Round 39 grant recipients
Collaboration key for projects funded in latest EMF Queensland Research Program round
31 July 2023
Establishing faster and cheaper ways to better diagnose patients in the emergency department, and delivering online training for rural and remote emergency nurses are among the projects funded in the latest round of the Queensland Research Program from the Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF).
Almost $900,000 in funding has been awarded across nine research grants in Round 39 of the grants program, with the research projects and teams representing a wide range of subject areas across emergency and prehospital medicine.
General Manager of EMF, Dr Angie Nguyen Vu, said the latest round of recipients demonstrated not only the diversity of research opportunities in emergency medicine but also the collaborative nature of the discipline.
“The projects and researchers that have received funding in this round are those that are taking the next step in their research careers and journeys, whether they are widening their previous research to other hospitals and sites, working towards attracting further funding from national granting bodies or looking to translate their research into practice.
“We are excited to see many collaborative projects in this round, across different hospitals, specialties, and even outside of Queensland Health.
“A great example is the research being done by Dr Claire Bertenshaw at Queensland Ambulance Service with injured prisoners at correctional facilities, as one of our Jumpstart grant recipients.
“Her team will work in partnership with Queensland Correctional Services and Queensland Health to upskill and increase resourcing for paramedics and prison nursing staff to treat inmates with minor injuries at the prison health centres, to reduce unnecessary transport and presentations at hospital EDs for treatment. This will reduce risk and strain on resources, costs, and time, and benefits clinicians, other ED patients, and prisoner health care.
“We talk a lot about the wait times and pressure in emergency departments, but what’s important to remember is emergency care and patient outcomes are also influenced by what happens before and after someone arrives in ED.
“Several of our other recipients are evaluating the efficacy of one specific treatment or test over another for a variety of illnesses and injuries, to try to reduce time, resources, and money spent in care but with the same or improved outcomes,” Dr Nguyen Vu said.
The Queensland Research Program has five grant schemes all targeting researchers and projects at different stages, from new research to large-scale projects, with all aiming to build and foster cultures of research in Queensland emergency departments, prehospital, and retrieval medicine environments.
EMF Board Chair Prof Hugh Grantham ASM said EMF funding was critical to ensure the research projects could proceed.
“What makes EMF unique is emergency medicine is a specialised but also highly diverse field, where small innovations and simple interventions really can have a significant impact. Many of these kinds of projects would fly under the radar and not attract research funding without EMF.
“We’re also unique as a lot of this research is being done in real-time while treating patients, so the research is easily translatable into practice,” said Prof Grantham.
A study being undertaken by A/Prof Colin Banks at Townsville University Hospital and across three other Queensland hospitals is one such example. A/Prof Banks has received a Project grant to further existing research into whether low-risk patients can be safely assessed for presence of potentially fatal pulmonary embolism (PE) blood clots through clinical decision criteria or by a simple blood test for D-Dimer protein levels.
This would replace the need for lengthy and costly chest scans which are often unnecessary for patients deemed low-risk. Potential benefits for patients include reduced radiation exposure and length of stay; and reduction of cost, wait times, and access block for hospitals.
Round 40 of the Queensland Research Program is currently accepting applications, with Jumpstart and Leading Edge schemes closing on 4 August, and Emerge grants for clinicians new to research closing on 1 September.
The Queensland Research Program is funded by the Queensland Government through Queensland Health.
Queensland Research Program grant schemes
Emerge: Funding for clinicians new to research, up to $10,000, maximum term up to one year
Jumpstart: Seed funding for innovative research involving new collaborations and teams, up to $40,000, maximum term up to one year
Leading Edge: Seed funding for innovative research with potential for future funding by other granting bodies, up to $100,000, maximum term up to two years
Project: Funding for larger research projects, preferably for collaboration across multiple sites and disciplines, up to $300,000 (maximum $100,000 per year), maximum term of three years. (Offered in the first grant round of the year.)
Research Capacity Building: up to $100,000, maximum term up to three years, to foster research culture within an emergency department, prehospital, or retrieval medicine environment.
Successful grants in EMF Queensland Research Program Round 39
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