News
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SEPT 2009
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Sandra David Oration & St Vincent's Campus Research Week - 14-18 September 2009.
St Vincent's Clinic Foundation agreed to sponsor the St Vincent's Campus Research Week in 2009. The event was held in 14-18 September.
The purpose of the Research Week was to raise awareness of the depth and breadth of research amongst students, staff, schools / universities, and possibly industry, government and the wider community.
The Sandra David Oration was held 17 September in conjunction with the St Vincent's Campus Research Week.
Clinical Researcher Excellence Awards in the areas of Medical, Nursing, Allied Health & Scientist were granted on the night along with the 2010 grants.
MAY 2009
DIABETES RESEARCH by Professor Ric Day
The 2009 Ladies Committee Sr Mary Bernice Research Grant ($100 000) has been awarded to Professor Richard Day for his work on factors affecting the blood concentrations of metformin (a drug widely prescribed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes).
Prof Day said “Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease that affects more that one million Australians and is the leading cause of blindness and kidney disease. The current therapeutic strategy, with metformin can be problematic. We are aiming to investigate new strategies to maximise the benefits of metformin, particularly for those people with kidney impairment”.
As well as aiming to develop a better understanding of how to select the optimal daily dose of metformin so as to maximise its benefits and minimise its risks, the team is also aiming to apply the findings to improve the care of indigenous populations, investigate how genetics affect absorption and elimination of metformin and use pharmacogenetic screening to individualise treatment.
Prof Day and his team are based in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at St Vincent’s Hospital.
“The St Vincent’s Clinic Foundation grant enables me, as a clinician, to engage in research that is at the very coalface of clinical practice, the sort of research that marries science with clinical medicine. Funding of this sort for research is becoming harder to obtain and I am very grateful to the Foundation for its support of clinical scientific endeavour.”
A/Prof Katherine Samaras
2007 Recipient of the Ladies’
Committee Sr Mary Bernice Grant
May 2009
Safer Warfarin Therapy
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National Recognition for Warfarin Safety Project
A special safety project was introduced to improve the management of Warfarin throughout the Hospital. One of the most prescribed drugs in Australia, warfarin has PBS records showing almost two million prescriptions dispensed last year. However, due to its narrow therapeutic window warfarin is a difficult drug to use.
If a patient takes a dose larger than they can tolerate, they are at risk of lifethreatening bleeding. If they receive too low a dose, they are at risk of potentially fatal blood clots. According to NSW Health 2007 data, warfarin is the third most common drug reported in in-patient medication incidents, after morphine and paracetamol.
With these risks in mind, St Vincent’s Private Hospital ran a Warfarin Safety Project to facilitate improved clinical outcomes. Outcomes included increasing the percentage of patients that receive warfarin education, increasing the percentage of patients whose starting dose is consistent with approved protocol and maintaining adverse outcomes below the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards national benchmark.
The project successfully implemented a number of interventions to increase warfarin safety, including reworking the warfarin educational material and translating it into French for Cafat patients, sourcing a warfarin education DVD, developing a warfarin knowledge assessment tool .jpg)
and patient education checklist as well as implementing warfarin commencement and reversal guidelines for Visiting Medical Officers.
The project has been one of the first in NSW to utilise the Clinical Excellence Commission’s (CEC) new Quality Use of Medicine performance indicators. The CEC’s performance indicators have allowed for the measurement and benchmarking of current warfarin policies, processes and outcomes at St
Vincent’s Private Hospital. Nationally recognised, the Warfarin Safety Project has received two peer reviewed awards, the Australian Private Hospitals Association Baxter Award for Clinical Excellence and Patient Outcomes and the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards Quality Improvement Award.
Made possible by the support of St Vincent’s Clinic, the project received a multi-disciplinary patient-focused research grant of $25,000.
