Welcome to the June 2008 issue.
In this issue:
Upcoming WOMBAT Workshops
Western Australia
WOMBAT Workshop: Women's & Babies Health and Wellbeing Improving Outcomes
This one day workshop will look at the role of randomised trials in improving the health of mothers and babies. Participants will work in small groups to consider an important clinical question and consider the evidence currently available to guide clinical practice and the need for further research. In the afternoon participants will learn how the clinical questions they have been discussing can be turned into robust research study designs with results which could be used to improve practice.
Monday, 7th July 2008, 9.30am – 4.30pm Agnes Walsh House, KEMH, Subiaco
For more information or to register (essential) contact: Danuta Kubinski Secretary
Department Nursing Midwifery Education & Research
Tel: 9340 1566 Email: danuta.kubinski@health.wa.gov.au
Queensland and New South Wales
The Mater Mother's Hospital 17th Annual Evidence Based Best Practice Conference
This 3 day course is designed specifically for clinician researchers in maternity and newborn health care from all disciplines including medical, midwifery, nursing and allied health. Day one of the workshop will focus on critical appraisal of published research and clinical practice guidelines including a basic understanding of commonly used statistics.
Days two and three of the workshop will be run by the WOMBAT collaboration led by Vicki Flenady and Professor Caroline Crowther. For these two days, participants are encouraged to bring a research question they would like to work into a protocol for a randomised control trial. The course will cover all fundamental aspects of trial design and methodology, and participants will have the opportunity to work with other researchers and the workshop faculty to develop their trial protocol. The format of the workshop will include a number of break-out group sessions and therefore spaces are limited. Please register early to avoid disappointment.
Participants can attend either all three days, or either of the components: Evidence Based Practice (July 30), and the WOMBAT protocol workshop (July 31-August 1).
Wednesday, 30th July to August 1st July The Mater Medical Centre Conference Room, Mater Medical Centre, Brisbane, QLD
For More information or to register, contact: Patricia Smith, Tel (07) 31631591 Email patricia.a.smith@mater.org.au
TRIALS IN THE NEWS
Clinical Trial of the Year Award Winner Announced
Inaugural Award to Honor Study of Caffeine and Premature Infants
The Society for Clinical Trials (SCT) and Project ImpACT (Important Achievements of Clinical Trials) announce the winner of the inaugural SCT/ImpACT Clinical Trial of the Year award. The award went to a trial examining the long-term effects of the administration of caffeine in premature infants to alleviate apnea of prematurity, showing a substantial health benefit. Barbara Schmidt, MD, MSc, the trial’s principal investigator and the Kristine Sandberg Knisely Chair in Neonatology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, accepted the award on behalf of the Caffeine for Apnea of Prematurity Trial Group. Her trial was the first to receive this award, which was announced on May 20 at the Society for Clinical Trial’s annual meeting in St. Louis, on International Clinical Trials Day.
Thanks to Iain Chalmers and David Sackett for nominating this trial. What is not in this announcement is the fact that the PI says that she got the idea for this trial while ‘killing time browsing the Cochrane Library’, and being ‘horrified’ that this widely used treatment, which she had good reasons to believe might be harmful, had never been tested for its long term effects. From the moment she was browsing the Cochrane Library to when the 4-country, >30 site trial of nearly 2000 infants was actually initiated was only 18 months.
The Society for Clinical Trials www.sctweb.org
Project ImpACT www.projectimpact.info www.projectimpact.info/Home/aboutus.cfm
The new Mater Mothers’ Hospital – another exceptional delivery for Mater Health Services
After 420,000 hours in labour, Mater Health Services has birthed their latest addition weighing in at 27,000 tonnes and measuring 40 metres, the brand new Mater Mothers’ Hospitals.
Officially opened by Her Excellency, Ms Quentin Bryce AC, Governor of Queensland and blessed by Most Reverend John A Bathersby DD, Archbishop of Brisbane, the new Mater Mothers’ Hospitals were unveiled on Friday, 30 May.
Set against the backdrop of the brand new facility, hundreds of guests and dignitaries including The Honourable Kevin Rudd MP, Prime Minister of Australia and The Honourable Anna Bligh MP, Premier of Queensland, Sisters of Mercy, past and present women and families, and Mater staff gathered in the historic Aubigny Place forecourt to acknowledge the procession from the old to the new.
