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December 2023 News

Congratulations to the following members who were re-elected at the AGM to the AIPN Executive Committee for 2024. 

  • Dr Kate Hunter, General Member  

  • Stacey Pidgeon, General Member 

  • Dr Rebecca Lilley, General Member 

  • Dr Lauren Fortington, Treasurer

Joining the committee in 2024 is Dr Helen Harcombe in the capacity of General Member. Helen is an epidemiologist with a PhD in Public Health and a clinical background in musculoskeletal physiotherapy. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago, New Zealand. The nature of her background and skills is such that she brings both a clinical and  research perspective to injury prevention. Helen’s research over the last decade has focused primarily on preventing subsequent injury and optimising outcomes following injury. Within this broad area of injury research, Helen has examined a range of aspects including predictors of subsequent injury, work-related subsequent injury, post-injury participation in work and other activities, and opportunities for subsequent injury prevention. Another research focus is musculoskeletal disorders, particularly among nurses. Helen is a Highly organised and a good communicator and we look forward to her joining the committee this coming year. Congratulations Helen. 

 

Unfortunately, we did not receive any nominations for the position of secretary. If you think that you could support the network in this position, please reach out to the committee via secretariat@aipn.com.au

2024 Executive Committee

15th Australasian Injury Prevention & Safety Promotion Conference

Don’t forget to register to join us at the forefront of innovation and collaboration at the 15th Australasian Injury Prevention & Safety Promotion Conference, taking place at the Sir Howard Morrison Centre in Rotorua, Aotearoa New Zealand, from March 11th to 13th, 2024. 

Early bird registration closes 15 January 2024.

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AIPN Member Spotlight

Who you are?

Dr Rod McClure is Professor of Public Health Medicine, Dean, School of Medicine, and Pro Vice Chancellor Health Futures, at Western Sydney University.  He is Chair of the Board of the Nib Foundation; Council Member of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine, Board Member of the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, and Council Member of the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise.  Since being awarded his PhD in Epidemiology and Population Health in 1995, he has had comprehensive international career with clinical, administrative, education and research contributions across the public, private and government sectors.  His particular specialist expertise is in decision support analytics.

How did you get into Injury Prevention?

After finishing my intern year at Royal North Shore I went to work in the UK where I spent far too many hours retrieving seriously injured young adults from major motor vehicle crashes.  I felt there had to be a better solution. From there I returned to Australia to begin a PHD in injury prevention, and Fellowship training in Public Health Medicine.

What is your favourite part of being involved with the AIPN?

Before me, being involved with the AIPN is about being part of the future.  The AIPN is the torch that keeps the passion for injury prevention in Australia burning brightly.  Its an exciting network, with exciting people committed to their cause.   Every time I connect to the Network I am inspired to keep going.

A fact about yourself that most people wouldn't know?

I still travel on a New Zealand Passport.

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Professor Rod McClure
Western Sydney University & AIPN Life Member

Coming Soon - AIPN Awards Nominations

It's time to acknowledge the brilliance within our field by nominating your deserving colleague for the AIPN Awards! The AIPN is gearing up to honor those who have made outstanding contributions to injury prevention and safety promotion, and your colleague could be the next shining star to take the stage.
 

Nominations will be opening early December. Take this time to consider which of your colleagues are a deserving nominee.  
 

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AIPN Member Projects

Research collaboration increases knowledge and awareness about farm safety 

A collaborative effort among multiple universities and led by AIPN members Dr Amy Peden and Prof Richard Franklin, has resulted in the development of an inventive remedy for the issue – an educational game titled 'Calm Your Farm.' This online game, available at no cost, serves as a platform for teenagers to gain insights into potential hazards present in farm environments and discover methods to mitigate the risk of injuries. The interdisciplinary team comprises researchers specializing in injury prevention, education, and game development from UNSW, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), James Cook University, and the University of Sydney Rural Medical School and has been co-designed with students. Nominations will be opening 15th December. Take this time to consider which of your colleagues are a deserving nominee.  

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Reports & Publications

Australian Government Department of Social Services (2023). Theory of change 2022-2032: under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2023) Hip fracture care pathways in Australia, AIHW, Australian Government

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2023). Family, domestic and sexual violence

Child pedestrian crossing behaviour and associated risk factors in school zones: a video-based observational study in Kampala, Uganda

Critical appraisal, reviewing and synthetizing the injury prevention and control literature: time to revisit peer-reviewing and systematic reviews?

