Caboolture Hospital set to lead ICU clinical trials across Queensland

A suite of clinical trials in Intensive Care Medicine across Queensland will soon commence from a new digital base being set up at Caboolture Hospital.

Staff Specialist Dr Mahesh Ramanan is transforming the way that clinical trials are conducted by enhancing a computer system that is already available in most Queensland Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

It will herald a new collaborative approach between larger centres and regional ICU counterparts with a platform of registry-based trials which will answer clinically important questions in a cost-effective, practical and value-based manner.

“Australian clinicians have been immensely successful in conducting randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in ICU and are recognised as leaders internationally,” Dr Ramanan said.

“However, despite their substantial strengths, RCTs to date have been primarily conducted in large, urban, tertiary centres even though in many jurisdictions, like Queensland, a sizable proportion of ICU care is provided in regional centres. Traditional RCTs are also very expensive with low returns on investment.

“I am enhancing RCT capacity by developing a new platform of registry-based trials that will enable us to perform these trials effectively throughout Queensland with much lower costs.

“Registry-based trials depend on integration of complex clinical data and workflows into electronic databases and harnessed for research. Such database-integration, using the pre-existing computer information systems (CIS) in our ICUs, will be a key pillar of the program. “

As Chair of the Queensland Critical Care Research Network (QCCRN), Dr Ramanan has already achieved significant state-wide RCT engagement with 16 Queensland ICUs participating in the “Optimising utilisation and outcomes of critical illness” study which was completed using existing CIS resources.

The QCCRN has published eight peer-reviewed articles from their CIS database, with several more in the pipeline.

“Our plan will enable access to clinical trials participation to all Queensland ICUs who use CIS and rapidly build research capacity at these sites at a rate much faster than would be possible with traditional, case-report-form based research which requires laborious individual patient data collection,” Dr Ramanan said.

“Patients at smaller sites will be able to participate in high-quality trials and early career researchers will be able to develop essential skills in areas including ethics and protocol development.

“I envisage that, in the future, clinician-researchers with ideas will have an opportunity to partner with QCCRN and conduct meaningful clinical research utilising our digital platform.

“This will establish sustainable models for ICU trials participation at Caboolture Hospital, across Metro North Health and ultimately throughout Queensland.”