AIHI awarded NHMRC and ARC grants

The Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, Australian Institute of Health Innovation was recently successful in securing two NHMRC grants totalling $1.3 million.

• NHMRC Partnership Project grant over 5 years valued at $1.13 million entitled “Delivering safe and effective test result communication, management and follow-up” led by Associate Professor Andrew Georgiou. NHMRC funding for this project is $883,358.20, with additional partner funding of $250,000.

Chief investigators: CIB: Professor Johanna Westbrook (AIHI, MQ), CIC: Associate Professor David Greenfield (AIHI, MQ), CID: Professor Andrea Rita Horvath (SEALS), CIE: Professor Denis Wakefield (UNSW), CIF: Dr Ling Li (AIHI, MQ), CIG: Professor Kenneth Hillman (UNSW)

Partners: South Eastern Area Laboratory Services (SEALS) - $250,000 cash and $679,888 in-kind contributions; Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care - $282,870 in-kind contributions.

The failure to follow up test results is a major area of patient safety concern. This proposal is based on a collaboration between Macquarie researchers, the South Eastern Area Laboratory Services and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. The proposal aims to improve patient safety by establishing effective, safe test result management systems using evidence-based practice, sophisticated health IT, and through engagement with consumers.

“The NHMRC partnership grant will enable our research team at the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, to address issues related to the failure to follow-up patient test results in hospitals, and build effective solutions to enhance the quality and safety of patient care,” said Associate Professor Andrew Georgiou.

• NHMRC TRIP Fellowship valued at $175,303 over two years entitled "Improving quality use of medicines in residential aged care" awarded to Dr Lisa Pont.

Traditionally, antipsychotic medicines have been used to manage challenging behaviours in dementia. Yet research has shown these medicines have limited usefulness and are associated with increases in falls, stroke and death. Despite this, they are still commonly used. In this TRIP fellowship, the research team aims to evaluate the sustainability and generalisability of a multicomponent model to reduce the use of antipsychotics for managing dementia-related behavioural issues in residential aged care facilities.

“This NHMRC fellowship will enable me to continue my work on improving the safety of how medicines are used in Australian aged care homes,” said Dr Lisa Pont.

In addition, Professor Johanna Westbrook, Director of the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, AIHI (CIA) and Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite, Founding Director of AIHI and Director of the Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science (CIB), were awarded an ARC Discovery project entitled "The nature and consequences of interruptions and multi-tasking", with total funding of $462,628 over three years. Professor William Dunsmuir from the University of New South Wales joins this project as CIC.

This project aims to generate new evidence of the nature and consequences of interruptions and multi-tasking in safety critical clinical environments. Interruptions are ubiquitous in modern work environments. Multi-tasking, particularly with information technology, is now an attribute prized by many. There are increasing concerns that interruptions and multi-tasking contribute to errors and work inefficiency. Significant gaps in our understanding of these relationships inhibit action to improve work productivity and safety. This project will measure the effects of these work practices, and advance methods, statistical approaches and theory development. Practical strategies to support safe and efficient work processes will be proposed.

Congratulations go to our AIHI research teams on these outstanding achievements.

Groups related to this news

Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research
Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science

News date

Thursday, 19 November 2015