Mater Health Services CEO, Dr John O’Donnell said the opening of the state of the art facility represents a new era in maternity health care and an important milestone for Queensland. “Since 1961 Mater has provided maternity services to the community. Today marks a momentous occasion as we build on this longstanding tradition in providing expanded services to meet the growing needs of our community,” Dr O’Donnell said. Funded jointly by Queensland Health and Mater Health Services, the new Mater Mothers’ Hospitals form part of a $188M major capital upgrade.“Set to assist in up to 10,000 births each year, the partnership between Mater and Queensland Health has effectively delivered the premier maternity facility in Australia”, Dr O’Donnell said.
“With funding of more than $127M from the Queensland Government for the cost of the public facilities and the remaining $61M from Mater for the private components, the new Mater Mothers’ Hospitals will provide exceptional integrated tertiary services for women and babies.”
Story Courtesy of Mater Public Engagement
Other workshops, meetings and conferences relevant to maternal and perinatal health
Australian Conferences and Events
CenteringPregnancy® workshop 7 & 8 July 2008
The UTS Centre for Midwifery, Child and Family Health has developed an array of initiatives to assist with contemporary developments in antenatal care provision in both rural and urban settings. A range of consultancies and workshops are offered that can be designed to meet the individual needs of maternity services and practitioners. The first two workshops in 2008 were held in March and were popular and very successful.
Additional workshops are now available on 7 and 8 July 2008. One of these workshops will provide an update in the skills and knowledge for antenatal care provision and the second will be an introduction to the CenteringPregnancy® model of care.
Campus: City - Broadway
Building: CB10, Level 7, Room 114
Contact: Priya Nair
Email: Priya.Nair@uts.edu.au
Phone:+61 2 9514 4834
Numbers are limited - registration will close on 30 June 2008 or when the maximum number of attendees have registered; whichever comes first.
Birth to Three Matters: Foundations for Research, Policy and Practice
July 5 & 6
Griffith University, Logan Campus, Meadowbrook, Queensland
This conference will aim to provide delegates with the current Australian perspective of child development using both a multidisciplinary and a transdisciplinary approach to supporting children's development in the birth-three age group.
For More Information contact: Geraldine, Joy or Katie on (07) 3290 5200 or visit www.communitiesforchildrenwwlk.org.au
RANZCOG AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S HEALTH MEETING
14-16 August 2008, Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin, Northern Territory
The RANZCOG is convening an Indigenous women’s health meeting, with the aim of bringing together health professionals across the country with the common interest and desire to improve the health and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
The meeting will have a diverse program of presentations covering cultural issues, current public health information, clinical topics and medico-political opinions. Delegates will gain information on what’s happening in different regions of the country, as well as being informed on broader issues. The meeting will also provide a forum to develop valuable networks, and to assist the College in developing a more active role in improving the health of Indigenous women.
The RANZCOG extends an invitation to all health professionals who work with Indigenous women as part of their practice, or have a strong interest in this area
For more information or to register: http://www.ranzcog.edu.au/meetingsconferences/iwh.shtml
SOMANZ-ADIPS MEETING
2008 Combined Annual Scientific Meeting
31 October – 2 November 2008
Hilton Adelaide, South Australia
Internationally recognised invited speakers are:
Dr Ray Powrie, Associate Professor of Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology,
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Senior Vice President, Quality and Clinical Effectiveness, Women and Infants Hospital, Providence Rhode Island, USA
Dr Peter Damm, Specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Chief Physician, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital of Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstracts for scientific and clinical case presentations or posters are encouraged
Deadline for Abstracts 12 September 2008
Early Bird Registration 16 September 2008
For further details contact: SOMANZ Meeting Secretariat, The [Meeting] People PTY LTD, PO Box 882 Unley SA 5061, Tel: +61 8 8177 2215
Email: lara@themeetingpeople.com.au or see http://www.somanz.org/annual.htm
National Association of Childbirth Educators Inc.
11th Biennial National Conference - "Educators Epicure: Recipes for success"
3-5 September, 2008
The Novotel Hotel, St Kilda, Melbourne
For all your conference needs visit our website at: www.nace.org.au Earlybird Registration closes 1st of July
or contact Melinda Eales directly on M: 0418 590 814 or meales@tpg.com.au
Breathing New Life into Maternity Care: Working Together for Normal Birth
This is a collaborative conference held every second year to provide a forum for interdisciplinary dialogue about issues of mutual interest or concern in the provision of safe and high quality maternity care to women and their families. It attracts midwives, GPS and obstetricians, as well as consumers, policy makers and managers.
