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This study aims to assess the feasibility of an online group exercise and education program for women with breast cancer who are receiving chemotherapy treatment. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are a female aged 18 or older, you have been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer (stage I, II or IIIA), you are scheduled to undergo chemotherapy but you have not yet started, or you have started chemotherapy within the last 4 weeks, and you have a reliable internet connection together with devices to enable video-conferencing. Study details All participants who choose to enrol in this study will undergo a 12 week exercise and education program that is delivered entirely by telehealth. Participants will attend two weekly exercise classes which run for 45 minutes and one educational class each fortnight, which runs for 1 hour including a 15 minute Q&A component. Exercise classes will include a combination of aerobic and resistance training exercises, while the educational sessions will cover topics including how to exercise safely while you are receiving chemotherapy, how to look after your mental health and strategies that may assist you, guidance on maintaining a healthy diet while you are receiving chemotherapy and after treatment has finished. Once this 12 week exercise program is completed, you will receive 12 weeks of tapered phone calls from the research assistant involved in this study to encourage you to maintain exercise levels. It is hoped this research will demonstrate that it is possible and acceptable to deliver these therapies to breast cancer patients remotely via telehealth. If this study shows that delivery of this program by telehealth is successful, it may lead to a larger future study of telehealth delivery of these therapies to a greater number of breast cancer patients, and would particularly benefit those patients who are not able to travel to hospital on a weekly basis.

This pilot randomised controlled trial aims to evaluate the acceptability and clinical efficacy of a novel, immersive virtual reality (VR) intervention as an adjunct form of analgesia to help manage acute post-surgical pain. It will compare two randomly allocated participant groups, with participants recruited 48 hours after undergoing a surgical procedure under general anaesthesia. The control group will receive usual care (standard pain treatment), while the intervention group will receive usual care in addition to the experimental VR intervention. The intervention involves four sessions of immersive VR, delivered over two days. During each session, the participant is immersed into a virtual environment by wearing a head-mounted display while interacting with a novel VR program using a hand-held controller. Scores of pain severity, pain-related distress, heart rate and the incidence of possible side effects (such a nausea, disorientation and dizziness) will be assessed before and after each VR session. At the completion of the study intervention period, participants will complete a study-specific questionnaire rating their satisfaction and acceptability of the intervention. Their use of pharmacological analgesia (as part of usual care) during the two-day study period will also be measured.

This study aims to explore if a telehealth rehabilitation consultation is useful to follow up patients with injury from road accidents after hospital discharge. All patients will receive a telehealth consultation with a rehabilitation physician and allied health professional (1-3 weeks after discharge), to identify rehabilitation needs and receive referral to community-based rehabilitation services. Patients will be followed up at 1 month and 3 months to see how many had rehabilitation needs identified during telehealth consultation and their levels of acceptance/satisfaction with the telehealth consultation.

The aim of the study was to determine whether early, structured rehabilitation is effective in critically ill patients in aiding physical and psychological recovery. The study was conducted as a trial and compared patients receiving early rehabilitation versus usual care. Patients were assessed on commencement on the study, on discharge from hospital, and at 6 and 12 months. The study was conducted at St. Vincent’s Hospital Sydney. Patients were eligible for the study if they were critically ill patients and were in intensive care (ICU) for at least 5 days. The early rehabilitation group received early routine screening by a rehabilitation physician, routine multidisciplinary assessment and provision of individualised, structured rehabilitation programme (up to two 30-minute therapy sessions per day) with formal coordination through case conferencing. This was be provided through the Mobile Rehabilitation Team (MRT). The participants were followed-up by the rehabilitation clinic The key components were daily team communication, higher intensity of therapy than usual care, and weekly case conferencing. In the usual care group, therapy could be provided by usual therapists in the ICU or acute ward. A rehabilitation physician was still able to review the patient at the request of the treating team and the MRT may have been involved if deemed necessary. The 2 groups were followed at hospital discharge and at 6 and 12 months. Outcomes assessed at discharge included their length of hospital day; muscle strength; mobility/endurance; functional independence/ability to carry out activities of daily living; and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. The outcomes assessed at 6 and 12 months included: ability to carry out activities of daily living; symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress; and quality of life.

In Australia there are currently >425,000 people living with a stroke related disability and this number is only set to rise with the aging population and burgeoning epidemics of diabetes and obesity. In the chronic post-stroke period the only way to improve function and independence is through rehabilitation. Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT) is the current best practice for upper-limb rehabilitation. Recent evidence suggests that CIMT's success may be due to one component, the transfer package which encourages patients to be more responsible for their own recovery. The package includes daily revision of a behavioural contract, Motor Activity Log (an index of how well the patient can complete everyday activities with their more-affected hand), daily activity diary, daily schedule (including home practice), and patient-centred goal setting and problem solving. Preliminary research also suggests that this package can be transferred to other intensive therapies with equal benefits. However, such intensive programs are rarely used in routine clinical practice due to lack of staff and resources. This study aims to investigate the use of the transfer package delivered via telehealth in current hospital outpatient rehabiltation programs. I hypothesise that patients receiving the transfer package will have greater improvements in function and will not require recurrent outpatient programs thus reducing costs and improving the capacity of the outpatient hospital system.

This study looks at the effect of an outpatient exercise program on how the heart functions, using the latest technology (cardiac magnetic resonance imaging) and more established indicators of prognosis measured by right heart catheterisation. It also examines the effect of exercise on patient endurance and quality of life. The results of this study will have important widespread implications for the outpatient treatment of PAH, providing guidance regarding the optimal format of exercise in patients with PAH.

Impaired arm and hand function is a common and often devastating problem for stroke survivors. Regaining lost movement in the arm/hand is more difficult to achieve than walking, with only 5% of people with hemiplegia regaining functional use of their hand. This devastating outcome could potentially be addressed, however we do not yet know how to best increase movement in the arm and hand after stroke for patients with spasticity. There is a lack of randomized controlled trials of botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A) with a group who does not receive therapy in some dose, and so whether gains were achieved through BoNT-A or a combination of the BoNT-A and therapy cannot be determined from the studies to date.The research project is testing whether intense therapy given after botulinum toxin injections into the arm is more helpful than just the injections alone.

Those randomised to the intervention group will receive the services of a Mobile Rehabilitation team who will deliver rehabilitation services while the participant is admitted to the acute wards. Those randomised to the control group will have usual care. Both groups will be followed up by phone interview at 3 months for those with moderate injury and 6 months for those with severe injury to determine health outcomes.

The primary objective is to determine whether or not a rehabilitation physician appointment can help with return to work (full or suitable duties) and usual activities after a motor vehicle accident..