colorectal Periotneal Metastases (CPM). Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are a patient aged 18-85 years old with synchronous or metachronous peritoneal metastases of colorectal adenocarcinoma origin, who has been deemed suitable for consideration of Cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC (i.e. radiologically has potentially resectable disease either upfront of after neoadjuvant chemotherapy). Study details Participants enrolled in this study will receive a novel personalised medicine approach by preclinically determining an individual patient's tumour response to chemotherapy prior to its administration intraperitoneally (HIPEC) at the time of their routine cytoreductive surgery. Delivery of CRS and personalised HIPEC will be compared to a historical cohort of patients who received non-personalised treatment to determine improvement in peritoneal disease free survival. Data on overall survival, cancer-specific survival, adverse events, surgical complications and patient-reported outcomes will also be collected. It is hoped that findings from this study will help address the current knowledge gap regarding the benefit of HIPEC+CRS, and therefore inform national guidelines for CPM management with international impact.

This study aims to compare an individualised, repetitive computer-based therapy program delivered using the AbleX with a conventional therapist-facilitated task-specific practice program on upper limb (UL) function and quality of life (QoL) for patients with acute stroke. To achieve this aim, the following objectives will be considered. 1. To compare change in UL function of patients with UL motor impairment post stroke between the intervention and control groups. 2. To compare change in patient QoL between the intervention and control groups. 3. To compare the amount of completed UL therapy repetitions between the intervention and control groups. 4. To compare the amount of required direct therapist time between the intervention and control groups. Research question: How effective is virtual reality (VR) at improving UL function and patient QoL when delivered as an adjunct to conventional UL therapy in the acute stage of recovery post stroke? Hypothesis: It is hypothesised that UL rehabilitation incorporating the AbleX will improve patient UL function and QoL when compared to conventional upper limb therapy alone.

This project presents a novel intervention combining mental imagery and episodic future thinking (EFT) in diabetes management, targeting Type 2 diabetes. Modifying delay discounting to help people with Type 2 diabetes focus on the future rather than immediate rewards is an innovative and low-cost approach which can be adopted by individuals easily once they have learnt to generate the future-oriented mental pictures. The present study will apply EFT and mental imagery to people with diabetes and assess the feasibility, acceptability, and potential behavioural impact of offering an intervention that guides people with diabetes to 'imagine the future' using mental imagery.

We spend an increasing amount of time within buildings yet have limited understanding of how the design of interior built environments affect our brain functioning and behaviour. Studies in a controlled laboratory setting using virtual reality have recently shown that enlarged room scale affects brain activity which has been associated with concentration and performance. Although promising that we may be able to optimise cognitive functioning through building design, it is important we understand if the computer-generated modelling and virtual reality presentation of a room elicits the same effect as physically constructed and experienced rooms. In this study, adults (aged 18-40, N=55) will be exposed to two rooms, where they will complete computerised cognitive tasks while neurophysiological measures are recorded. Mixed model analyses will be used to compare the measures between the two rooms. Overall, it is intended this study will help us understand if we can optimise the spaces we inhabit to support our cognitive performance.