Mathematical Decision Support to Optimise Hospital Capacity and Utilisation. Hospital planners and executives regularly contend with challenging capacity related decisions. Decisions relating to prioritisation, allocation and sharing of resources have a profound impact on productivity, efficiency and patient outcomes. There is a lack of data-driven or quantitative decision support to make well-informed capacity related decisions of a strategic or tactical nature in a single hospital, or across a ....Mathematical Decision Support to Optimise Hospital Capacity and Utilisation. Hospital planners and executives regularly contend with challenging capacity related decisions. Decisions relating to prioritisation, allocation and sharing of resources have a profound impact on productivity, efficiency and patient outcomes. There is a lack of data-driven or quantitative decision support to make well-informed capacity related decisions of a strategic or tactical nature in a single hospital, or across a regional healthcare system. This project aims to deliver decision support for holistic hospital capacity assessment and planning optimisation. This will yield significant benefits for the health sector, providing a tool to optimise the allocation of resources and provision of infrastructure for regional hospital services.Read moreRead less
Promoting youth wellbeing through participatory digital media: A multidisciplinary assessment of the mental health outcomes of cyber-participation. This innovative, multidisciplinary research addresses the urgent issue of youth mental health, and aims to investigate the impact of digital media participation on improving youth wellbeing. Key national benefits of this research are: the significant potential to contribute to the larger conception, prevention and promotion of youth mental health in ....Promoting youth wellbeing through participatory digital media: A multidisciplinary assessment of the mental health outcomes of cyber-participation. This innovative, multidisciplinary research addresses the urgent issue of youth mental health, and aims to investigate the impact of digital media participation on improving youth wellbeing. Key national benefits of this research are: the significant potential to contribute to the larger conception, prevention and promotion of youth mental health in Australia; evaluation of, and subsequent evidenced-based innovations, of POs' digital media programs to increase level of support for youth; and the training provided to emerging researchers in the project team.Read moreRead less
Development of a Prothrombogenic Bone Graft Substitute. The clinical demand for bone is massive and to counter this bone can be either harvested from the patient or bone substitutes are used. The success or failure of a bone substitute is determined the instant it come into contact with blood. The surfaces of traditional biomaterials induce a foreign body reaction. The aim of this project is to test the bone forming capacity of a biomaterial that is optimised to produce a natural response from ....Development of a Prothrombogenic Bone Graft Substitute. The clinical demand for bone is massive and to counter this bone can be either harvested from the patient or bone substitutes are used. The success or failure of a bone substitute is determined the instant it come into contact with blood. The surfaces of traditional biomaterials induce a foreign body reaction. The aim of this project is to test the bone forming capacity of a biomaterial that is optimised to produce a natural response from the blood. This response will lead to the formation new viable tissue and eventually bone. Such a material will cause faster bone healing, less pain from graft sites, shorter hospital stays and shorter waiting lists. Read moreRead less
Use of an animal model to understand mechanisms underlying reductions in body weight associated with use of the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band. At least one in ten Australians is classified as morbidly obese and as such are eligible for bariatric surgery. Those undergoing the surgery will achieve an average excess weight loss of up to 60 per cent, they will have reduced or eliminated diabetes and will appreciably improve their prospects of survival. These experiments aimed at understandin ....Use of an animal model to understand mechanisms underlying reductions in body weight associated with use of the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band. At least one in ten Australians is classified as morbidly obese and as such are eligible for bariatric surgery. Those undergoing the surgery will achieve an average excess weight loss of up to 60 per cent, they will have reduced or eliminated diabetes and will appreciably improve their prospects of survival. These experiments aimed at understanding the mechanisms underpinning this success have the potential to further improve surgical approaches and outcomes and provide insights that will better enable weight loss therapies for all overweight and obese Australians.Read moreRead less
Intelligent Freeform Bio-fabrication for Customised Anatomical Structures for Reconstructive Surgery. This project contributes towards the ARC priority goal on advanced materials and frontier technologies by developing an intelligent freeform biofabrication facility to produce accurate anatomical biocompatible replica structures and implants for reconstructive surgery. The products, produced from patient's CT or MRI scan data, will contribute to complex surgical procedure planning and patient ed ....Intelligent Freeform Bio-fabrication for Customised Anatomical Structures for Reconstructive Surgery. This project contributes towards the ARC priority goal on advanced materials and frontier technologies by developing an intelligent freeform biofabrication facility to produce accurate anatomical biocompatible replica structures and implants for reconstructive surgery. The products, produced from patient's CT or MRI scan data, will contribute to complex surgical procedure planning and patient education. The proposed facility will be based on multifunctional freeform fabrication process supported by intelligent software tools and database of biocompatible materials. The prospective outcomes are likely to have an excellent commercial and patenting potential that may help Australia become a leader in biomanufacturing technology.Read moreRead less
