General Paediatrics

Contact

Andrew Martin | General Paediatric Medicine
PCH.GeneralPaeds.Admin@health.wa.gov.au

Departmental Overview

The Department of General Paediatrics (DGP) is one of PCH’s largest and busiest medical departments, delivering inpatient and outpatient care across many clinical areas including: general paediatrics, rural outreach, and specialty clinics including areas such as Aboriginal health (Koorliny Moort Aboriginal Ambulatory Care Team), refugee health, palliative care, developmental paediatrics and infant monitoring.  

As the main tertiary general paediatric service for WA, the Department is actively involved in a very broad range of research activities from audits to research requiring higher level ethics approval including national and international clinical trials.It encourages multidisciplinary and collaborative research, offers opportunities for student involvement and is also actively involved in guideline development.

The Department aims to focus research on areas of greatest need based on common and important conditions and current clinical questions, improving outcomes for vulnerable populations, staff and family experiences and expectations, work flow and CAHS priority areas.

Some broad areas of research include: 

  • Improving outcomes for vulnerable populations: refugee health, Aboriginal health, juvenile justice
  • The management of chronic diseases, including paediatric cancer surveillance and familial hypercholesterolemia
  • Auditing practice against current guidelines for best practice
  • Adherence to Choosing Wisely recommendations.

Research Projects

A complete list of around 140 past, present and future research topics can be found here and range from audit to multi-centre and adaptive clinical trials.  

Current Research

In addition to the broad areas above, some current areas of research include evaluation of:

  • COVID-19-related service provision, trials of staff vaccination
  • Adolescent medicine: transition to adult services, self-harm 
  • Staff wellbeing
  • Aboriginal health: care coordination
  • Refugee health: cultural awareness training, translated materials, use of interpreters, dental caries, children in off-shore detention, ear health services
  • Rare condition management: Prader-Willi syndrome, surveillance for children at risk of cancer, CMV related hearing loss
  • Common health issues: asthma, bronchiolitis, parental smoking, iron deficiency, proton pump inhibitor prescribing, vaccination, febrile infant management, hypercholesterolaemia, afebrile seizures
  • Active surveillance for conditions of public health importance.

Future Research Opportunities

  • Refugee Health: exit proforma review, general health assessment, neurodevelopment and disability trends, use of interpreters
  • Aboriginal Health: growth and developmental issues, ADHD and stimulant response, adolescent transition pathways, developmental vulnerabilities in premature infants
  • Adolescent health: reproductive health module for culturally and linguistically diverse patients, transition processes, 
  • ADHD and ASD 
  • Clinical database audits: Trisomy 21, Rasopathy, Tumour Surveillance
  • Down syndrome: adherence to thyroid function and coeliac serology monitoring, adherence to sleep assessments
  • Palliative Care: Knowledge, attitudes and practice; Clinic evaluation; death in hospital and palliative care involvement
  • Prospective study of patients discharged with BRUE (Brief Resolved Unexplained Event) 
  • Vaccination:  in immunosuppressed patients, influenza vaccination uptake among inpatients, phase I/II trials 
  • COVID-19: ISARIC protocol data collection
  • Adherence to PCH guidelines for investigation of urinary tract infection in admitted children
  • Documentation of lumbar punctures in children at PCH
  • The utilisation of Hospital in the Home care for children with cellulitis requiring intravenous antibiotics
  • The use of criteria-led discharge in admitted children.

All general enquires related to research in the DGP should be directed to (CAHS staff only):

Link to department research page (CAHS staff only): 

Last Updated: 23/06/2022