The Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA) Wound Care Initiative was a national collaboration involving the Department of Health, Wounds Australia, health and medical research teams, acute care services and primary healthcare. The initiative aimed to create an integrated approach to wound management that would deliver improved patient outcomes and reduce the health and economic cost of wounds in Australia.
Wounds Australia partnered with Health Translation Queensland and the Western Australian Health Translation Network (WAHTN) to oversee the initiative.
The AHRA Wound Care Initiative involved four projects:
Determine the actual (not modelled) cost of wound care based on best practice and best product
Update the 2016 Standards for Wound Prevention and Management to include new guidelines and a self-audit tool
Coordinated education and training
Plan for a coordinated program of research excellence
In addition to co-leading the overall initiative, Health Translation Queensland partnered with the Queensland University of Technology to deliver project three and four of the AHRA Wound Care Initiative.
Project three aimed to support health professionals build their knowledge and capacity in evidence based wound care through improved access to better integrated training and education.
To achieve this, the following project objectives were attained:
identify and list all active wound care training and education courses available nationally, and explore gaps, priority areas and suitable approaches to deliver low cost, accessible education and training.
improve health care professional awareness of current/active wound care education and training courses through the establishment of a national directory
The education and training directory and project summary will be publicly available in early 2022.
Project team:
Associate Professor Christina Parker
Dr Angela Jones
Dr Andrew Francis
Laura Robson
Project four aimed to develop a coordinated program of research, aimed at supporting continuous improvement in wound care nationally.
The objective of stream four activity was to:
guide the future direction of Australian wound care research through the identification of research gaps and priorities
provide recommendations for a national research program to establish effective collaborative models of care and enable optimal outcomes for individuals, community and the health system
improve researcher and health professional knowledge of current research through establishment of a national directory of wound research and biobanks
The research directory and recommendations for a national program of research will be publicly available in early 2022.
Project team:
Dr Kathleen Finlayson
Professor Allison Cowin
Dr Ut Bui
Project four scoping review protocols:
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Health Translation Queensland acknowledges the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which we live, work, and play. We pay our respects to their Ancestors and their descendants, who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country. We recognise their valuable contributions to Australian and global society.
