Karin Thursky

• 
  Professor
  Karin Thursky

  karin.thursky@mh.org.au

  View researcher's webpage

  0414996649

Research Overview

The National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship (NCAS) examines antimicrobial use and stewardship in healthcare settings, and aims to identify areas of inappropriate use that may contribute to antimicrobial resistance, and provide information about interventions to successfully change prescribing behaviour. This data contributes to Australia's national antimicrobial use and resistance surveillance program.

NCAS comprises six streams of research, four related to antimicrobial prescribing in humans and two dedicated to antimicrobial prescribing in animals. Work done by NCAS informs policy and practice around antimicrobial prescribing in both human and animal sectors in Australia. NCAS has a multi-disciplinary team of researchers, including infectious diseases specialists, clinical microbiologists, general practitioners, pharmacists, nurses, infection control specialists, veterinarians, epidemiologists, bioethicists, and social science and communications researchers. NCAS seeks to optimise antimicrobial use in human and animal health using a One Health approach. Our group is committed to building research and clinical capacity for implementing safe and sustainable solutions to the emerging crisis of drug-resistant infections.

NCAS has created a range of detailed audit tools, each designed to assist with the auditing of antimicrobial prescribing with a specific focus. The National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey (NAPS) is coordinated by a multi-disciplinary team at NCAS and is delivered by the Guidance Group at Melbourne Health. The three main NAPS programs are the Hospital NAPS, Surgical NAPS and Aged Care NAPS. The NAPS has been in use since 2011 and has already helped hundreds of Australian healthcare facilities to assess their antimicrobial prescribing practices. Since 2013, NAPS program has contributed data on antimicrobial prescribing quality to the Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Australia Surveillance System.

Staff

The National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey Team

• Prof. Karin Thursky, Professor & Director
• Prof. Kirsty Buising, Professor & Deputy Director
• Dr. Rodney James, Director of Clinical Services
• Robyn Ingram, Pharmacist & Program Manager
• A/Prof. Noleen Bennett, Infection Control Consultant & Project Officer
• Caroline Chen, Pharmacist & Project Officer
• Ron Cheah, Pharmacist & Project Officer
• Xin Fang, Pharmacist & Project Officer

Chief Investigators (2015-20)

• Prof. Karin Thursky
• Prof. Kirsty Buising
• Prof. Glenn Browning
• Dr. David Kong
• A/Prof. Caroline Marshall
• Prof. Danielle Mazza
• Dr. Trisha Peel
• Prof. Mike Richards
• A/Prof. Rhonda Stuart

Associate Investigators (2015-20)

• A/Prof. Noleen Bennett
• A/Prof. Helen Billman-Jacobe
• Dr. Ann Bull
• Ms. Evette Buono
• Prof. Frank Dunshea
• A/Prof. N. Deborah Friedman
• Dr. Thomas Schulz
• A/Prof. Leon Worth

Clinical Advisors

• Dr. Tara Anderson
• Dr. Celia Cooper
• Ms. Susan Luu
• Prof. Elizabeth Manias
• Dr. Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis
• Dr. Brendan McMullan
• A/Prof. Mary O'Reilly

Research Fellows (2015-)

• Dr. Kirsten Bailey
• Jaclyn Baker
• Dr. Ruby Biezen
• Dr. Helen Crabb
• Dr. Leslie Dowson
• Fiona Gotterson
• Dr. Laura Hardefeldt
• Dr. Lesley Hawes
• Dr. Brian Hur
• Dr. Courtney Ierano
• Suzanna Richards
• Dr. Riati Scarborough
• Karen Urbancic
• Sajal Kumar Saha
• Dr. Arjun Rajkhowa

Funding

• NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence (Funding 2015 - 2020): A National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship: Using a One Health approach
• NHMRC Project (Funding 2019 - 2023): Meeting the challenge of invasive fungal infection: Antifungal stewardship and effective surveillance in high-risk patient groups
• Fleming Fund (Funding 2019 - 2021): Fellowship Scheme - Papua New Guinea
• Fleming Fund (Funding 2019 - 2021): Fellowship Scheme - Timor Leste
• Fleming Fund (Funding 2019 - 2021):Fellowship Scheme - Bhutan
• Fleming Fund (Funding 2019 - 2021): Fellowship Scheme – Nepal
• ARC Discovery Project (Funding 2020- 2022): The sociology of antibiotics and the antimicrobial resistance crisis
• DFAT (Funding 2020 - 2023): Preparing Fiji for Pathogens with Critical Antimicrobial Resistance
• MRFF Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care Mission (Funding 2021 – 2024): Development and implementation of the National Infection Surveillance Program for Aged Care (NISPAC)

Research Outcomes

Research Publications

National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Antimicrobial prescribing practice in Australian Hospitals: Results of the 2019 Hospital National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey. Sydney: ACSQHC; 2021

National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Surgical prophylaxis prescribing in Australian Hospitals: Results of the 2019 Surgical National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey. Sydney: ACSQHC; 2020

National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. 2019 Aged Care National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey Report. Sydney: ACSQHC; 2020.

Hardefeldt L, Selinger J, Stevenson M, Gilkerson J, Crabb H, Billman-Jacobe H, Thursky K, Bailey K, Awad M, Browning G. Population-wide assessment of antimicrobial use in dogs and cats using a novel data source: A cohort study using pet insurance data. Veterinary Microbiology 2018; 225: 34-39.

Ierano C, Thursky K, Marshall C, Koning S, James R, Johnson S, Imam N, Worth LJ, Peel T. Appropriateness of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis practices in Australia. JAMA network open 2019; 2(11): e1915003.