Injury-related emergency department use among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities insured by Medicaid from 2010 to 2016

Financial burden of anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions in football (soccer) players: an Australian cost of injury study

How to successfully engage a community in road safety

Sleep characteristics and adolescent physical activity-related injuries in sports clubs, leisure time and schools

Understanding a community’s needs for an emergency department-based childhood injury prevention programme: a mixed-methods study

Updated population-level estimates of child restraint practices among children aged 0–12 years in Australia, 10 years after introduction of age-appropriate restraint use legislation

Yarn up, listen up: community report of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people’s perspectives on suicide prevention

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Public Consultations

Standards Australia Swimming Pool Safety Barriers Standard Open for Public Comment

The draft Standard Swimming pool safety, Part 1: Safety barriers for swimming pools is now open for comment.

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Opportunities

Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG) Student and Early Career Group (SECG) Helen Barrie National Prize

This prize is targeted at students and early career researchers and practitioners. Now in its third year, three prizes will be awarded with a total value of $1750.00.


Prizes are open to SECG researchers developing a research profile in ageing research and are a chance to showcase their work as a published or accepted-for-publication article in a peer reviewed journal. 

Applications are open now and close on 4 December 2023. 
 

Lowitja Institute Scholarships

Lowitja Institute scholarships aim to support the next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researchers.

These scholarships contribute to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership of health research by providing opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to develop skills in areas relevant to meaningful health research.


The following scholarship types will be available:
•    Certificate IV
•    Graduate Certificate
•    Higher Degree Research Top-Up

 

Scholarships open on 27 November 2023 and will close on 5 February 2024.
 

eSafety Youth Council applications

The eSafety Commission are looking for young Australians aged 13 to 24, to join the eSafety Youth Council.  This is an opportunity for young people to have their say on online safety issues that matter most to them. They will help us understand what young people experience online and how their experiences and safety can be improved.

Applications close 4pm (AEDT) 1 December 2023
 

Injury Prevention Officer -0.6FTE 

Injury Matters is currently looking for an Injury Prevention Officer 0.6FTE until January 2025. 

This position supports the seamless delivery of injury prevention projects. The Injury Prevention Officer will support the development and implementation of a range of strategies and initiatives aimed at improving injury prevention in the community.  

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Conferences

Australian and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society & World Falls Congress 2023

Injury, including the AIPN, was well represented at the Australian and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society & World Falls Congress 2023 Joint Conference in Perth, Western Australia. The broad purpose behind the conference was described as being “to promote the multidisciplinary study and implementation of fall prevention in older people and clinical groups with balance impairment.”

 

Presentations from AIPN members highlighted data and data linkage, interventions and trials, and policy and evaluation as part of falls and injury prevention research and practice (some highlights below). Having concurrent sessions to choose from is a good /bad problem to have I apologise to injury people I missed in the list below - at least I can find you in catch up sessions when the presentation recordings are released - thank you organising team! It’s so appreciated when we can’t get be in multiple places at once.

 

A night of canapés overlooking Perth from the magnificent Kings Park was a brilliant way to catch up informally with friends and colleagues. 

 

The next ANZFPS conference will be held in Sydney in 2025.

The next World Falls Congress will be in Europe in 2026 - great to have multiple sites wanting to host - falls is on the up! 

Data, data linkage and hospitalised falls

Roisin Sweeney shared her knowledge of Western Australia (WA) falls data. Before 2019, there was no central document or system for monitoring the incidence of falls in WA. To overcome this gap, Injury Matters, in partnership with the WA Department of Health, has reported falls data for the last five years. The 2023 WA Falls Report highlights that one Western Australian died every 19 days in 2020, was hospitalised every 15 minutes in 2021 and presented to an emergency department every 11 minutes in 2021 due to a falls-related incident, further reinforcing the burden of falls. The report is available here. 

 

Hip fractures are the most common serious fall-related injury in older people, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Dr Lara Harvey wowed us with her linked data to determine if adherence to the national Hip Fracture Care Clinical Care Standard, introduced in Australia in 2016, was associated with improved health outcomes and reduced mortality following hip fracture. Spoiler alert: it was! 

 

A/Prof Rebecca Mitchell from the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University presented her work exploring the role of frailty with the risk of hospital readmission and mortality for aged care residents following a fall injury. Using linked hospitalisation and residential aged care data of adults aged ≥65 years residing in residential aged care who were hospitalised in NSW with a fall injury (2 years, 2008-2010). Greater levels of frailty (Hospital Frailty Risk Score) was associated with increased risk of readmission.

 

Interventions and their delivery

From Injury Matters, the fabulous falls duo of Suzanne Butler and Joanna Mania kicked things off on Sunday with a workshop titled “Joining forces: Strengthening the collaborative approach to community-based falls prevention.” Apu Karajagi also shared her work into the development of the falls workforce through eLearning approaches - check out the resources here.

