Research

The intensive care unit has a strong commitment to research and has been responsible for over 250 publications. Major areas of interest have included:

Poisoning (Assoc. Professor Jim Tibballs)
Envenomation (Assoc. Professor Jim Tibballs)
Extra-corporeal therapies (Dr. Warwick Butt)
Nitric Oxide Therapy (Assoc. Professor Jim Tibballs)
Paediatric Emergency Transport Service (Dr. Robert Henning)
Paediatric Index of Mortality (PIM) (Professor Frank Shann)
Post-operative cardiovascular performance (Dr. Lara Shekerdemian)
Pulmonary Hypertension (Dr. Lara Shekerdemian)
Regionalisation of paediatric intensive care (Professor Frank Shann)
Sepsis (Dr. Warwick Butt)
Somato-sensory evoke potentials (Mr. Bradley Carter)
The outcome of children requiring paediatric intensive care (Dr Warwick Butt)
Hypoxia in brain trauma (Dr. Robert Henning)
Hypothermia for brain trauma (Dr. Warwick Butt/Mrs. Carmel Delzoppo)

A list of our most recent publications and protocols of all research projects involving intensive care are displayed in the medical office suite.

Research Staff

All staff from medical, nursing and technology departments within the intensive care unit are encouraged to undertake research. The skills and experience of the intensive care consultant group have provided a strong foundation for the continued growth of research within the unit.

Staff involved in research are assisted by:

Carmel Delzoppo

Manager of the Intensive Care Database and responsible for the development, implementation and maintenance of the clinical database in intensive care, and for producing reports and statistics for use in research within the hospital and externally, with particular reference to the collaborative effort with Australian and New Zealand Paediatric Intensive Care Registry. Team leader of the collaborative data and research team.

Telephone: 61 3 9345 4766
e-mail: carmel.delzoppo@rch.org.au

Carmel Delzoppo

Intensive Care Research Co-ordinator, responsible for monitoring and co-ordinating research projects in the intensive care unit and liasing with staff interested in performing research. Carmel also assists with data collection for the intensive care database and for the organ donor database sponsored by the Red Cross. Steering Committee member for the Paediatric Study Group in the Clinical trials Group for Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society.

Telephone: 61 3 9345 4766
e-mail: carmel.delzoppo@rch.org.au

Claire Daffey, Sheila Embleton, Kristen Porter and Elisha Porter

Database and Research Assistants, who are in individual research projects and contribute to the data collection and maintenance of the intensive care database.

Telephone: 61 3 9345 4766, or ICU data room: 4483
e-mail: claire.daffey@rch.org.au, kristen.porter@rch.org.au , elisha.porter@rch.org.au , sheila.embleton@rch.org.au

Dianne McKinley and Janine Evans

Clinical Nurse Educators for the intensive care unit. Di and Janine actively foster research at a nursing level.
e-mail: di.mckinley@rch.org.au, janine.evans@rch.org.au

Gabrielle Carroll and Vanessa Long

Clinical Nurse Facilitators for the intensive care unit. Gabrielle and Janine provide clinical support to the nursing staff.
e-mail: gabrielle.carroll@rch.org.au, vanessa.long@rch.org.au

Chelsea Caffin, Juliet Pellegrini, Sophie Linton and Hollie McCaig

The PICU Liaison Nurses are establishing a database for patients re-admitted to PICU and are researching patient outcomes and patient management improvement strategies.
e-mail: icu.liaison@rch.org.au, chelsea.caffin@rch.org.au, juliet.pellegrini@rch.org.au, sophie.linton@rch.org.au, hollie.mccaig@rch.org.au

Medical Research Fellow

A medical research fellow in intensive care performs research in area(s) of interest over a two-year period, supervised by intensive care consultant staff, usually towards a post-graduate degree.

Updated: 19/11/2007

Intranet site research information*

*WCH intranet access only

Research currently running in the intensive care unit: as at 15/08/2008

The outcome of hypoplastic left heart syndrome - a 20 year institutional experience.
Contact: Assoc. Professor Jim Tibballs ICU
The psychosocial experience of parents of children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
Contact: Assoc. Professor Jim Tibballs ICU
A study of traumatic epiglottitis.
Contact: Assoc. Professor Jim Tibballs ICU
The clinical signs and symptoms of epiglottitis and croup.
Contact: Assoc. Professor Jim Tibballs ICU
The outcome of Utstein-recorded paediatric cardio-respiratory arrest in hospital.
Contact: Assoc. Professor Jim Tibballs ICU
A study of nosocomial infection at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne.
Contact: Assoc. Professor Jim Tibballs ICU
Envenomation - Various studies including but not restricted to jellyfish.
Contact: Assoc. Professor Jim Tibballs ICU
Histochemical markers of cerebral hypoxia and ischaemia in a rat model of head injury.
Contact: Dr. Rob Henning ICU
The role of hypoxia and ischaemia in deaths due to blunt head injury in children.
Contact: Dr. Rob Henning ICU
Measurement of intra-abdominal pressure: comparison of intravesicular pressures in children.
Contact Assoc. Professor Warwick Butt ICU
A pilot study to describe the incidence rate and clinical features of Human Metapneumovirus (hMPV) infection of the lower respiratory tract in hospitalised children at high risk for severe disease.
Contact: Shannon Power, Clinical Pharmacology
Anticendant signs of cardiac arrest in children.
Contact: Assoc. Professor Jim Tibballs ICU
Manipulation of the pulmonary vasculature in a neonatal lamb model of acute pulmonary hypertension.
Contact: Dr. Lara Shekerdemian ICU
The effect of transport time versus outcome in severely injured children.
Contact: Dr. Rob Henning ICU
The anticoagulant effect of heparin therapy.
Contact: Dr. Paul Monagle, Haematology
Brain Injury in a lamb model of CPB.Contact: Dr. Lara Shekerdemian ICU
Hypothermia in Traumatic Brain Injury in Children (HiTBIC). A mulitcentre trial with the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society's Paediatric Study Group (PSG).
Contact: Carmel Delzoppo ICU
Catheter-related Bloodstream Infections and Thrombosis in Paediatric Intensive Care Units in Australia and New Zealand: A Surveillance Study. Contact: Carmel Delzoppo
A multicentred randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled trial of aminophylline in infants with bronchiolitis who require intensive care.
Contact: Professor Frank Shann, or Carmel Delzoppo ICU

