COVID-19 news from our network

A selection of COVID-19 news and resources from our network will be posted here. This is not a definitive list. For up-to-date information, seek advice from your local health authorities.

In the media

July 24: 'Intensive care nurse's blunt warning over coronavirus risk to younger adults', ICU Nurse Michelle at Royal Melbourne Hospital interviewed by the ABC.

July 22: 'Inside an Intensive Care Unit' A/Prof Craig French, Western Health, interviewed on Channel 7 News.

July 20: 'Intensive Covid Unit', Samantha Bates and Forbes McGain with the Isolation Hood at Western Health, 7.30, ABC TV.

July 20: 'Intensive Care Units working tirelessly, learning from experience, applying new treatments in the battle against COVID-19', Samantha Bates and Forbes McGain with the Isolation Hood at Western Health, ABC News

June 21st: 'The dangers of dodgy face masks', Prof Story on A Current Affair, Channel 9.

June 4th: 'Lessons for COVID-19 from the ebola frontline', Dr Amanda Rojek, pandemic researcher from CICC, Royal Melbourne Hospital and the University of Oxford, talks to Pursuit.

June 3rd: 'New technology is being used to monitor the symptoms of covid patients from their own home. The virtual hospital hopes to protect frontline workers, and free up resources', Dr Martin Dutch on Channel 9 News, explaining the remote monitoring program for COVID-19 patients, developed with A/Prof Jonathan Knott and colleagues.

June 3rd: 'ABC Radio Melbourne speaks to Dr Martin Dutch, RMH ED consultant' on his remote monitoring program for COVID-19 patients.

June 3rd: 'How Melbourne doctors can now treat COVID-19 patients from home' Dr Martin Dutch, CICC PhD student and Emergency Physician at Royal Melbourne Hospital interviewed on 3AW about his remote monitoring program for COVID-19 patients. Also reported in The Australian.

May 26th: 'Counterfeit face masks sold to Australian hospitals', Sydney Morning Herald interview with Dr Suzi Nou and Professor David Story.

May 25th: 'Single-use metalware a 'big cost' for Australian hospitals as waste levels increase' Dr Matthew Anstey and A/Prof Forbes McGain, ABC News.

May 15: 'Elective surgeries restart but life on the frontline far from normal' A/Professor Chris MacIsaac, Head of Royal Melbourne Hospital's ICU in The Age.

May 13: 'The Genie is Out of the Bottle: telehealth points way for Australia post pandemic' in the Guardian, A/Prof Forbes McGain highlights the "mountain of waste" generated in hospitals during the pandemic.

May 4: 'Flattening the Curve' episode of Four Corners, ABC Australia, with Prof David Story.

April 29: 'The Road to Recovery: A Report for the Nation' presented by the Group of Eight Australian Universities to the Federal Government, to guide Australia's pandemic recovery. Prof David Story was one of the contributors.

April 28: 'The challenge of rapid guideline development in an ever-changing environment', Australasian Institute of Clinical Governance. Prof George Braitberg shares the challenges of accurate information dissemination faced by Melbourne Health in the COVID-19 crisis, including strategies to mitigate the risk of misinformation [Webinar and transcript].

April 23: 'Hadassah Australia webinar - collaboration on COVID-19' CICC Deputy Director, Prof Braitberg moderated a webinar with ACEM and Hadassah Australia, with over 300 participants from 13 countries, looking at the Israeli response to COVID-19, first published in the Australia Jewish News.

April 22: 'I'm a mum working on the frontline and I wouldn't change a thing' CICC's Dr Mya Cubitt, Emergency Physician at Royal Melbourne Hospital talks to Kidspot

April 21: 'It's going to make people feel safe' CICC A/Prof Forbes McGain and  Prof Jason Monty (Dept of Engineering) on Bloomberg QuickTake describe the 'McMonty' Isolation Hood

April 13: 'Make Australia Make Again' CICC's Director Prof Bellomo on SBS News talking ventilators, stockpiles and self sufficiency as a nation

April 10: 'Ventilator Lifeline' CICC's Profs Bellomo and Story on Channel 10 News, working with Grey Innovation to build 2,000 ventilators in 2 months

April 9: 'McMonty' Isolation Hood CICC A/Profs Forbes McGain and Craig French from Western Health, with Prof Jason Monty (Dept of Engineering), developing an innovative solution to protect health care workers and improve outcomes for patients

April 5: 'Nobody will ever know their names': A day on The Austin's coronavirus front line A/Profs Warrillow and Trubiano take The Age on a tour through ICU at The Austin

April 5: 'Like preparing for war': Australia's hospitals brace for coronavirus peak' A/Prof Chris MacIsaac and ICU Nurse Unit Manager take The Guardian through ICU at Royal Melbourne Hospital

April 3: 'Australia's 3D printing experts are banding together to make masks for at-risk health workers' Unimelb 3D printing experts collaborate on the national effort to produce PPE, including a nifty solution for CICC's Dr Lachlan Miles.

