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Centre for Community Child Health

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Australian Paediatric Research Network

  • The Australian Paediatric Research Network (APRN) is a national network of general paediatricians who are interested in contributing to research into common childhood conditions/

    The APRN addresses research gaps in the secondary care settings including private practice, public outpatients and community health centres.

    Projects are proposed by paediatricians, the APRN steering committee and advanced trainees in consultation with experts in the field.

    The APRN is open to new members. Paediatricians are invited to click this link and join for free.

    Aims

    The aims of the APRN include:

    • increasing quality and quantity of research in the secondary care sector
    • improving clinical care
    • engaging paediatricians to develop new research questions, take part in projects, learn new skills and foster collaborations with colleagues around the country.
    • Translating research findings into policy and practice

    Projects

    To date, the APRN has conducted 12 projects since its establishment in 2007.  Projects include:

    • National Delphi Study – a two-stage survey using the Delphi technique to identify paediatricians’ research priorities in 2007 and 2014-2015.
    • Children Attending Paediatricians Study – two week, prospective clinical practice audit of paediatricians practice conducted in 2008 and 2013, respectively. Paediatricians recorded information on 8,345 (2008) and 7,102 (2013) consultations.
    • Multi-Topic Survey – amalgamated short topic surveys lead by paediatricians and advanced trainees in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015. A total of 15 topics have been asked over the four surveys including paediatricians’ management of obesity, food allergy and use of genetic microarray.

    Publications

    We have published our findings in 15 publications, including

    • Knight, S., Harvey, A., Towns, S., Payne, D., Lubitz, L., Rowe, K., Reveley, C., Hennel, S., Hiscock, H. and Scheinberg, A. (2014), How is paediatric chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis diagnosed and managed by paediatricians? An Australian Paediatric Research Network Study. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 50: 1000–1007
    • Hiscock H, Roberts G, Efron D, Sewell J, Bryson H, Price A, Oberklaid F, South M, Wake M. Children Attending Paediatricians Study: National prospective audit of outpatient practice from the Australian Paediatric Research Network: Medical Journal of Australia 2011:194(8);392-39
    • Rudolph S, Hiscock H, Price A, Efron D, Sewell J, South M, Wake M. What research questions matter to Australian paediatricians? National Delphi Study. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 2009

    Contact

    For more information on the APRN please visit our website www.aprn.org.au or email us at aprn.paeds@rch.org.au.

 

Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

The Centre for Community Child Health is a department of The Royal Children’s Hospital and a research group of Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.