Does adding an emergency medicine pharmacist improve acute stroke care?

Acute stroke callout team care is more rapid when an emergency pharmacist ia included: study.
Image: NTRI

Does adding an emergency medicine pharmacist improve acute stroke care? The answer is Yes, by an average of 12 minutes. A well known saying in the field of neurology is ‘time is brain’ and for this particular study it couldn’t be more true, as every minute a stroke sufferer isn't treated, more damage takes place.

Researchers from the Pharmacy Department (Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences), the Department of Neuroscience (Central Clinical School) and Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine (School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine) have found that by adding an emergency pharmacist to the acute stroke call-out team provided an improvement in the average time to administer treatment (thrombolysis with alteplase, or recombinant tissue plasminogen activator rtPA) to a patient by 12 minutes.

Multiple Sclerosis and immunisation

Vaccination for people with MS needs to be planned: MJA.
Image: Shutterstock

The immunisation status of patients newly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) must not be overlooked when beginning treatment with immunomodulatory or immunosuppressive disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), according to the authors of a Perspective published 19 April by the Medical Journal of Australia.

“Determining immunisation status when commencing DMTs is key, as is an individualised approach to risk–benefit assessment when considering vaccinations,” wrote the authors, led by Dr Cassie Nesbitt, a neurologist at Alfred Health in Melbourne.

Central Clinical School recent publications 13-19 April 2021

The Monash Trauma group have published a paper on concussion in
amateur AFL players. Men get hurt worse than women; and both sexes
show disruption to their brains' white matter 2 weeks later. See study.

Recent publications featuring research as notified by PubMed during 13-19 April 2021 from Central Clinical School affiliated researchers in the following departments. The below is not a comprehensive list. Most recent validated publications for the school and departments can be seen on their publications pages, linked to from the headings below. Otherwise, read down the entry for recent notifications.

• Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
• Gastroenterology
• Immunology and Pathology
• Infectious Diseases
• Medicine (including Alfred and Peninsula)
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
• Psychiatry
• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
  
• Surgery (including National Trauma Research Institute)

Central Clinical School recent publications: 6-12 April 2021

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is used only for
extremely compromised patients. The Alfred trauma registry has
recorded 11 patients over 10 years. Study

Recent publications featuring research as notified by PubMed during 6-12 April 2021 from Central Clinical School affiliated researchers in the following departments. The below is not a comprehensive list. Most recent validated publications for the school and departments can be seen on their publications pages, linked to from the headings below. Otherwise, read down the entry for recent notifications.

• Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
• Gastroenterology
• Immunology and Pathology
• Infectious Diseases
• Medicine (including Alfred and Peninsula)
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
• Psychiatry
• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
  
• Surgery (including National Trauma Research Institute)

Welcome to Paul Lawton, new Professor of Renal Medicine

Professor Paul Lawton

Welcome to our new Professor and Director of Renal Medicine within the Department of Medicine, Paul Lawton!

Lee Hamley, Martin McCall and Terry O'Brien write:

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Paul Lawton to the position of Professor and Director of Renal Medicine, a joint senior academic & clinical role with Alfred Health and Monash University.  Paul comes to us from the Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University and the Top End Health Services (Royal Darwin Hospital) where he was a consultant nephrologist, general physician and senior research fellow.

Welcome to Alex Boussioutas, new Professor of Gastroenterology

Professor Alex Boussioutas

Welcome to our new Professor and Director of Gastroenterology, Alex Boussioutas!

Pip Hawkins, Martin McCall and Terry O'Brien write:

Dear All CCS Staff, Students and Adjuncts,

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Alex Boussioutas to the positions of Professor and Director of Gastroenterology, a joint senior academic & clinical role with Alfred Health and Monash University, Program Director Medical Specialties Alfred Health and Head of Department of Gastroenterology, CCS, Monash University. 

Nenad Macesic wins Mollie Holman Award for PhD thesis

Dr Nenad Macesic wins Mollie Holman
medal for 2020 thesis.

Congratulations to Dr Nenad Macesic on winning the Mollie Holman award for 2020. The Mollie Holman Medal was established in 1998 and is named after the late pioneering physiologist Emeritus Professor Mollie Homan AO, in honour of her significant contributions to science and education. These medals are among the highest academic honours given by Monash University, and mark the recipients as researchers of the higher order.award.

Nenad's thesis is titled, "Combating Gram negative multi-drug resistance with insights from novel bioinformatics approaches". He was supervised by Professor Anton Peleg (Department of Infectious Diseases) and Dr Anne-Catrin Uhlemann (Columbia University). The PhD was awarded 11 June 2020.