Perioperative Medicine

One in 20 Australian children has surgery every year. The Perioperative Medicine Team conducts research on all aspects of clinical perioperative care. The team, led by Professor Britta Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg, leads the most active paediatric anaesthesia research program in Australasia, focusing on continuously driving improvements in safety and quality of care. Britta’s senior clinical anaesthesia role at Perth Children’s Hospital is invaluable in informing the team’s research program developed in collaboration with children and caregivers. This ensures relevance for children and health professionals as well as feasibility and capacity for early translation into practice and policy. The Perioperative Medicine research program includes multicentre randomised controlled trials and interventional studies across several streams:

1. Enhancing prediction and prevention strategies to improve perioperative outcomes
2. Gaining knowledge of respiratory physiological changes during anaesthesia
3. Reducing postoperative pain in children
4. Protecting Babies’ Brains
5. Making safe and palatable medicines available for children

Britta led an initial landmark prospective cohort study which preceded several large clinical studies and randomized controlled trials including 20,000 children assessing key patient-centered outcomes. These have been translated into routine clinical care in paediatric anaesthesia and other specialities (e.g. intensive care, ENT). They have influenced clinical guidelines/policies in institutions globally. Clinical changes in anaesthesia implemented at Perth Children’s Hospital over the last decade based on the research of the Perioperative Medicine team, have led to a constant decline in complications even while patient acuity and complexity increased.

The Perioperative Medicine team is actively involved in several international, interdisciplinary, collaborative networks which incorporate world-leading institutions e.g. Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as well as all Australian tertiary paediatric hospitals. For example, the Brain Research Anesthesia Infant Network with collaborators from Australia, China, Europe and USA has an active research program around neurodevelopment and anaesthesia.