AusHSI Celebrates Cardiac Month

22 August 2022

Earlier this year we announced a new TTRA partnership with the Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation (AusHSI), to provide support and mentoring for standalone behavioural intervention applicants and awardees focused on diabetes and cardiovascular disease. 

AusHSI is a leader in health services research, and has designated August as Cardiac Month to highlight the work of its Cardiac Health Services group. The group is focused on developing new knowledge to drive implementation of high value cardiovascular health services.

Recent decades have seen substantial improvements for people with cardiovascular disease, but they still account for a quarter of all deaths and cost the Australian economy upwards of $5B every year. Continuing to deliver those improvements seen in recent years with scarce health resources is a constant challenge and health services research  can make a difference.

The AusHSI Cardiac Program is working to help health services improve the healthcare provided to cardiology patients and is being led by Prof Will Parsonage, AusHSI Clinical Director and Senior Staff Cardiologist at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and St Vincent’s.

The AusHSI Cardiac Health Services group recently participated in the CSANZ and ACRA 2022 Annual Scientific Meetings presenting their research projects through abstract posters and taking the opportunity to meet, in person, with several of the partners in their CHD LIFE+ collaboration research for congenital heart disease.

Neurodevelopment in Children with Congenital Heart Disease

Clinicians from Children’s Health Queensland have developed care pathways for children with congenital and childhood heart disease (CHD), called CHD LIFE, to help them overcome developmental obstacles and improve their functional health. AusHSI's MRFF-funded research project CHD LIFE+  seeks to systematically use information from the CHD LIFE care pathway to better understand, develop and apply new models of long-term neurodevelopmental care for children with CHD and their families.

Read an interview with Holly Williams from HeartKids, the CHD LIFE+ study’s key consumer partner. Based at Children’s Health Queensland, CHD LIFE Clinical Nurse Consultant Karen Eagleson writes about the CHD LIFE journey and Dr Ben Auld shares how he is working to improve access to cardiac care for geographically remote patients. AusHSI PhD Scholar Pakhi Sharma’s research investigates Consumer Preferences for Neurodevelopmental Follow-Up Care for Children with Congenital Heart Disease.

Listen to the latest HeartKids podcast From the Heart to hear CHD LIFE+ researchers A/Prof Rob Justo and Prof Will Parsonage discuss the connection between congenital heart disease (CHD) and neurodevelopment in children with presenter Sam Stolberg, who himself lives with CHD.

Indigenous Cardiac Health

Published in the Medical Journal of Australia, AusHSI researchers Prof Jaimi Greenslade and Prof Will Parsonage have led a study with Cairns Hospital and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital to identify a way of more quickly determining the risk of a heart attack for Indigenous patients. Read the latest issue of The Health Advocate featuring an article by Prof Will Parsonage on his ongoing collaborative research, and the next steps.

Atrial Fibrillation

Learn how AusHSI is engaging with stakeholders to co-design a framework for integrated care to manage atrial fibrillation in Australia. Higher Degree Research students Ureni Halahakone and Sumudu Hewage, who was recently awarded a prestigious Queensland Cardiovascular Research Network (QCVRN) scholarship, share insights into their work investigating the cost-effectiveness of screening for atrial fibrillation, and ways to improve access to integrated care in Australia.

Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary heart disease is still the leading cause of death in Australia and can be costly to treat. There are three main treatment options: medical therapy, percutaneous coronary intervention using stents for symptom relief of chest pain 
and coronary artery bypass graft surgery, with different levels of invasiveness, risk and cost. Find out more about AusHSI's research into the cost effectiveness of all three treatments through the work of Dr Victoria McCreanor and the research team. 

Follow AusHSI on Twitter and LinkedIn to find out more cardiac news from AusHSI Cardiac Month!