18th - 20th September, 2008
Holiday Inn Surfers Paradise, QLD
Contact: Therese Kramer, Remark: events@remark.com.au 02 9517 3664
International Conferences and Events
International Lactation Consultants’ Association (ILCA)/USLCA Conference and Annual Meeting
"One Voice, Uniting the Profession - Practice, Professionalism, Policy"
July 23-27, 2008 Nevada, USA
For more information: www.ilca.org/conf2008.html
28TH Annual Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology (SRIP) Conference, London, England
8-10th September 2008.
For further information: http://www.srip.ac.uk/
European Lactation Consultants' Association (VELB) “A World Wide View on Breastfeeding”
October 1-3 2008 Austria Center, Vienna, Austria
Information: www.velb.org or www.ilca.org
2008 International Stillbirth Conference
A joint conference of ISA and WHO hosted by the Norwegian Society of Perinatal Medicine. Co-hosted by Norwegian SIDS and Stillbirth Society and Perinatal Research Center, Rikshospitalet University Clinic
November 5-7, Oslo, Norway
Go to: http://www.stillbirthalliance.org/conference/2008/ for more information and to submit your abstracts electronically (open from March 15)
Advance notice: 2009
International normal birth research conference in Grange over Sands June 10-12th 2009.
For further information, contact:
Soo Downe
email: sdowne@UCLAN.AC.UK
The 9th World Congress of Perinatal Medicine in Berlin, Germany
October 24-28, 2009.
For further information: www.wcpm9.org
Call for Abstracts and Scholarships
A number of Scholarships and a call for abstracts are currently advertised on the Australian College of Neonatal Nurses Website: www.acnn.org.au
Victorian Association of Neonatal Nurses (VANN) 1st Annual Symposium - 11th October 2008
The closing date for submissions of abstracts for oral and poster presentations will be close of business Friday 12th SEPTEMBER 2008
Neonatal Nurses' Association of Queensland
Applications are invited from Qld registered nurses who are current NNAQ financial members, who have been a member for at least 12 months, to apply for a scholarship to assist with meeting costs associated with professional development; continuing education or research within the profession.
Neonatal Nurse's Association of NSW 2008 Research Prize
In 2007 the Association of Neonatal Nurses of NSW Inc. launched an annual research prize to the value of $1000 towards attendance at a conference of the winner's choice. The closing date for 2008 applications is 31st of August. For More information: www.acnn.org.au
Call for Submissions
The Australian Research Council has just released a consultation paper on the ‘Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Initiative’ and they are calling for submissions. The document and pro-forma for submission responses can be accessed from http://www.arc.gov.au/era/consultation.htm. Responses are due 30 June 2008.
Trial Updates
NEW TRIALS
ACTRN12608000233325
Healthier lifestyles: preventing gestational diabetes in high risk pregnancies
Not yet recruiting
ACTRN12608000277347
Propofol compared to morphine and midazolam for facilitating neonatal intubation
Not yet recruiting
ACTRN126080000280303
The feasibility and efficacy of an individualised approach to increase physical activity among women with previous gestational diabetes
Not yet recruiting
ACTRN12608000295347
DETECT
Response of premature infants born before 29 weeks gestation to early targeted treatment with indomethacin vs placebo
Open to recruitment
Trials requiring more centres & more recruits
BOOST II: Benefits of Oxygen Saturation Targeting Study
If you would like more information on becoming involved in this trial: visit perinatal trials page or email boost2@ctc.usyd.edu.au
PROGRESS Trial: Progesterone after previous preterm birth for the prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome
If you would like more information on becoming involved in this trial: visit perinatal trials page or email progress@adelaide.edu.au
PPROMT Trial: Preterm Pre-Labour Rupture of Membranes Close to Term Trial
If you would like more information on becoming involved in this trial: visit perinatal trials page or email ppromt@med.usyd.edu.au
TWINS: Timing of Birth at Term – a randomised controlled trial (ACTOBAT)
If you would like more information on becoming involved in this trial: visit perinatal trials page or http://www.health.adelaide.edu.au/og/research/mpctu.html or email twins@adelaide.edu.au
Further Information
For more information on WOMBAT initiatives, please contact the WOMBAT Collaboration national co-ordinator: p.middleton@WOMBATcollaboration.net
The WOMBAT Collaboration is funded through a NHMRC enabling grant.
