Kids Critical Care Research Program

The Challenge

More than 12,000 children require admission to intensive care in Australia and New Zealand every year for potentially life-threatening conditions. Yet, infants and children with critical illnesses are under-represented in medical research. While there are rehabilitation programs for adults, there is little evidence to support effective rehabilitation or specific therapeutic interventions for young children following severe illness, cardiac arrest, or requiring ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation).

Project Overview 

With the support of HM1, Kids Critical Care Research (KCCR) has developed a comprehensive strategic plan to harness big data, biobanking, innovative trial design and long-term neurodevelopmental outcome data to improve care for children following critical illness and admission to intensive care. 

Primary Research Areas:

• Red blood cell transfusion
• Sedation and analgesia
• Post cardiac arrest care 
• Utility of ECMO in critical illness.

‍Project Milestones

• Strategic Plan and Research Themes: Develop a comprehensive plan to guide research.
• Team and Collaboration: Establish the KCCR team and partnered with the Kids Research Institute and Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (SCHN).
• Infrastructure and Capability: Set up key research infrastructure for future projects, including big data capture, Neuropsychological follow-up, Adaptive trial design, Biostatistical support, and Biobanking.
• Collaborations: Engage and build on national and multinational collaborations for data analysis and research.
• PhD Student Support: Support KCCR PhD students.‍
• Funding Applications: Apply for national grant funding.

Measuring Impact

Hearts and Minds measures its impact across six core categories developed by the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes. Key highlights include:

Advancing Knowledge

• Collaborations: Multiple local, national, and international research partnerships.‍
• Publications & Presentations: Three publications and three oral presentations to ANZICS Annual Scientific Meeting in Brisbane.

Research Capacity Building

• External Committees: Participation in national and global working groups and study steering committees.
• Supporting Young Talent: Four PhD students supported (two with financial support and two with in-kind support).‍
• Sharing Knowledge: Data collection support for ANZICS Registry and PediRES-Q international registry. National and international collaboration on research trial design.

Health Impacts

• Better Health Outcomes: Focused on enhancing the health outcomes for young children recovering from critical illnesses through targeted interventions and comprehensive follow-up care.‍
• Safety Improvements: Focused on improving sedation and analgesia guidelines, and reducing adverse effects of red blood cell transfusions in paediatric critical illness.

Economic Impacts

• National Grant Applications: Three national funding applications with KCCR staff as Chief Investigator.‍
• NSW Health Support: Funding secured for Phase 2 of the Discrete Event Simulation Modelling study.

Social Impacts

• Vulnerable Groups: Focused on infants and children with critical illness, who are under-represented in medical literature and considered a vulnerable population.
• Understanding Social Determinants: Research on social determinants of health is being used to improve access to ECMO in babies and children which may benefit from the Kids ECMO Referral Service, NSW Health.‍
• Discrete event simulation modelling: Adopted by NSW Health to plan and test future paediatric intensive care services and additionally by SCHN to determine and test the preferred configuration (capacity, staffing, and workflows) of the paediatric intensive care unit at Children's Hospital at Westmead.

Informing Decisions

• New PICU Design: Research used to inform the design and function of the planned new PICU at Children's Hospital at Westmead.
• Understand Potential Benefit: Research to understand the potential benefit of improved equity of access to ECMO for babies and children and plan the Kids ECMO Referral Service, NSW Health‍
• Neuropsychological Follow-Up: Developing targeted programs for childhood survivors following critical illness.

‍

The Kids Critical Care Research Program, with its comprehensive strategic plan and range of collaborations, aims to make significant strides in paediatric critical care. By leveraging big data, innovative trial designs, and long-term neurodevelopmental follow-ups, strives to ensure the best outcomes for children in critical care.

‍Funding support from Hearts and Minds Investments. For further information and updates, visit Kids Research.