Optimising the Utility of Injury Surveillance Systems for Injury Prevention in Active Populations. Promotion of physical activity is a key national health priority and a major focus for the Australian Defence Force to achieve and maintain operational fitness. Unfortunately, these goals are associated with the negative effects of increased injury occurrence and substantial related costs. Civilian and military injury surveillance systems inform injury prevention priorities and interventions but re ....Optimising the Utility of Injury Surveillance Systems for Injury Prevention in Active Populations. Promotion of physical activity is a key national health priority and a major focus for the Australian Defence Force to achieve and maintain operational fitness. Unfortunately, these goals are associated with the negative effects of increased injury occurrence and substantial related costs. Civilian and military injury surveillance systems inform injury prevention priorities and interventions but research is required to maximise their performance and utility. The project aims to 1) determine the extent to which current systems meet user requirements 2) assess utility and reliability of these systems specifically for active populations and 3) develop recommendations for future systems development and improved user application.Read moreRead less
Improving the measurement and surveillance of child abuse in Queensland. Estimates of the prevalence of child abuse suggest 10-20% of children are affected, with financial costs to the community around $5 billion annually, and extensive health and social consequences. Despite these enormous costs, research into risk factors and prevalence of child abuse has been hampered by poorly validated statistics. The use of routine hospital data for the identification of child abuse cases offers an effici ....Improving the measurement and surveillance of child abuse in Queensland. Estimates of the prevalence of child abuse suggest 10-20% of children are affected, with financial costs to the community around $5 billion annually, and extensive health and social consequences. Despite these enormous costs, research into risk factors and prevalence of child abuse has been hampered by poorly validated statistics. The use of routine hospital data for the identification of child abuse cases offers an efficient nationally standardised data source to improve the precision of child protection departmental responses through routine monitoring and audits of linked health and child protection data. Improvement of data will inform identification, intervention and prevention strategies.Read moreRead less
Architectural glass related injury: implications for improving public safety. The immediate benefit of the project is information for government, the building and furniture industries, regulators, and the community to underpin interventions to prevent architectural and furniture glass injury. A major longer term benefit is to provide the crucial injury and glass data for future conduct of the other two phases of the planned research program, namely, glass performance testing and simulated human- ....Architectural glass related injury: implications for improving public safety. The immediate benefit of the project is information for government, the building and furniture industries, regulators, and the community to underpin interventions to prevent architectural and furniture glass injury. A major longer term benefit is to provide the crucial injury and glass data for future conduct of the other two phases of the planned research program, namely, glass performance testing and simulated human-glass impact studies. These future studies will provide the scientific evidence for review of the Standards for architectural glass for application to the building, design and construction industry to increase safety for the Australian community. Read moreRead less
Understanding, modelling and preventing alcohol-related crime, violence and injuries in Surfers Paradise - a high-crime community. This Project aims to understand, model and prevent alcohol-related crime, violence and injuries in a high-crime community - Surfers Paradise. It also aims to overcome the traditional barriers to sustaining crime reductions. Information from multiple agencies will be collated in an integrated database. The subsequent modelled estimates will generate user-friendly crim ....Understanding, modelling and preventing alcohol-related crime, violence and injuries in Surfers Paradise - a high-crime community. This Project aims to understand, model and prevent alcohol-related crime, violence and injuries in a high-crime community - Surfers Paradise. It also aims to overcome the traditional barriers to sustaining crime reductions. Information from multiple agencies will be collated in an integrated database. The subsequent modelled estimates will generate user-friendly crime profiles for the community to analyse environmental and situational factors precipitating violence, crime and injury in their area. The Project is innovative because it integrates multiple sources of information, analyses them and enables prevention programmes to be matched to the social, temporal and spatial idiosyncrasies of any high-crime community.Read moreRead less
Human Factors and Patient Safety. In some cases hospitalisation can result in the patient becoming worse, or even dying, due to the experience. These events cost the community unnecessary pain and suffering and consume healthcare resources. Prevention of adverse events in healthcare will contribute to Promoting and Maintaining Good Health. Improving our ability to deal with failures in healthcare, including those due to human factors, will have a significant impact on their reduction.
