• Project status: Active

Research area: Clinical Sciences > Surgery

family on the beach

Emerge: An eHealth Model of Care following paediatric cancer treatment.

This clinic is being implemented at the Children’s Cancer Centre, supporting children and families who have recently completed their cancer treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. This project is ongoing until 2026.

This clinic is being implemented at the Children’s Cancer Centre, supporting children and families who have recently completed their cancer treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. This project is ongoing until 2026.

About our program

We know that the end of treatment can be a challenging time for some families as regular appointments end, access to services changes and there is less availability of information and support.

We hope to address this gap in assistance by enrolling all families transitioning off treatment in a new end-of-treatment program called, Emerge.

Emerge is a telehealth program run by specialist cancer nurses and allied and mental health professionals and offers continued support and care to patients and families via two telehealth consultations within the first 6–12 months of completing treatment.

Who is funding this research? 

This research is being funded by a 4-year grant from the Victorian Cancer Agency.

What’s involved?

We aim to see families for two telehealth consultations. The first consultation will happen about 3 months after a child finishes their treatment and the second about 6 months after they finish treatment. Some families may require additional support to get back on track and so will be offered more consultations as needed.

We are evaluating the Emerge program during the first two years it is up and running. This means we are interested in understanding how well the Emerge clinic works and how satisfied and acceptable the service is to families.

To do this, families will be invited to fill in some questionnaires to help us understand each family’s needs and make sure we provide the right support. This is done prior to each telehealth consultation (screening). Families will also be invited to complete a survey on their experience of Emerge. This is done 1-2 weeks after each telehealth appointment and will be used to improve the program design for families that come after them.

Stage of the program

  1. End of treatment - patient discharged from hospital
  2. As you finish cancer treatment, the Emerge program aims to enhance patient and family wellbeing through:
    • Screening
    • Telehealth appointment one: three months post-treatment with a Cancer nurse and allied health professional
    • Monitoring
  3. Telehealth appointment two: six months post-treatment by a Cancer nurse and allied health professional
  4. Program ends or continued support is offered

 

Emerge Diagram

For more information, download the Emerge brochure:


How to get involved?

We hope this research will help us to find ways to improve end-of-treatment care for young people treated for cancer and their families. Please contact us for more information.

Contact us

For families
To opt-in or for more information
Email: 

For clinicians
Further information on how to refer families from The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) Children's Cancer Centre (CCC) 
Email: [email protected]
Phone: show phone number

Emerge Clinical and Research team
Murdoch Children's Research Institute
The Royal Children's Hospital
50 Flemington Road
Parkville VIC 3052
Australia

child in hospital

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