Acute and Critical Care

Photo Credit: Australian and New Zealand  Intensive Care Society (ANZICS)

Nearly all hospital patients receive a vascular access device, whether they arrive through the emergency department, have elective surgery, or attend specialist clinics.

At AVATAR, our researchers and specialist clinicians work closely with hospital departments to overcome practice challenges through quality research. While each area has its own issues, we also help to "join the dots" where there are global issues that need to be addressed.

We collaborate with colleagues in cancer care, intensive care, medical and surgical departments, radiology, infectious diseases, and many others. Each project involves relevant investigators - nursing and medical clinicians, pharmacists, health economists, laboratory scientists, psychologists, and biostatisticians.

We test interventions to support better patient outcomes. These can be new technologies or traditional approaches in need of an update. Our goal is to generate high-quality, trustworthy evidence to support health practitioners to make the best decisions for patients. We also focus on cost-effectiveness and sustainability of interventions to assist hospitals to allocate resources wisely.

Our researchers have undertaken substantial bodies of work in choosing the right vascular access device type, insertion techniques, post insertion care and monitoring, and timely, safe removal of devices.

Acute/Critical Care Contact:

Nicole Marsh, RN, BN, MAdvPrac(HlthRes), PhD
Dr Nicole Marsh's research is focused on improving patient outcomes and decreasing complications associated with vascular access across the acute clinical care and community setting. Her PhD addressed risk factors for peripheral intravenous catheter failure in the adult population.

In addition, she has been a Clinical Trial Co-ordinator for more than 30 single and multi-centre clinical trials. She also has over 25 years' experience in nursing with specialist qualifications in Neurosurgical Nursing.

If you have any questions regarding AVATAR's Acute and Critical Care Research you can contact Nicole at nicole.marsh@health.qld.gov.au.