 

Professor Lisa Keay had a busy few days sharing findings of two studies - a longitudinal cohort and a randomised trial. The cohort study considered timing of eye surgery and it’s impact on vision and fall incidence and injury in older people with cataract. The trial was a Lifestyle-integrated Functional Exercise fall prevention programme for older people with low vision or blindness (v-LiFE). The latter showed potential for improving outcomes and risks for people with complete vision loss, working together with orientation and mobility specialists. The findings showed the intervention did not result in a benefit in this case, but a 90% retention over 12 months is a success if you ask me!

 

Policy and eval

Effective public health policy is critically important as a system-level intervention for falls prevention.Newly crowned *Dr* Aleks Natora shared findings of her recently conferred PhD showcasing the critical importance of effective public health policy as a population-level intervention for falls prevention. Her findings have informed the development of new evidence-based and co-designed policy framework and implementation approach to strengthen the public health approach to falls prevention. She shared her work on the ‘Safe Systems Approach to Falls Prevention’. This evidence-based and co-designed policy framework and implementation approach was developed to refocus the public health approach from the traditional reactive falls risk management practice to a proactive and preventive systems approach. Warning: impact!

 

With my colleagues at Edith Cowan University and the team at Injury Matters, I shared our insights from evaluation of the Stay On Your Feet® program in WA. The evaluation used a mixed method approach to look at what is working well for participants in the Stay On Your Feet® program and what can be improved in both program delivery and falls prevention more broadly.

 

All the keynote speakers were great but I have to mention the final plenary from Dr Jo Hikaka, Pharmacist and Senior Research Fellow, University of Auckland, New Zealand “Whaioranga Te Pā Harakeke – Iwi-driven injury prevention and rehabilitation for older Māori” She spoke to us about a Paeārahi-led culturally appropriate intervention for falls prevention. Ending the falls conference with this work was like an unofficial launch for 2024 AIPN conference in Rotorua - I’m officially very excited!!

 

Author -  Dr Lauren Fortington

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World Conference on Drowning Prevention 4-7 December

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This globally significant event will focus world attention on drowning prevention. WCDP 2023 will gather experts in drowning prevention, lifesaving and water safety with the goal of Shaping Global Strategy and Mobilising for Action. Keep an eye on the AIPN Twitter as we share content from the conference.

15th Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Conference 

The Australasian Injury Prevention Network (AIPN) are pleased to invite you to the premier injury prevention conference for Australia, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and the Asia Pacific, the 15th Australasian Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Conference with the theme: Weaving knowledges for injury prevention and safety promotion; creating a new way together. The conference is to be held at the Sir Morrison Howard Centre in Rotorua, Aotearoa New Zealand, 11-13 March, 2024.  

Safety 2024

The 15th World Conference on Injury Prevention & Safety Promotion #Safety2024  

www.worldsafety2024.com will be hosted in the amazing rich in history and culture and architecturally beautiful City of New DelhiIndia.
 
#Safety2024 aims to draw global attention to the critical issues surrounding safety and injury prevention. The gathering will serve as a platform for international experts in the field to come together with a shared mission of "Creating a Safer Future for All: Implementing Equitable and Sustainable Strategies for Preventing Injuries and Violence." We invite you to visit the #Safety2024 website to learn more about the World Conference, the program, and registration details. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to the global effort to reduce injuries and violence and improve trauma care, and we believe your involvement will greatly enrich the conference and help make it a resounding success.
 
By way of updates, a call for abstracts is now open and details can be found here

Expressions of interest for workshops may be submitted through a Google form here. 

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International Safety Media Awards

Recognizing the world’s best safety promotion and injury prevention media. 

Held in conjunction with the  World Health Organisation’s 15th Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Conference #Safety2024 to be held in Delhi, India from September 2-4, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALDHI25A-ng 

An opportunity to honor high-quality and effective media. Why don't you enter the International Safety Media Awards 2024 for a chance to showcase your Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention messages? 

 

Open Call for International Safety Media Awards (ISMA) is from  Friday 20th October 2023  

For more information please visit: www.isma-awards.org 

 

The International Safety Media Awards have been a part of the World Health Organization’s SAFETY Conferences since 2006 in Durban, South Africa. The Awards provide a platform to recognize powerful and effective safety promotion and injury prevention media initiatives. The ISMAs also provide an opportunity to strengthen worldwide multi-sectorial partnerships and share state-of-the-art learnings. At the last conference over 600 pieces of media were received from every continent except Antarctica.  

 

BE INSPIRED: Check out the previous winning entries at www.isma-awards.org of the 8th International Safety Media Awards (ISMA) presented at the World Safety Conference in Adelaide, Australia 27 to 30  November 2022.   

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Have you got activities you want to promote or content to share? Please send any articles to communications@aipn.com.au 27th day of each month.

© 2024 by Australasian Injury Prevention Network 

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