An innovative system for accurate bending of fracture fixation plates in orthopaedic surgery. Bone fractures cost the Australian healthcare system about 1 billion annually, with the costs associated with non optimal surgical outcomes due to post-operative complications being much higher. The novel system developed in this project will not only shorten surgical procedures but also result in anatomically better fitting plates which will improve the functional outcome and reduce the need for surgic ....An innovative system for accurate bending of fracture fixation plates in orthopaedic surgery. Bone fractures cost the Australian healthcare system about 1 billion annually, with the costs associated with non optimal surgical outcomes due to post-operative complications being much higher. The novel system developed in this project will not only shorten surgical procedures but also result in anatomically better fitting plates which will improve the functional outcome and reduce the need for surgical implant removal. It will further lessen degenerative changes in adjacent joints as a result of incorrect fracture alignment. It can be expected that these improvements in surgical techniques will translate into reduced healthcare expenditure and ensure patient's quality of life.Read moreRead less
Rapid Development of Biocompatible Stent Grafts for Aortic Aneurysms. Weakening of the aorta may cause an aneurysm. The present technique of its treatment involves replacing the weakened portion of the aorta with a synthetic graft. Failure of this treatment often occurs due to non-compatibility of the stent graft with natural aorta. One possible reason for this is a mismatch between elastic natural aorta and the non-elastic artificial graft. The core component of our project is the selection and ....Rapid Development of Biocompatible Stent Grafts for Aortic Aneurysms. Weakening of the aorta may cause an aneurysm. The present technique of its treatment involves replacing the weakened portion of the aorta with a synthetic graft. Failure of this treatment often occurs due to non-compatibility of the stent graft with natural aorta. One possible reason for this is a mismatch between elastic natural aorta and the non-elastic artificial graft. The core component of our project is the selection and development of a suitable biomaterial and optimization of the stent design based on hemodynamics flow analysis and its fabrication with the Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) process.Read moreRead less
Understanding the biomechanical effects of fixation strategies to improve the technology of fracture management. Severe limb trauma is the leading cause of disability to people of wage-earning age, and 150,000 Australians are hospitalised with fractures each year. Beyond the direct costs to the nation of $1000 million annually, temporary and permanent loss of limb functionality have a significant impact on productivity and quality of life. The computational models developed in this project will ....Understanding the biomechanical effects of fixation strategies to improve the technology of fracture management. Severe limb trauma is the leading cause of disability to people of wage-earning age, and 150,000 Australians are hospitalised with fractures each year. Beyond the direct costs to the nation of $1000 million annually, temporary and permanent loss of limb functionality have a significant impact on productivity and quality of life. The computational models developed in this project will address critical gaps in the knowledge of fracture healing and the influence of different fixation devices. The project outcomes will provide a basis for tailoring fixation technologies for more reliable outcomes and minimised risk of non-union and complications, and thereby reducing physical impairment and the socio-economic burden of fractures.Read moreRead less
In Vitro Study of Hemodynamic Stresses and Endothelialization of Artificial Coronary Arteries. Restenosis (recurrence of the disease) is a major problem in the case of patients undergoing artificial artery by-pass surgery. Ideally the design for manufacturing the scaffold for cell adhesion of the artery should factor in hemodynamic forces and optimised geometry to withstand the hemodynamic stresses and other forces. This project aims to investigate the material for manufacturing the artificial a ....In Vitro Study of Hemodynamic Stresses and Endothelialization of Artificial Coronary Arteries. Restenosis (recurrence of the disease) is a major problem in the case of patients undergoing artificial artery by-pass surgery. Ideally the design for manufacturing the scaffold for cell adhesion of the artery should factor in hemodynamic forces and optimised geometry to withstand the hemodynamic stresses and other forces. This project aims to investigate the material for manufacturing the artificial artery using Fused Deposition Modeling and to develop methods for the establishment of endothelium on the artificial artery, concluding a restenosis-free solution for by-pass surgery. The knowledge gained through this work would be applicable to the design of other prosthetic devices.Read moreRead less
Motor vehicle injuries: economic evaluation of a new treatment modality. The management of injured persons following motor vehicle accidents is a serious health issue in Australia, with over 60,000 minor injuries and 20,000 major injuries occurring annually. This project will provide a cost-effectiveness analysis of a new multidisciplinary approach to managing minor injuries by utilising data from the Accident Care Evaluation (ACE) trial of a new clinic being tested for this purpose.