2023 Project News

November 2023 update

Dr Eileen Boyle presenting at the CAHS child health symposium on Wednesday 8th November 2023 Perth Western Australia

We are well underway with data collection at Perth Children's Hospital for two studies in the Safer care for children in hospital research program.

1) Family involvement in ESCALATION System
In this study we are finding out about doctors, nurses, and families' experiences and views involving families in recognising and responding when a child's health is getting worse in hospital.

More than 300 nurses and doctors filled out a survey online, and more than 340 families in the community and in hospital completed the "Did you feel heard?" survey. To get a deeper insight into the experiences of doctors, nurses, and families, over 40 doctors and nurses joined in focus groups, and 15 families have participated in individual interviews.

We have commenced initial analysis of the surveys, focus groups and interviews. In the March 2024 update, we will report key findings.

2) Predicting clinical deterioration using the ESCALATION System
In this study we will examine the performance of the ESCALATION System to predict clinical deterioration and sepsis.

We are collecting data from the health records of children who had an unplanned visit to intensive care and comparing it to those who didn't. In this Case-Control study we have looked at over 120 cases since July 2023 and anticipate collecting information until July 2024.

St John Ambulance Western Australia (SJWA) has started using the paediatric ESCALATION system, and you can find more information about it here. In 2024 we will commence data collection of our cohort study. In this study we will gather information from the health records of children who were admitted to the Perth Children's Hospital and compare it with those who were not admitted after being transported to the hospital emergency department by SJWA.

Consumer & Community Advisory Group:
On Tuesday, November 28th, we held the final meeting of our consumer reference group for 2023. During this session, we discussed the initial findings from our survey and interview focus group. Our plan is to come together again in February 2024 to engage in further discussions and receive feedback on the results.

Conference and presentations:
Since June 2023 we have presented various aspects of the Safer care for children in hospital research program at several conferences, symposiums, and academic forums. This provided us with the opportunity to disseminate our work to diverse audiences facilitating feedback and discussion.

Telethon Kids Institute- Curtin University Health Science
Curtin University and Telethon Kids Institute (TKI) are working collaboratively to promote research growth and improve research training for the well-being of children, adolescents, families, and the broader community.

Dr. Eileen Boyle presented our research program on June 6th, supporting collaboration between Telethon Kids Institute and Curtin University researchers. The goal was to enhance awareness and strengthen partnerships between the two organizations.

Australian College of Children & Young People’s Nurses
The Australian College of Children and Young people (ACCYPN) is the national nursing professional organisation that advocates for the nursing practice of children and young people.

In September 2023 Dr Esther Adama spoke at the ACCYPN conference in Darwin regarding the ESCALATION System and the research study Optimise family involvement in the ESCALATION system at Perth Children’s Hospital. This study concentrates on improving collaboration among doctors, nurses, and families to better recognize and respond when children are becoming more unwell in the hospital.

Psi Alpha Research Symposium
The Western Australian Psi Alpha at-Large Chapter 2023 research symposium Where to from here? was held at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research at Nedlands, Perth Western Australia. This symposium showcased the many research projects and work undertaken by nursing and midwifery researchers, clinicians, and students from WA.

On Friday the 27th of October Dr Eileen Boyle presented Safer care for children in hospital: Strengthening and sustaining the paediatric ESCALATION system (SPECS)' research program.

Child Health Symposium- Child and Adolescent Health Service
The 2023 Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS) and Telethon Kids Institute Child Health Research Symposium ‘Celebrating Innovation, Collaboration and Translation was held at Perth Children's Hospital in Western Australia.

At the CAHS speakers from nursing, allied health and medical professions, laboratory scientists and population health presented their research in areas of adolescent and mental health, Aboriginal health, and patients with complex needs.

Dr Eileen Boyle presented the research program Safer care for children, Strengthening and sustaining the paediatric ESCALATION system. Dr Boyle presented the current program progress and future steps.

Chelsea Kelly presenting at the CAHS child health symposium.

Chelsea Kelly presented her PhD titled Supporting nurses’ detection of clinical deterioration in hospitalised children with dark-coloured skin.

Chelsea is currently conducting a scoping review to review and synthesise the available literature on the assessment of clinical deterioration in hospitalised children with dark-coloured skin.

Chelsea presented the preliminary findings of this scoping review at the symposium.

Dr. Eileen Boyle presenting at the Aboriginal Health Conference, Fremantle, Western Australia on the 18th of November 2023.

Aboriginal Health Conference
The Rural Health West Aboriginal health conference: Dedication The Story of Our Elders was held in Fremantle, Western Australia on the 18th and 19th of November 2023. This conference recognised the significant contributions of the Elders and a reminder that the journey towards improved Aboriginal health is closely connected with the experiences and stories of the people who came before us.

This conference brought health professionals from across rural Western Australia exploring the diverse aspects of Aboriginal health including, Caring for Elders, Culturally Competent Care, Sexual health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing.

Dr. Eileen Boyle presented the research study Strengthening Aboriginal family involvement in the paediatric ESCALATION system. This presentation provided an opportunity for discussion and feedback regarding the study rollout and the potential for additional community engagement.

Associate Professor Fenella Gill presenting the Gavin Leslie Best Nursing Paper’ 2023 at The Australian and New Zealand Annual Scientific Meeting on Intensive Care in Adelaide March 2023.

