The Engage-CR project uses evidence mapping methodologies to describe, classify and visualise the best evidence-based practices for optimising referral to cardiac rehabilitation, enrolment in programs, and strategies to enable completion.

August 2022 is Cardiac Month at AusHSI, when we highlight the current, past and future work of our Cardiac Health Services group, who are focused on developing new knowledge to drive implementation of high value cardiovascular health services.

The AusHSI Cardiac Health Services Group attended the CSANZ and ACRA 2022 Annual Scientific Meetings, both held in August 2022 at the Gold Coast. The programs provided learning opportunities and fellowship, and featured cardiac research abstract poster viewings and mini-oral presentations.

We seek to better understand existing practices, map inequities in care and quantify the current cost of hospital care for Atrial Fibrillation using linked health service data. Working with stakeholders, we will use this core information to co-design a framework for integrated care relevant to Australian contexts.

Unfortunately, in Australia, integrated care is not routinely offered to patients. Adverse outcomes among individuals with atrial fibrillation can potentially be prevented by improving access to integrated care, leading to reduced disease burden and lower costs incurred by the health system.

As the CHD LIFE+ study’s key consumer partner, HeartKids will be critical to leveraging families’ involvement in the important co-design phase. Holly Williams, Queensland State Manager, HeartKids explains how family-centred advocacy will influence the design of, and planning for, local models of care across Australia.

The next important step in the CHD LIFE journey is CHD LIFE+. Led by AusHSI, and in partnership with cardiac centres nationally, developmental follow-up experts, HeartKids and Children’s Hospital Foundation, this program of research (2020-2024) aims to develop family-centred, long-term developmental care models across Australia, including evaluation of our CHD LIFE model.

The Objective Randomised Blinded Investigation with optimal medical Therapy of Angioplasty in stable angina (ORBITA) Study investigated the efficacy of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using stents for symptom relief of stable angina (chest pain) in a double blind, placebo-controlled study. The study was the first of its kind and was the PhD project of Dr Rasha Al-Lamee, an interventional cardiologist at Imperial College London.

My PhD looks at overall access to care for our paediatric cardiac patients across the state and empowering primary care providers to help address the problem of patients' distance to the cardiac care unit in Brisbane. This also lines up with a new initiative in the cardiac unit at the Queensland Children's Hospital to establish a clinical care network for our cardiac patients across the state.

My research will consider a comparative analysis of existing international Atrial Fibrillation screening strategies, their relatability to the Australian health system, and assess the cost-effectiveness of different AF screening strategies in Australia.

My research investigates parent and clinician preferences for a neurodevelopmental model of care to improve outcomes for children with congenital heart disease (CHD) in order to improve how models of care are designed and delivered.