Page 40 - Adventist Healthcare Annual Report 2020

EDUCATION AND RESEARCH ANNUAL REPORT 2020
Community Education
Free Public Health Seminars
AHCL has a long-standing commitment to sharing important health and wellness education with our community. In 2019/20 our remarkable doctors and allied health professionals presented a face-to-face free Men’s Health public forum before circumstances forced a change to an online format and a very successful Pregnancy and Maternity webinar was held in mid 2020.
Maternity Education
San Maternity has a long history of providing outstanding maternity services for our community, as well as offering a comprehensive education program for new families. In any normal year our maternity educators are kept busy helping our community deliver and raise their children with approximately 1,600 new parents and carers attending face-to-face learning including Choices in Childbirth, Caesarean, Breastfeeding, Babycare and Grandparent refresher classes plus 1,300 expectant parents attending ward tours. Unfortunately, with the safety of all as our primary focus, prenatal classes and tours ceased in early March. Our patients were soon able to access free online education through an arrangement with Nourish Baby, and our maternity educators are now busy working towards being able to provide much of this education in a combined video and interactive webinar format in the near future, and hope to return to face-to-face learning in a COVID-safe environment when possible.
Clinical Trials
The San Clinical Trials Unit offers participation in multi-centre, national and international clinical trials run by pharmaceutical companies and national and international collaborative groups such as Australasian Gastro Intestinal Trials Group (AGITG), the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group (ANZUP) the ANZ Gynaecology/Oncology Group (ANZGOG), and the ANZ Breast Cancer Trials Group (ANZBCTG).
The Unit is made up of a collaborative team of medical oncologists, haematologists, radiation oncologists, clinical trial coordinators, pharmacists, and experienced oncology nurses, pathology and radiology staff.
It provides oncology, haematology and radiation oncology patients treated at Sydney Adventist Hospital with the best possible treatment outcomes.
COVID-19 has impacted the clinical trial community both at the San and internationally. With restrictions affecting levels of personal contact, alternative testing methods have been rapidly developed with patient safety as the highest priority. New and innovative methods of data collection, and the necessary rethinking of current processes will hopefully
bring about positive outcomes in the clinical trials environment in the long term. As a result of our ongoing responses to the pandemic, no patients at AHCL have ceased their trial participation. The Unit has expanded its impact throughout the organisation, assisting with a number of ethical and governance submissions for other departments.
Patients are offered the opportunity and ability to participate in the most current treatment options available through clinical trials. Currently
the San Clinical Trials Unit has 50 active clinical trials across many different
sub-specialties including bladder, breast, gastrointestinal, germ cell,
haematological, lung, pancreatic, prostate, renal cancers and solid tumours along with
pain management. The Unit has participated in more than 100 clinical trials involving more than
1,000 patients since it was established in
2005.
Associate Professor Milton Roxanas
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