Published work 2008

Cantwell-Bartl AM, Tibballs J. "Place, age, and mode of death of infants and children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome: Implications for medical counselling, psychological counselling, and palliative care." J Palliative Care 2008; 24: 76-84.

Gutierrez J.A., Duke T., Henning R., South M. "Respiratory Failure and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome." In Taussig L.M., Landau L.I., etal (eds) Paediatric Respiratory Medicine 2nd Edition Philadelphia: Mosby 2008

Henning R. Chapter "Shock and cardiac Disease in Children" Oh TH, ed. Intensive Care Manual. Sydney: Butterworths, 6th ed 2007. (In press.)

Henning R., "Lung trauma: Near drowning and toxic inhalation." In Taussig L.M., Landau L.I., etal (eds) Paediatric Respiratory Medicine 2nd Edition Philadelphia: Mosby 2008

Kinney S, Tibballs J, Johnston L, Duke T. "Clinical profile of hospitalized children provided with urgent assistance from a medical emergency team." Pediatrics 2008; 121: e1577-84.

Linton S., Grant C., Pellegrini J., "Supporting families through discharge from PICU to the ward: The development and evaluation of a discharge information brochure for families." Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 26 July 2008

MacLaren G, Kluger R. "The feasibility of myocardial velocity, strain and strain rate measurements during aortic valve replacement surgery." J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth 2008;22(4):648-649

MacLaren G, Yeow SF, Spelman D. "Antibiotic prophylaxis in cardiac surgery." Heart 2008;94(5):646

MacLaren G, Kofidis T, Klima U. "Nonpharmacologic support of the failing right ventricle." Crit Care Med 2008;36(2):662

Perez A., Butt W., Millar K.J., Best D., Thiruchelvam T., Cochrane AD, Bennett M, Shekerdemian L.S. "Long-distance transport of critically ill children on extracorporeal life support in Australia." Critical Care Resuscitation. 2008 Mar;10(1):34.

Plunkett A., De Marco P., Vuillermin P., Duke T. "Klebsiella pneumoniae": Archives of Disease in Childhood. Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. Department of Haematology, Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. Child Health Research Unit, Barwon Health.

Sung V. Massie J. Hochmann MA. Carlin JB. Jamsen K. Robertson CF. "Estimating inspired oxygen concentration delivered by nasal prongs in children with bronchiolitis." [Journal Article. Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't] Journal of Paediatrics & Child Health. 44(1-2):14-8, 2008 Jan.
Tibballs J. Paediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation: recent changes to guidelines. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 2008; 44: 67-9.

Tibballs J. "Organ donation after cardiac death: legal and ethical justifications for antemortem interventions" (letter). Med J Aust 2008; 188: 186-7.

Tibballs J, Cantwell-Bartl A. "Outcomes of management decisions by parents for their infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome born with and without a prenatatal diagnosis." J Paediatr Child Health 2008; 44: 321-4.

Tibballs J, Thiruchelvam T. "A case of Commotio cordis in a young child caused by a fall." Resuscitation 2008; 77: 139-41.

Tibballs J, van der Jagt E. "Medical emergency and rapid response teams." Pediatr Clin N Am 2008; 55: 989-1010.

Tibballs J, Russell P. "Reliability of pulse palpation by healthcare personnel to diagnose paediatric cardiac arrest." Resuscitation 2008; 77: Suppl 1; S30.

Tibballs J, Winkel KD. "Envenomation syndromes". In: Roger's Textbook of Pediatric Intensive Care. 2008. Nichols DG. Ed-in-Chief. Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. Philadelphia. pp482-507.

In Press:
.
Tibballs J. Paediatric resuscitation. In: Intensive Care Manual, Tech OH (ed).
Tibballs J. Poisoning, in Intensive Care Manual, Tech Oh (ed).
Tibballs J. Envenomation, in Intensive Care Manual, Tech Oh (ed).
Tibballs J. Equipment for paediatric intensive care, in Intensive Care Manual, tech Oh (ed).
Tibballs J. Poisoning and Envenomation. In: RCH Paediatric Handbook
TibballsJ. Medical emergencies, In: RCH Paediatric Handbook

Previous years published works

Last Updated 05-Nov-2008. Authorised by: Lara Shekerdemian. Enquiries: Alison Fleming.