Responding to Surgery’s Opioid Crisis
Veronique Price
Each year, tens of thousands of patients who are prescribed opioids after surgery remain reliant on these medications even after their acute surgical pain has subsided. This worrying trend is one of the most widely recognized ways in which surgeons have contributed to opioid crises in many regions around the world. However, the troubling link […]
Tackling Musculoskeletal Conditions on a Global Scale
Veronique Price
A team of researchers from around the world, including our own Samantha Bunzli, recently released a report outlining a set of global health priorities with the aim of improving the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases. The report analysed the policies of 30 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Member States to better understand […]
Fellowship Success: A/Prof Michelle Dowsey
Veronique Price
The Dame Kate Campbell Fellowships were recently announced, and A/Prof Michelle Dowsey was one of the lucky few to be awarded a fellowship. The OPUS team was delighted to learn that our own A/Prof Michelle Dowsey was awarded a Dame Kate Campbell Fellowship. Named in honor of Dame Kate Campbell (1899-1986), a paediatrician whose pioneering […]
Veronique Price
The ECCO research stream, which aims to better understand and meet the needs of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians with osteoarthritis (OA), has had another early win. Researchers from this stream, including Tilini Gunatillake (PI), Peter Choong, Gail Garvey, Sam Bunzli, Michelle Dowsey, Toni Mason, and Penny O’Brien, were recently awarded a competitive grant […]
Fellowship Success: A/Prof Maria Inacio
Veronique Price
The Hospital Research Foundation (THRF) recently announced $5.7 million worth of research grants, and A/Prof Maria Inacio was one of the lucky few to be awarded a fellowship. Every year more than 10% of older Australians use government subsidised aged care services. As providers of aged care services support, the Commonwealth government monitors the […]
Veronique Price
Daniel Gould began his journey with OPUS in July 2018 while working on his MDRP, a research project that is a part of the University of Melbourne’s medical degree. Since then, he has worked on the SMART database as a research assistant, and in June of this year he became the University of Melbourne’s first combined […]
Veronique Price
Recently published findings from a randomised controlled trial, led by Michelle Dowsey, suggest that offering mindfulness training to certain patients before their joint replacement can improve their pain and function after surgery. Pre-surgery psychological distress can lead to poorer outcomes following total joint replacement (TJR) surgery. Depression, anxiety, neuroticism, catastrophizing, poor self-esteem, and low self-efficacy, […]
OPUS Spotlight: Tilini Gunatillake
Veronique Price
Tilini Gunatillake commenced her journey as a Research Fellow with our new ECCO team in June this year. She obtained her Doctorate from the University of Melbourne in 2016 under the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Her PhD project investigated potential causes of pregnancy complications with an aim to identifying viable treatment options for these […]
Aboriginal Cultural Safety Training
Michelle Lam
The St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne Aboriginal Health Unit has developed a 1 hour Cultural Awareness Training session that will be delivered to all hospital staff and OPUS members. This session will cover aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and provide practical advice and skills that can be applied when working with Aboriginal and Torres […]
Veronique Price
Penny began with OPUS in February 2018 as a research assistant. She managed qualitative projects in Stream 2, where her work focused on exploring the lived experiences, expectations and healthcare seeking behaviours of osteoarthritis patients who were awaiting total knee replacements. Since then, she has confirmed her love for the OPUS team and the supportive […]
Patients’ misconceptions about knee OA
Michelle Lam
In a recently published article in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, Dr Samantha Bunzli explores some misconceptions that patients have about their knee osteoarthritis. Sam’s paper titled, ‘Misconceptions and the acceptance of evidence-based non-surgical interventions for knee osteoarthritis. A qualitative study‘, highlighted a number of common beliefs that appear to influence patients’ willingness to pursue […]
Exercising after joint replacement surgery
Veronique Price
In a systematic review published in Disability and Rehabilitation, PhD candidate Lyndon Hawke examined what we know about the effectiveness of behavioural interventions that aim to increase levels of physical activity after hip or knee joint replacement. Replacing an osteoarthritic hip or knee is often thought to remove a significant barrier to engaging in many […]