Quality and Data Analytics Unit

Key Contact:   A/Prof Kirsten Vallmuur

Jamieson Trauma Institute’s Quality and Data Analytics Unit is currently undertaking research projects drawing on linked trauma data, available through existing data systems in Queensland. The work of the unit is focused on scoping the breadth and depth of data collected on trauma across the continuum of care, developing best practice methods and tools for using linked trauma data, and analysing these data to better understand the causes, trends, patterns, burden, costs and outcomes of trauma in Queensland.

The Queensland trauma system requires a modern, integrated, coordinated and highly automated trauma data solution to meet the strategic and operational needs of contemporary emergency health service providers and trauma clinicians.  A central project for JTI’s Quality and Data Analytics Unit is assisting the Healthcare Innovation and Transformation Excellence Collaboration (HITEC) in Clinical Excellence Division and eHealth Queensland to establish a Queensland Trauma Data Warehouse.

The purpose of the Trauma Data Warehouse is to integrate data across the continuum of trauma care in Queensland to facilitate system level audits and support state-wide trauma quality improvement, inform trauma and injury prevention policy, and enable research to improve the care and outcomes of injured patients in Queensland. The Quality and Data Analytics Unit will be one of the key users of the Queensland Trauma Data Warehouse once it becomes fully operational.

Injury Prevention

Key Contact:  A/Prof Cate Cameron

Jamieson Trauma Institute recognises the inherent importance of improving the health of the population through the prevention of injuries, or reducing the severity of trauma.

The burden from injury related deaths, disability, quality of life and associated health care costs on individuals, families and the wider community is significant. Whether intentional or unintentional, most physical injuries can be prevented by identifying their causes and removing these, or reducing exposure to them.

Preventing injuries requires a coordinated, evidence-based approach that supports the effectiveness of policies, technologies, and environmental solutions.

JTI envisions the establishment of systems which connect across the fields of trauma, acute care, rehabilitation, long-term outcome, and prevention; underpinned by collaboration and partnership with a diverse range of stakeholders across Queensland.

As such, one of the key priorities of JTI is to reinvigorate the focus on injury prevention activities across the state. While there are a range of different activities being undertaken by different groups in the injury prevention space, there is no centralised coordination of activities, knowledge, contacts, and priorities.  JTI sees this as an opportunity for collaboration across academia, government, clinical and community groups.

JTI is working to establish a Queensland Injury Prevention Knowledge Hub (QIP-KHub). The intention of QIP-KHub is provide a knowledge base for injury prevention in Queensland to facilitate the coordination, sharing and dissemination of knowledge and activities from key injury prevention organisations, committees and groups. 

Clinical Trials

Key Contact: Prof Michael Reade

Observational studies and laboratory experiments replicating ‘real life’ clinical conditions are essential to understanding how to better improve the diagnosis and treatment of human disease, including the effects of trauma. However, sometimes these research methods can be misleading. Before recommending a new drug or test for widespread adoption, it should be tested under safe, controlled conditions in a series of clinical trials. Usually these trials compare the new drug or test to current treatments.

Clinical trials are classified as Phase I, the first time an intervention is tested in humans; to Phase II, the first time in patients with the relevant condition; or Phase III: large, multi-centre studies that confirm safety and effectiveness in many circumstances. Clinicians and investigators at Jamieson Trauma Institute run Phase II and Phase III trials relevant to trauma, and participate as site investigators in Phase III multi-centre trials. Notably, patients involved in these studies are all hospital trauma patients; JTI does not conduct Phase I clinical trials in healthy volunteers. Patients and their relatives are asked about trial participation as soon as possible, and all trials have undergone independent scientific and ethical review.

Innovations, Diagnostics and Translation

Key Contacts: Prof Michael Schuetz, Prof Paul Thomas

Improving Trauma care can occur through various pathways. The focus of this stream is to add value in trauma care by innovation. Value can be added by either raising the quality of care or reducing the costs without compromising the quality with new medical devices or innovative care delivery models. That new ideas will find its way into clinical practice the view from patients, physicians, policy makers, providers and payers have to be taken into consideration likewise industrial processes to address regulatory aspects.

