Assessment of a novel marker of ICU strain, the ICU Activity Index, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria, Australia.

To validate a real-time Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Activity Index as a marker of ICU strain from daily data available from the Critical Health Resource Information System (CHRIS), and to investigate the association between this Index and the need to transfer critically ill patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Victoria, Australia. Retrospective observational cohort study. All 45 hospitals with an ICU in Victoria, Australia.

Prevalence of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in elective surgical patients in Australia: a prospective surveillance study.

Background: The study aimed to estimate the prevalence of active or previous SARS-CoV-2 infection in asymptomatic adults admitted for elective surgery in Australian hospitals. This surveillance activity was established as part of the National Pandemic Health Intelligence Plan.

Methods: Participants (n = 3037) were recruited from 11 public and private hospitals in four states (NSW, Vic, SA and WA) between 2 June and 17 July 2020, with an overall 66% participation rate.

Sick leave accessibility in junior doctors at an Australian health service.

Background: Doctors commonly continue to work when they are unwell. This norm is increasingly problematic during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic when effective infection control measures are of paramount importance. This study investigates the barriers existing before COVID-19 that prevent junior doctors with an acute respiratory illness working in Canberra, Australia, from taking sick leave, and offers suggestions about how to make sick leave more accessible for junior doctors.

Development of a Mobile Laboratory for Sudden Onset Disasters.

Objectives: Clinical diagnostics in sudden onset disasters have historically been limited. We set out to design, implement, and evaluate a mobile diagnostic laboratory accompanying a type 2 emergency medical team (EMT) field hospital.

Methods: Available diagnostic platforms were reviewed and selected against in field need.

Two carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae outbreaks detected retrospectively by whole-genome sequencing at an Australian tertiary hospital.

In 2014, two genetically-linked cases of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) were detected at the Canberra Hospital (TCH), prompting an investigation and response that appeared to contain transmission. We report a 2017 retrospective investigation into cases of CPE in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) that aimed to identify clusters and transmission mechanisms. Cases detected between 2012 and 2016 were identified from the hospital laboratory information system.

Hospital-acquired influenza in an Australian tertiary Centre 2017: a surveillance based study.

Background: In 2017, Australia experienced its highest levels of influenza virus activity since the 2009 pandemic. This allowed detailed comparison of the characteristics of patients with community and hospital-acquired influenza, and infection control factors that contributed to influenza spread.

Methods: A surveillance based study was conducted on hospitalised patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza at the Canberra Hospital during April-October 2017.

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) outbreak in a neonatal intensive care unit and special care nursery at a tertiary-care hospital in Australia-A retrospective case-control study.

Objective: We investigated the risk factors and origins of the first known occurrence of VRE colonization in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Canberra Hospital.

Design: A retrospective case-control study.

Setting: A 21-bed neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and a 15-bed special care nursey (SCN) in a tertiary-care adult and pediatric hospital in Australia.

Management of Diabetic Surgical Patients in a Deployed Field Hospital: A Model for Acute Non-Communicable Disease Care in Disaster.

Sudden onset disasters (SODs) have affected over 1.5 billion of the world's population in the past decade. During the same time, developing nations have faced a sustained increase in the burden of non-communicable disease (NCD) with extra pressure placed on health systems.

Case report: Sporotrichosis from the Northern Territory of Australia.

We report three cases of lymphocutaneous infection caused by the thermally dimorphic fungus, Sporothrix schenckii from Australia's tropical Northern Territory. Two cases were acquired locally, making them the first to be reported from this region. All three cases presented with ulceration in the limb; however, the classical sporotrichoid spread was present only in the first two cases.

Tuberculosis: experience in a low endemic area Australian tertiary hospital.

Background: Abdominal tuberculosis (ATB) poses a significant diagnostic, management, and resource challenge. In Australia, an increasing number of tuberculosis (TB) cases are being reported, and we describe our experience of ATB in an Australian tertiary institution.

Methods: All diagnosed cases of tuberculosis (TB) at the Royal North Shore tertiary hospital campus of the University of Sydney are entered prospectively into a central registry.

Day-to-day variability of oscillatory impedance and spirometry in asthma and COPD.

Variability in airway function may be a marker of disease activity in COPD and asthma. The aim was to determine the effects of repeatability and airway obstruction on day-to-day variability in respiratory system resistance (Rrs) and reactance (Xrs) measured by forced oscillation technique (FOT). Three groups of 10 subjects; normals, stable asthmatic and stable COPD subjects underwent daily FOT recordings for 7 days.