HITC News

HITC is expanding its research engagement with the Silver Chain Group, Australia’s leading not-for-profit organisation delivering community and in-home health and aged care services.  Silver Chain places a strong value on research, with a growing program of research to generate new knowledge about client needs and demonstrate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of their products and services.  They have a particular focus on mental health, palliative care, and innovative models to integrate health and aged care into clients’ homes, through the use of digitally enabled care access to improve outcomes and self-management.  A key driver of their research program is ensuring they deliver best care to their diverse clients, and that they are inclusive and sensitive to client needs.

Silver Chain has provided support for several recent HITC research applications around chronic health including the development of social communication models of hearing rehabilitation and for the Happy Life Club’s e-health and clinician supported chronic disease management, and transforming chronic health outcomes through digital innovation.

Silver Chain’s engagement in HITC research initiatives is led by Anna Barker, Executive Director Research and Innovation, and Tanya Davison, Director Research Discovery of the Silver Chain Group.  Both have recently been appointed Adjunct Professors in the HITC.

Anna Barker has a background in physiotherapy with a particular focus on geriatrics physiotherapy. She brings over 20 years of health industry and clinical research experience.  Her expertise in clinical trials, health service evaluations, ageing, chronic disease and quality and safety, links her research with a number of our HITC streams.  Anna also holds an Adjunct appointment at Monash University.

Tanya Davison has a background in clinical psychology and an established reputation for her expertise in the mental health and wellbeing of older adults.  Across her 18 years for research experience, she has developed a strong interest in creating evidence-based approaches to improve the way in which older adults are cared for within the aged care sector.  Tanya implements applied, translational research that demonstrates a sustainable impact on health care policy and practice. She also holds adjunct appointments at Monash University and Swinburne University.

Through their engagement with Federation University, they hope to not only collaborate on research, publications and HDR supervision, but also to develop mutually beneficial pathways to support education and training beyond research.  With Silver Chain’s commitment to providing regional services, the link between our two organisations will enhance health care service within ageing populations across our communities.

We welcome Anna and Tanya to HITC and looking forward to expanding our productive engagement with the Silver Chain Group.

The Health Innovation and Transformation Centre is committed to translating our world class research outcomes into real world practices that have a ‘clinical/health’ impact and a ‘policy’ impact.  We were very successful in this goal in 2021.  Below are some examples.

Professor Simon Cooper

Cooper S. Kinsman L. Champion R. Kim JA. Boyle J. Cameron A. Cant R. Chung C. Connell C. Evans. L. McInnes D. McKay A. Norman L. Penz E. The impact of simulation education programs on nurses’ response to patient deterioration.

In 2001 Cooper et al completed a series of work that aimed to improve the clinical management of seriously ill patients.  This included the development of face to face and virtual simulation programs that were rolled out to clinical staff in four Victorian hospitals.  Using pre-post interventional measures (time series analysis) both educational approaches were found to significantly improve staff management of deteriorating patients with more appropriate and timely care.

Professor Rochelle Eime

Eime, R., Charity, M., Harvey, J., Pankowiak, A., Westerbeek, H. Sport Participation Research Project 2019-2021.

This longitudinal study has been reporting on community sport participation trends since 2011.  In 2020 it was able to clearly demonstrate the impact of policy and investments into female participation over the previous 5 years, and the significant impact of COVID on the sport sector.  This has led to policy and investment strategies for sports, VicHealth and State Govt - Sport and Recreation Victoria, and the further extension of this project for 2022 and 2023.

Professor Richard Bradbury

Flaherty BR, Barratt J, Lane M, Talundzic E, Bradbury RS. Sensitive universal detection of blood parasites by selective pathogen-DNA enrichment and deep amplicon sequencing. Microbiome. 2021;9(1):1-9.

In 2021 the final paper from the parasitic diseases diagnostic group was published. This described the further development of the high-throughput sequencing based Universal Parasite Diagnostic (UPDx) assay into an ultra-sensitive assay, comparable in sensitivity to real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This assay has now been adopted in parasitology diagnostic reference laboratories in the U.S.A., including the Centre of Disease Control and Prevention - Parasitic Diseases Reference Laboratory and the New York State (Wadsworth) Public Health Laboratory. The work developing this assay also resulted in World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Patent WO2019060840: Eldin Talundzic, Richard S Bradbury, Christian Olsen, Briana Flaherty. Removing Interfering Host Nucleic Acids for Molecular Parasite Detection;granted 28 March 2019.

