Page 40 - ANZCP GAZETTE DECEMBER 2023

AROUND THE PUMP ROOM – at Queensland Children’s Hospital
Phoebe Hafner
This year has been a busy but exciting time for our team, and we are delighted to share with you the latest updates from the Queensland Children's Hospital perfusion department. We are proud to share that this month the Queensland Children’s Hospital has been recognised for its excellence in ‘Newsweek’s Best Specialised Hospitals 2024’ List. Being ranked 10th out of 250 paediatrics hospital worldwide, this makes QCH the highest ranked children’s hospital in Australia, and the Southern Hemisphere. We are delighted to be a part of this thriving organisation and contribute to the excellence in care provided to our patients and communities we serve.
It is with mixed emotions that at the beginning of this year we bid farewell to our valued colleague, Zoe Greenaway. Zoe joined our team from London for a short period to fill in for maternity cover, and she quickly became an integral part of our department. We wish Zoe the greatest success in her future endeavours, knowing that she will continue to contribute her broad expertise with other centres. In the same breath, we have welcomed an exciting new addition to our team, Stewart Scott, who hails from Glasgow. Stewart brings with him a wealth of experience, having split his time working across a range of adult and paediatric cases during his tenure in Glasgow. Since joining the QCH team, Stewart has already made a significant impact and demonstrated his ability to figuratively and literally ‘handle the heat,’ as he has stepped up to taking on complex cases.
Our commitment to improving the lives of those in need extends beyond the walls of our hospital. In a remarkable endeavour, a team of staff from QCH, including our very own perfusionist, Tony Black, embarked on a volunteer mission to Fiji. Over just five days, they completed 14 life-transforming surgeries. This initiative showcases the profound impact our department can have on the global community, and we are incredibly proud of their dedication and achievements.
In August, we achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first department in Australia, and the first dedicated paediatric centre in the world to perform a clinical case using the new Essenz Heart Lung Machine from
Livanova. This milestone was a result of the dedication and collaboration of our entire team, who worked closely with Livanova staff to become acquainted with the new technology.
This cutting-edge equipment has allowed us to push the boundaries of what is possible in our field, allowing us to further customise our circuit designs to our patient's needs, and we hope over the coming months to see this reflected in the number of cases we can successfully offer product-free cardiopulmonary bypass and enhanced data management. During this transition, I have been awestruck by my team’s willingness and ability to rise to this challenge, taking on the steep learning curve of technological advancements that could seem overwhelming at times and learning to re-write years of muscle memory. I’d like to also recognise the enduring efforts and many hours of planning and co- ordination, that made this successful acquisition possible by our leader Carla Zazulak. It has been a privilege to take part in this step into the next generation of perfusion technology and demonstrates our ongoing commitment to innovation and progress.
As with any profession, we have faced our share of challenges. Our department, like many others, has had to navigate the complexities of manufacturing, supply, and distribution issues. There also continue to be new complexities and process changes brought about by the post-COVID era. However, I am inspired by the way the perfusion community has adapted to these challenges. Their resilience, critical problem-solving skills, and ability to rapidly source alternatives or formulate contingency plans have been nothing short of remarkable. At QCH, and I anticipate in many other departments, overcoming these challenges has not only expanded our diversity of experiences but has also reinforced our commitment to providing the best possible care to our patients.
In closing, our department's achievements and growth would not be possible without the unwavering dedication, support and commitment of our team members. We look forward to the exciting developments to come, and we remain devoted in our mission to provide the highest quality of care to our patients.
Cardiac Perfusion department at My first case using Essenz HLM (QCH Team Travelling to provide life-saving
Queensland Children’s Hospital surgeries to children in Fiji) and LivaNova Team with Essenz.
37 DECEMBER 2023 | www.anzcp.org