Learning from Preventable Deaths: A prospective evaluation of reforms to Coroners' recommendation powers in Victoria. Coroners in Australia investigate nearly 13,000 deaths each year and have a unique vantage point on health and safety risks. The public as a whole will benefit from information that helps translate those insights into system changes that work to prevent injuries and accidents from occurring. This project is designed to produce such information. It will also serve stakeholders ....Learning from Preventable Deaths: A prospective evaluation of reforms to Coroners' recommendation powers in Victoria. Coroners in Australia investigate nearly 13,000 deaths each year and have a unique vantage point on health and safety risks. The public as a whole will benefit from information that helps translate those insights into system changes that work to prevent injuries and accidents from occurring. This project is designed to produce such information. It will also serve stakeholders at several other levels. By illuminating circumstances in which coroners recommendations produce positive change, project findings will help coroners shape and disseminate their prevention messages for maximum effect. Also, for states interested in modifying or boosting coroners' recommendation powers, our findings will help guide reforms.Read moreRead less
Developing and Enhancing the Quality of National Injury-Related Hospital Morbidity Data. The annual direct cost of treatment of injuries is estimated to be $2.6 billion across health sectors and $1.6 billion for hospitals alone. Quality data on the circumstances surrounding hospitalised injuries are vital for determining injury risk factors, allocating resources appropriately, and evaluating injury prevention strategies. This research firstly assesses the specificity of coded data for external ....Developing and Enhancing the Quality of National Injury-Related Hospital Morbidity Data. The annual direct cost of treatment of injuries is estimated to be $2.6 billion across health sectors and $1.6 billion for hospitals alone. Quality data on the circumstances surrounding hospitalised injuries are vital for determining injury risk factors, allocating resources appropriately, and evaluating injury prevention strategies. This research firstly assesses the specificity of coded data for external causes of injury and identifies the reasons for a lack of quality in coded data. Based on these findings, a targeted educational program will be implemented for clinicians, coders, and injury researchers, to ultimately enhance the quality of national injury-related hospital morbidity data.Read moreRead less
The influence of resistance training upon movement control in the elderly. The primary aim of this applied research project is to investigate the impact of resistance training in the elderly. We will assess the responses to training that occur in the elderly, and determine the time course and persistence of adaptation. It is anticipated that the knowledge derived will be applied by clinicians and health practitioners in the design of resistance training programmes for the elderly, and thereby en ....The influence of resistance training upon movement control in the elderly. The primary aim of this applied research project is to investigate the impact of resistance training in the elderly. We will assess the responses to training that occur in the elderly, and determine the time course and persistence of adaptation. It is anticipated that the knowledge derived will be applied by clinicians and health practitioners in the design of resistance training programmes for the elderly, and thereby enhance the performance of tasks encountered in daily living.Read moreRead less
Preparatory processes in rapid interceptive action. This project investigates the nature of the processes involved in preparing to act in response to a moving object: actions that elite sportspeople perform with amazing precision: timing to within a few thousandths of a second is routine when hitting a ball in tennis and cricket. The average person can be capable of something similar and it means being ready to make the right movement at the right time. Understanding the preparatory processes in ....Preparatory processes in rapid interceptive action. This project investigates the nature of the processes involved in preparing to act in response to a moving object: actions that elite sportspeople perform with amazing precision: timing to within a few thousandths of a second is routine when hitting a ball in tennis and cricket. The average person can be capable of something similar and it means being ready to make the right movement at the right time. Understanding the preparatory processes involved will be a significant scientific advance and knowledge of their workings and limits can contribute to the development of strategies for improving safety in dynamic environments such as city roads. This project will put an Australian laboratory at the cutting edge in this area of research.Read moreRead less
Experimental and computational assessment of the mechanical, musculo-skeletal and neuromuscular contributions to rhythmic multi-joint arm movements. The human body is a complex mechanical system that is controlled by a vast neural network comprising many millions of connections. To date, realistic descriptions of the interactions between these neuro-mechanical features have proved elusive. This project seeks to develop a mathematical model that accurately describes the essential features of the ....Experimental and computational assessment of the mechanical, musculo-skeletal and neuromuscular contributions to rhythmic multi-joint arm movements. The human body is a complex mechanical system that is controlled by a vast neural network comprising many millions of connections. To date, realistic descriptions of the interactions between these neuro-mechanical features have proved elusive. This project seeks to develop a mathematical model that accurately describes the essential features of the control system for human movement, and yet is simple enough to inform the design of artificial devices to generate or assist movement. The knowledge derived should improve mechanical and neural prosthetic systems, and guide rehabilitation protocols. The work will ultimately provide a considerable benefit to the community by reducing the social cost of a range of movement disorders.Read moreRead less