Dr Yutang Wang

Wang Y, Zhang W, Qian T, Sun H, Xu Q, Hou X, Hu W, Zhang G, Drummond GR, Sobey CG, Charchar FJ, Golledge J, Yang G. Reduced renal function may explain the higher prevalence of hyperuricemia in older people.

In 2021, Wang et al completed a study with 13,288 Chinese adults and found that reduced renal function explains the common epidemiological observation that the prevalence of hyperuricemia is higher in older people in whom renal function is reduced. It is usually thought that the increase in circulating uric acid would lead to a corresponding worsening of renal function. However, a few very recent studies showed that uric acid-lowering therapy did not slow the decline in renal function. These studies and the current study suggest that the progression of chronic kidney disease is the cause of the increase in circulating uric acid.

Dr Daniel Terry

Terry, D. Hills, D. Peck, D. Kirschbaum, M. Obamiro, K. Bishop, J. Baker, E. Schmitz, D. Better enabling, retaining, and sustaining the pharmacy workforce in regional, rural, and remote settings.

In 2021 Terry et al undertook a study aimed at successfully supporting the recruitment and retention of rural pharmacists. This included the design and development of the Pharmacist Community Apgar Questionnaire (PharmCAQ) which was piloted among rural community and hospital pharmacies across Victoria and Tasmania. Using the PharmCAQ key assets and challenges that enable pharmacist recruitment and retention in rural communities were identified, while providing long-term retention solutions and strategies.

Dr Danielle Wagstaff

Watkins, C., Bovet, J., Fernandez, A.M., Leongomez, D., Zelazniewicz, A., Correa Varella, M.A., & Wagstaff, D. (2022). Men say “I love you” before women do: robust across several countries. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

This paper demonstrates that men are more likely to confess love first in a relationship, and suggest that regardless of sex, attachment style affects the reactions to being told “I love you”. Confessing love and reactions to love confessions are dissociated. This paper shows the cross-cultural nature of love confessions, and has utility for relationship counselling, if alignment between what people say and how they feel is important for relationship outcomes.

Professor Carolyn Unsworth

Title: Improving safety for bus passengers using wheelchairs and mobility scooters: Effectiveness of restraint systems

Research funders: Department of Transport, Vic ($307,000).

Research team: Professor Carolyn Unsworth (SOH), Dr. Gayan Kahandawa and Amal Jayawardena (Engineering)

Drawing on previous research conducted by Unsworth’s team, Australian and International Standards and legislative documentation, this research investigated the forces that are present on public buses that may produce slide or tip for users of mobility devices such as wheelchairs or scooters, the frequency of such, the effectiveness of passive containment and active tie-down systems and the practical considerations.

The team developed a modified containment system which has been demonstrated to reduce slide or tip and meets practical considerations.  This research has a direct impact on improving bus travel safety for people with disabilities using mobility devices, and findings will be reviewed by the Department of Transport for implementation across Victoria and elsewhere.

Professor Britt Klein

My Digital Health is a ‘public good’ offering health platform including a suite of digital mental health programs, across the healthcare activity spectrum, aiming to improve general public mental health and wellbeing.

Technological features allow healthcare practitioners & clinical students to digitally collaborate with their clients and develop their digital mental health skills. Technological features enable the development, evaluation and translation of digital health interventions with an impact on health and wellbeing.

Dr Kerrie Shandley

Lum JAG., Shandley K., Albein-Urios N., Kirkovski M., Papadopoulos N., Wilson RB., Enticott PG., Rinehart NJ. Meta-analysis of Autism Gait.

Published in 2021, the results of this study indicate that autism is associated with abnormal gait, and that the difference in gait between autism and control groups become more pronounced with age. However, the methodological quality of the reviewed studies identified the need to understand the extent that gait abnormalities are specifically linked to autism, or whether they are secondary to other factors commonly found in this group (i.e., increased weight).

Dr Angela Rintoul

Rintoul, A., (2021) Submission to the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence.

In 2021 Angela summarised a body work that she has contributed to the field of gambling regulation. She supported counsel assisting the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator in Victoria by coordinating academics to describe challenges in gaining access to data from gambling operators, including Crown Casino. The Finkelstein report has since recommended the introduction of mandatory precommitment systems at the casino, a measure that Angela has been supporting since 2010, and which the Victorian government is said to be considering. In November 2021 she was selected through a competitive process to participate in the Policy Impact Program for the Churchill Trust and will continue to communicate the need for universal registration systems to prevent harm from gambling, including suicide prevention, through this program in 2022.