healthYpulse: A Learning Healthcare System for Improving Paediatric Patient Experience and Outcomes

Summary healthYpulse: A Learning Healthcare System for Improving Paediatric Patient Experience and Outcomes

Project Details

The PhD will focus on establishing a learning healthcare system to improve the experiences and outcomes of children who undergo health procedures in hospitals.  High anxiety and psychological distress in children before healthcare interactions have been associated with lower health outcomes, adverse outcomes post-operation, and increased overall cost. In particular, a child's fear of needles could cause an otherwise simple immunisation process to become costly, lengthy, and stressful for children and their families. Childhood immunisation has also been associated as a classical conditioning experience that results in ongoing needle phobia, even through to adulthood. Thus, this PhD will be involved in developing child-centred strategies to support children and their families to improve paediatric patient experience and reduce anxiety. This PhD will use co-design methodologies to develop a study that incorporates a mixed methods approach. Qualitative data will be collected through methods such as focus groups and in-depth interviews. Analysis will be synthesised with quantitative data collected from sources such as a state vaccine safety service, specialist immunisation service, and social media to generate actionable information. The results would inform strategies for co-creating activities and content of engaging, interactive health literacy platforms to support and inform children and their families who are in the process of going through a healthcare procedure. Lessons from the study will be used to inform future, ongoing qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis to dynamically inform ongoing strategies to support children and their families in a learning healthcare system.