Our study focus

• Improve clinical care for infants with bronchiolitis in regional and rural hospitals by reducing low-value practices (e.g., use of adrenaline, salbutamol, steroids, antibiotics, chest X-rays).
• Improve appropriate use of high-flow nasal cannula therapy in infants with bronchiolitis.
• Understand what works to improve care in regional and rural settings, including the “dose” of intervention needed.
• Create a scalable platform that can be adapted for other conditions in similar settings.
  
  

Study design

The goal is to involve around 40 hospitals in development of the platform and the Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial (cRCT).

The study will be conducted in three phases:

• Years 1 to 2: Preparatory phase – development and usability testing of the platform
• Years 3 to 4: Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial (cRCT) across 30 regional and rural hospital sites
• Years 4 to 5: Evaluation and scale-up

The goal is to involve around 40 hospital sites. Seven sites will co-develop the platform, and 33 will participate in the cRCT.

Current progress

• Identification of eligible regional and rural hospitals is underway for both the development of the RART platform and future trial participation.
• Human Research Ethics review of the research is in progress.
• Recruitment of parents for a Parent Reference Group has begun. Their insights will help shape the project.
• Commencement of co-design work with parents and clinicians to develop content for the RART platform.

Lead researchers

• Associate Professor Emma Tavender (Implementation research lead)
• Professor Franz Babl (Grant leader)
  
  

Project team

• Ms Cate Wilson (Project manager)
• Dr Louise Shaw (Snr research fellow)
• Ms Marian Chandler (Administration)

Thanks to our key partners, funders, and supporters. 

Funding

The RART-Bronch study is supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care under the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF RART Grant MRRART000031).

Collaborations

This study is in collaboration with the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) network

Contact us

For further information on our study please contact us.

Marian Chandler
Administrative Assistant, Emergency Research
Email: show email address