The Challenge
More than 12,000 children require admission to intensive care in Australia and New Zealand every year for potentially life-threatening conditions. Yet, infants and children with critical illnesses are under-represented in medical research. While there are rehabilitation programs for adults, there is little evidence to support effective rehabilitation or specific therapeutic interventions for young children following severe illness, cardiac arrest, or requiring ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation).
Project Overview
With the support of Hearts & Minds, Kids Critical Care Research (KCCR) has developed a comprehensive strategic plan to harness big data, biobanking, innovative trial design and long-term neurodevelopmental outcome data to improve care for children following critical illness and admission to intensive care.
Primary Research Areas:
- Red blood cell transfusion
- Sedation and analgesia
- Post cardiac arrest care
- Utility of ECMO in critical illness
- Predictive modelling of patient trajectory and PICU outcomes.
Project Milestones
- Strategic Plan and Research Themes: Develop a comprehensive plan to guide research.
- Team and Collaboration: Establish the KCCR team and relationship with Kids Research, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (SCHN).
- Infrastructure and Capability: Set up key research infrastructure for future projects, including big data capture and analysis, neuropsychological follow-up, adaptive trial design, biostatistical support, and biobanking.
- Collaborations: Engage and build on national and multinational collaborations for data analysis and research.
- PhD Student Support: Support KCCR PhD students.
- Funding Applications: Apply for national grant funding.
Project Update (2023-2025)
- Strategic plan: Completed (2023).
- Team development: Local KCCR team established; capacity expanded (2024/25).
- Big data: Collaboration with The Hospital for Sick Children established and project-ready (2024)
- Neuropsychology: 0.6 FTE neuropsychologist was appointed from Kids Neuroscience Centre to strengthen follow-up services
- Adaptive trial design: Pilot project planned with Pediatric Resuscitation and Emergency Simulation Quality registry (PediRES-Q) and University of Sydney
- Biostatistics: Ongoing support from Cerebral Palsy Alliance
- Biobanking: Pilot study underway in collaboration with Charles Sturt University and new mini-lab co-located in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
Measuring Impact
Hearts & Minds measures its impact across six core categories developed by the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes. Key highlights include:
Advancing Knowledge
KCCR has disseminated its findings widely, with:
- Three oral presentations at national and international conferences
- Two poster presentations at major global meetings
- Five peer-reviewed publications in leading journals covering social determinants of health, paediatric ICU outcomes, and optimising care for critically ill children.
KCCR has also contributed to key national and international collaborations:
Research Capacity Building
- External committees: Participation in national and global working groups and study steering committees
- Supporting young talent: Four PhD students supported (two with financial support and two with in-kind support).
Health Impacts
- Recovery and safety: Improving long-term outcomes and safety for children post critical illness
- Service planning: Research informs PICU design and supports NSW Health ECMO service delivery.
Economic Impacts
- Funding success: Recent grants include NSW Health Patient Flow Simulation Modelling, Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Innovative Trials (PLATINUM), MRFF BUILD, and MRFF DELIGHT Pilot RCT
- Ongoing applications: MRFF LYRICAL (AI health systems) and NSW Health Translational Research Grants Scheme (machine learning for congenital heart disease).
Social Impacts
- Vulnerable Groups: Focused on infants and children with critical illness, who are under-represented in medical literature and considered a vulnerable population
- Understanding Social Determinants: Publications highlight careful interpretation of social determinants of health, guiding equitable registry analyses.
Informing Decisions
- Policy and planning support: Research evidence used to guide NSW paediatric critical care services, including ECMO access and PICU design
- Neuropsychological follow-up: Developing targeted programs for childhood survivors following critical illness.
KCCR is driving improvements in paediatric critical care across Australia and internationally. By combining research, innovation, and collaboration, the program is delivering better health outcomes, safer care, and more equitable access to critical care therapies for children.
Funding support from Hearts and Minds Investments. For further information and updates, visit the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation website.
