Research Week 2019: A culture of research
As part of Research Week 2019, Northern Health staff have an opportunity to present and have their research assessed – both as posters and oral presentations.
As Professor Peter Brooks, Research Lead at Northern Health says, “These contributions highlight the quality of research activities occurring across the clinical spectrum.”
“By reviewing and evaluating what we do, and how we do it,” he adds, “it gives our staff the opportunity to change things for the better and deliver trusted care for our community, now and into the future.”
Oral presentations happen today at 2.30 pm – 3.30 pm and between 10 and 11 am tomorrow (9 October) at the Northern Hospital Epping Lecture Theatre. Poster presentations can be viewed in the Northern Hospital foyer for the duration of Research Week.
Northern Health clinicians continue to publish high calibre research in leading journals. Examples include publications in the New England Journal of Medicine such as Associate Professor Wei-Qi Fan’s publication Nasal High-Flow Therapy for Newborn Infants in Special Care Nurseries and our Intensive Care team’s collaborative efforts in the Spice, Heat, Adrenal and Transfuse trials led by Dr Angaj Ghosh and Dr David Crosbie.
Dr Michael Kirk, Director Medical Services, says what excites him is the collaborative nature of the research we are doing at Northern Health and how it spans across the disciplines – Nursing, Medical, Allied Health etc.
“We are starting to build a culture of research across the northern community – partnering with community providers, General Practitioners (GP), primary care and the like,” says Michael.
Michael says this extends outside our health service too – pointing to our collaborations with our academic partners, GPs and initiatives such as ‘Staying Well’.
“Ultimately, we would need to get our community and patients involved in the research,” says Michael.
“None of this research can happen without them,” as he is quick to point out.
The challenge, as Michael sees it, is “getting the community to understand the role that they have – to set in place a process that from the time the patient gets in touch with our health service, they have a clear understanding that we as an organisation have three opportunities to be involved in their care – obviously our service delivery, but also education and research.”
“The next evolution is how we co-partner with our patients in research and education and further enhance what our staff do,” says Michael.