The RMH Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has a strong commitment to research.
About our research
The ICU research team is led by A/Prof Adam Deane and Ms Deborah Barge. The ICU research team has extensive experience in all aspects of trial methodology to evaluate ICU practice. Alongside a productive local research program members of the research team:
- Lead and participate in investigator-led and industry-supported multicentre trials
- Supervise and mentor junior allied-health, medicine, nursing and pharmacy staff complete research higher-degrees
- Support junior doctors to complete their formal project as required by the College of Intensive Care Medicine (CICM)
Key research themes
- Acute kidney injury
- Delirium and sleep during critical Illness
- Frailty and Interaction with critical Illness
- Gastrointestinal function during critical illness
- Longitudinal care and outcomes after ICU
- Nutrition and metabolism
- Sepsis and septic shock
Current research studies
The ICU research team lead or participate in many investigator-led trials endorsed by the ANZICS Clinical Trials Group (CTG), including:
- BONANZA - This randomised clinical trial will evaluate whether a management strategy guided by early brain tissue oxygen monitoring in patients in with severe traumatic brain injury improves long-term neurological and functional outcomes.
- REVISE - This randomised clinical trial will determine the effect of stress ulcer prophylaxis on the incidence of clinically important gastrointestinal bleeding and all-cause day-90 mortality.
- EPO-TRAUMA - This randomised clinical trial will determine the efficacy of epoetin alfa compared to placebo in reducing mortality and severe disability at six months in critically ill trauma patients.
- LOGICAL - This randomised clinical trial will test the hypothesis that conservative oxygen therapy increases survival with a favourable neurological outcome at 180 days post-randomisation compared to usual (liberal) oxygen therapy.
- TARGET PROTEIN - This cluster randomised, cross-sectional, double cross-over trial will evaluate whether the delivery of augmented dietary protein to critically ill adult patients when compared to usual care will increase the number of days alive and out of hospital censored at day 90.
Our achievements
- PhD completions - Dr Yasmine Ali Abdelhamid and Dr Jai Darvall (2021) and Dr Kate Fetterplace (2020)
- NHMRC Fellowships/Investigator Grants - Leadership 1, A/Prof Adam Deane (2023-27), Career Development Fellowship Level 2 A/Prof Adam Deane (2018-22)
Our collaborators
We have close links to The University of Melbourne and ANZICS Clinical Trials Group, as well as national and international collaborators.
Publications
A broader perspective of nutritional therapy for the critically ill
Deane, AM; Casaer, MP
(2021), Curr. Opin. Clin. Nutr. Metab. Care, 139-141
A fixed dose approach to thrombosis chemoprophylaxis may be inadequate in heavier critically ill patients
Yi, G; Deane, AM; Ankrays, M; Sharrock, L; Anstey, J; Abdelhamid, YA
(2021), Crit. Care Resusc., 94
DOI: 10.51893/2021.1.oa9
A living WHO guideline on drugs to prevent covid-19
Lamontagne, F; Agoritsas, T; Siemieniuk, R; Rochwerg, B; Bartoszko, J; Askie, L; Macdonald, H; Amin, W; Bausch, FJ; Burhan, E; Cecconi, M; Chanda, D; Dat, VQ; Du, B; Geduld, H; Gee, P; Nerina, H; Hashimi, M; Hunt, BJ; Kabra, S; Kanda, S; Kawano-Dourado, L; Kim, YJ; Kissoon, N; Kwizera, A; Leo, YS; Mahaka, I; Manai, H; Mino, G; Nsutebu, E; Pshenichnaya, N; Qadir, N; Ranganathan, SS; Sabzwari, S; Sarin, R; Sharland, M; Shen, YZ; Souza, JP; Stegemann, M; Ugarte, S; Venkatapuram, S; Vuyiseka, D; Preller, J; Brignardello-Petersen, R; Kum, E; Qasim, A; Zeraatkar, D; Owen, A; Guyatt, G; Lytvyn, L; Diaz, J; Vandvik, PO; Jacobs, M
(2021), BMJ-British Medical Journal
DOI: 10.1136/bmj.n526
Latest news & events
Losing a loved one is an incredibly sad time, but some families whose loved ones have died in our Intensive Care Unit (ICU) are choosing to give back in a way that is helping other patients get home faster, and with dignity.
He wears scrubs instead of skivvies, but the Royal Melbourne Hospital’s (RMH) intensive care unit (ICU) nurse Steven Moylan wiggled into action to help a very special patient.
A new research project is underway in the Royal Melbourne Hospital’s (RMH) Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and ward 6SE (cardiothoracic) to investigate the ways in which cardiac surgery patients wake up from their anaesthetics in ICU.
Level 6 B Building
300 Grattan St, Parkville, Victoria
We need clinical trials to prove that new treatments are safe and effective for people to use. They are essential to the discovery of new medications and devices, neither of which can be approved for use in Australia without clinical trials.