Diagnostics is fundamental for this approach by defining the starting point and the outcome. In recent years there has been rapid innovation and development in the area of diagnostics (which includes for example medical imaging such as MRI scanning, laboratory tests such as blood tests, equipment for monitoring the patient’s condition). The pace of these changes has sometimes been well ahead of research into their applications in trauma and certainly ahead of clinical practice. Many ways of preventing injury or managing injury could benefit from these new advances. Brisbane and the Jamieson Trauma Institute are well positioned to take advantage of these developments as there is great capability in Queensland, including the greatest concentration of advanced imaging equipment and expertise in the country. There are also key research leaders in the development of diagnostics, such as new blood tests for detecting and monitoring trauma. JTI aims to exploit these capabilities with research aimed at ensuring more accurate diagnosis and more appropriate management of trauma, management which is tailored to individual patient needs.

Education and Training

Key Contacts: Dr Anthony Holley, Prof Martin Wullschleger

Jamieson Trauma Institute recognises the importance of trauma education for all clinicians as an effective strategy to ultimately enhance the delivery of trauma care. As an innovative institute, JTI is well positioned to deliver reliable and contemporary trauma training.

The potential to deliver quality educational experiences is further enhanced by the ability to partner with a range of agencies to develop dynamic learning platforms and processes. Education courses are currently being produced in conjunction with the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Trauma Service.

This educational activity will target focused knowledge and skills for frontline providers. While formal course development will be an ongoing theme, other strategies such as podcasting and lectures will be employed by the institute to disseminate quality trauma learning. Education will constitute an important pillar within the institute, alongside research and data collection, to maximise trauma care for the people of Queensland.

Virtual Trauma Centre (VTC): Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Trauma Care

Key Contacts: Prof Mark Midwinter, A/Prof Cliff Pollard

This stream researches the ways that augmented reality and virtual reality can be employed to improve the preparation and delivery of trauma care across an integrated trauma system, projecting resources to support patients and clinicians.

Interactive Telepresence for Trauma Support.
Augmented Reality (AR) can be utilised to bring remote expertise to the assessment and treatment of an injured patient, including time-critical interventions. This work will explore how to project expertise along the patient journey from point of injury to definitive care allowing bi-directional transmission of audio-visual data and direct real-time interaction allowing remote annotation on to the patient to facilitate any unfamiliar interventions. This allows the horizons of the major trauma centres to be expanded and supporting care across the trauma system.

Virtual Reality for Trauma Care
Virtual Reality (VR) technology can facilitate preparation of trauma teams to deliver care, when team members may be unfamiliar with other team members, key members change or to prepare for specific clinical scenarios.
VR can help prepare and practice uncommon time-critical interventions when real world experience would take years to acquire and where skill degradation and team turnover precludes any individual or team becoming expert.
Utilising ‘multi-player serious gaming’ technology, frequent, multidimensional interactions in complex scenarios and can be fitted to individual contexts (eg. the real facility layout where the individual participants practice with recognisable individual ‘players’). It also allows team performance data analytics and feedback. This technology will be explored, developed and tested in improving preparation of trauma responses.

Rehabilitation and Outcome Measurement

Key Contact: A/Prof David Douglas

Injury following trauma can range from minor to catastrophic.  Minor trauma typically means injuries that allow early return to previous activities and lifestyle.  The more severe the trauma related injury, the longer and more complicated the recovery journey will be.

For those with catastrophic injuries, such as head trauma or burns, extensive rehabilitation will be needed.  The goal of the rehabilitation program is to assist injured people achieve their best possible return of pre-injury functions and activities. Severely injured trauma patients are also likely to need further re-visits to rehabilitation.

Jamieson Trauma Institute recognises the need for timely and effective rehabilitation programs for people with traumatic injuries.  In line with the institute’s desire to have strong evidence supporting all its activities, there is an ongoing need to measure what outcomes have been achieved by those rehabilitation programs.