March 31: 'What is a ventilator and why is it essential in the fight against coronavirus?' Prof Story on the mechanics of intubation, in a podcast for The Guardian.

March 27: 'How ventilators work and why they are so important in saving people with coronavirus' Prof Story in The Guardian

Publications

Story D, Coyle E, Devapalasundaram A, Sidiropoulos S, Ou Yang B, Coulson T. Documenting COVID-19 screening before surgery during lockdown (COVID Screen): an audit with routinely-collected health data. [Submitted for publication]

Martin Dutch, Jonathan Knott, The Novel Use of Home Pulse Oximetry: An Australian offer of support. Academic Emergency Medicine. 2020 [in press]

Rojek A, Dutch M, Peyton D, Pelly R, Putland M, Hiscock H, Knott J. Patients presenting for hospital-based screening for COVID-19: risk of disease, and healthcare access preferences. EMA 2020. [in press]

June 22: Watters DA, Brown W, Hardidge A; Perioperative Expert Working Group; Victorian Perioperative Consultative Council; Victorian Surgical Directors Group. Victoria's perioperative response to the COVID-19 pandemic [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 22]. ANZ J Surg. 2020;10.1111/ans.16117. doi:10.1111/ans.16117

May 26: Ronco C, Bagshaw SM, Bellomo R, Clark WR, Husain-Syed F, Kellum JA, Ricci Z, Rimmelé T, Reis T, Ostermann M. Extracorporeal Blood Purification and Organ Support in the Critically Ill Patient during COVID-19 Pandemic: Expert Review and Recommendation. Blood Purif. 2020 May 26:1-11. doi: 10.1159/000508125. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32454500 Review.

May 25: Forbes McGain, Ruhi S Humphries, Jung Hoon Lee, Robyn Schofield, Craig French, Melita D Keywood, Louis Irving, Kevin Kevin, Jim Patel and Jason Monty, Aerosol generation related to respiratory interventions and the effectiveness of a personal ventilation hood, Critical Care and Resuscitation, 26 May 2020.

May 9: Jasmine Poonian, Nicola Walsham, Thomas Kilner, Elizabeth Bradbury, Kristen Brooks, Emma West, Managing Healthcare Worker Wellbeing in an Australian Emergency Department during The COVID ‐19 Pandemic, Emergency Medicine Australasia, 9 May 2020.

April 23: Zangrillo A, Beretta L, Scandroglio AM, Monti G, Fominskiy E, Colombo S, Morselli F, Belletti A, Silvani P, Crivellari M, Monaco F, Azzolini ML, Reineke R, Nardelli P, Sartorelli M, Votta CD, Ruggeri A, Ciceri F, De Cobelli F, Tresoldi M, Dagna L, Rovere-Querini P, Serpa Neto A, Bellomo R, Landoni G; COVID-BioB Study Group. Characteristics, treatment, outcomes and cause of death of invasively ventilated patients with COVID-19 ARDS in Milan, Italy. Crit Care Resusc. 2020 Apr 23.

March 16: Nicola Walsham, Mark Putland, Amanda Rojek and Martin Dutch, Early clinical response to a high consequence infectious disease outbreak at the Royal Melbourne Hospital Emergency Department – insights from COVID-19, Medical Journal of Australia, 16 March 2020.

Courses

Critical Care Essentials for Nurses: Assessment and management of acute respiratory failure (COVID-19)

This online short course, sponsored by Safer Care Victoria, has been specifically designed as a rapid upskill program to support registered nurses (RNs) caring for critically ill patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, the sponsored places, at no cost for Victorian nurses, have now all been allocated. You can still access the course at a reduced fee of $195.

The course aims to provide foundational knowledge required for RNs to safely assess, plan and provide supportive care to patients with acute respiratory failure as a result of COVID-19 infection.

Developed by the The University of Melbourne's Department of Nursing with contributions from the Centre for Integrated Critical Care, supported by the Melbourne Medical School Mobile Learning Unit and the Melbourne School of Professional and Continuing Education (MSPACE).

Enrol here

Curriculum outline

Frequently asked questions

More Information

Anna Parker

anna.parker@unimelb.edu.au

+61425792309