June 2023 update

The next steps involve assessing how the ESCALATION system has been used in different healthcare settings and if any changes were made to make it work better for specific needs.

The research team is working on the "Safer care for children in hospital - Strengthening and sustaining the paediatric ESCALATION system (SPECS) research program." They are collaborating with doctors, nurses, and families to improve the use of the ESCALATION system. The goal is to help healthcare workers and families quickly recognize and manage worsening health conditions, including sepsis, in children receiving medical care in Western Australia.

The project will be conducted at Perth Children’s Hospital and a number of West Australian regional hospitals.

Safer care for children in hospital: Consumer & Community Advisory Group:
Our consumer and community advisory group consists of parents who have first-hand experience with their child being in the hospital. We have already held two meetings this year. During these meetings, there were extensive discussions about family experiences in the hospital and how to escalate care when concerned about a child's deteriorating health. The group has played a crucial role in developing the "Family survey" data collection tool for the Safer Care for Children in Hospital project. They have also provided valuable advice to shape the family interviews conducted as part of the project.

State-wide uniform paediatric ESCALATION system:
Starting from mid-2023, not only will all WA health hospitals, health centers, and several private hospitals utilize the ESCALATION system, but St John Ambulance WA will also implement the paediatric ESCALATION System in their prehospital emergency response service.

Conference and presentations:
The Gavin Leslie Best Nursing Paper
The ESCALATION System publication Development of an evidence-based ESCALATION system for recognition and response to paediatric clinical deterioration - Australian Critical Care was awarded the Best Nursing Paper published in the journal Australian Critical Care 2023

The Gavin Leslie Best Nursing Paper recognises excellence in research by a member of the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (the College). The award is sponsored by the journal publisher Elsevier to promote and reward high quality nursing research and scholarship of College members.

Royal Children’s Hospital Nursing Research and Clinical Innovations Symposium 2023
On May 12th, A/Professor Fenella Gill gave a keynote speech at the Royal Children's Hospital Research Symposium. She talked about the creation and application of the paediatric ESCALATION System and discussed future research plans. Symposium participants were highly interested in using co-design research and systematic approaches to overcome obstacles in implementing new interventions.

L-R: Dr Emma Jamieson, Dr Annie De Leo, Dr Eileen Boyle, Dr Timothy Inglis, Melisa Vernon

Science on the Swan 2013- Partnering for Success
Dr. Eileen Boyle joined a panel discussion about healthcare in rural and regional areas. The panel included other researchers: Dr. Annie De Leo from Edith Cowan University, Dr. Timothy Inglis from the University of Western Australia (UWA), and Dr Emma Jamieson from The Rural Clinical School, UWA. The discussion, led by Melissa Vernon Chief Operating Officer-Strategy and Reform for the WA Country Health Service, focused on projects, involving the community, and improving research in rural and remote parts of Western Australia. The sessions were helpful for sharing ideas and finding better ways to engage with the community and enhance research in those specific areas.

Aboriginal families' involvement:
We have begun conducting interviews with Aboriginal families at Perth Children's Hospital. Through these conversations, we gain insights into how families can contribute to recognizing and responding to early signs of a child's serious illness during their hospital stay. This knowledge will assist us in finding the most effective ways to engage and include Aboriginal families in the process.

February 2023 update

Welcome to three new team members:

Dr Esther Adama
Dr Esther Adama is working with team to Optimise family involvement in the ESCALATION system at Perth Children’s Hospital.

Esther is a Senior Lecturer and Course Coordinator of the Graduate Certificate of Children and Young People’s Nursing at Edith Cowan University (ECU), School of Nursing and Midwifery.

Esther’s research focuses on family support needs within the neonatal intensive care unit and community settings, with particular interest on needs of fathers. Esther is also a PhD and Master by research supervisor for research on infant, young people and child health issues.

Dr Jo Zhou RN, PhD, MCN (Paediatric), BScN
Dr Jo Zhou is working on the research program focusing on measuring the predictive ability of the paediatric early warning score in-hospital and pre-hospital emergency response contexts.

Jo is a lecturer in Curtin School of Nursing dominantly teaching research project
units of Master by Coursework program. She has over 30 years of paediatric inpatient care experience and currently work as a Clinical Nurse of long term complex surgical ward in
Perth Children’s Hospital.

Jo is an early-career researcher, and her research area is healthcare service safety and quality with a particular interest in developing and validating predictive models for unplanned hospital readmissions.

Chelsea Kelly
Chelsea has commenced her PhD studies “Exploring factors influencing the detection of clinical deterioration in hospitalised children with darker coloured skin in Western Australia”. Chelsea will be the recipient of a grant funded PhD scholarship.

Chelsea is a Registered Nurse who has worked primarily in paediatric critical care and has also spent time working regionally in Albany and Broome. She holds a Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Microbiology and Immunology Major) and Bachelor of Nursing.

Consumer and Community Reference Group:
Our first Consumer and Community Reference Group meeting was held on Tuesday the 28th of February at Perth Children’s Hospital. At the meeting we discussed our Safer care for children in hospital research program.
If you are interested in knowing more about the program and/or would like to be a member of the group, please contact Eileen Boyle at [email protected]