Emergency Medicine Foundation

Emergency Medicine Foundation Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF) is a non-profit agency for advancing emergency medicine research

Emergency Medicine Foundation: finding better ways to save lives

The Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF) was established to build upon the success of the Queensland Emergency Medicine Research Foundation. QEMRF was established in 2007 with an investment of $5 million from the Queensland Government through Queensland Health. To date QEMRF has committed over $8 million into over 70 emergency medici

ne research projects in Queensland public hospital Emergency Departments. The outcomes of QEMRF funded research is attracting international attention that has the opportunity to positively impact on emergency medicine outcomes throughout the world. Our new foundation, EMF, will continue to raise funds to address an under investment in emergency medicine research across the sector nationally and internationally. The Emergency Medicine Foundation is focused on continuing the tradition of identifying the highest quality clinical research projects that will translate into improved practice, better patient experience, as well as delivering significant economic benefits to our healthcare systems. EMF intends to extend and capitalize on our successful grant administration and research selection systems by securing further government, philanthropic and corporate funding. We will offer research grants across the broader emergency medicine sector throughout Australia and beyond. EMF will support practical research projects engaging healthcare professionals, including emergency physicians and nurses, ambulance, fire-fighting and emergency retrieval professionals and many more. Please view our social media policy at www.emergencymedicinefoundation.org.au/terms-conditions/website-social-media-electronic-newsletters-terms-conditions-use/

Emergency Medicine Day is a chance to recognise the people who deliver and support emergency care 🌟 Every day, people wo...
27/05/2026

Emergency Medicine Day is a chance to recognise the people who deliver and support emergency care 🌟

Every day, people working across emergency care - from hospital emergency departments to prehospital and retrieval services - work in complex, fast-paced environments to deliver care when it matters most. Their work doesn’t just impact individual patients, it strengthens the entire health system.

At EMF, we’re proud to be guided by a Board with experience across emergency departments, prehospital care, education and research.

We asked a few of our Board members, Dr Kim Hansen, A/Prof Luke Lawton, Prof Viet Tran and Prof Hugh Grantham, to reflect on what drew them to emergency medicine, and what continues to inspire their work.

💬 Swipe through to see their reflections.

Days like this also highlight the importance of continuing to invest in emergency medicine research.

Round 46 of the Queensland Research Program opens on 8 June, supporting research to improve patient care, system performance and outcomes across emergency medicine.

📌 Find out more: https://emergencyfoundation.org.au/queensland-research-program/

Severe trauma in rural and remote Queensland requires time-critical intervention often before hospital-based care is ava...
21/05/2026

Severe trauma in rural and remote Queensland requires time-critical intervention often before hospital-based care is available. ⌛

The ROUGE study, led by Dr Ellie Kitcatt and Retrieval Services Queensland, is now underway and investigating whether early administration of fibrinogen concentrate in the pre-hospital aeromedical retrieval setting can improve outcomes for patients with life-threatening haemorrhage. 🩸

Fibrinogen is a key component in blood clot formation, and low levels are a major contributor to trauma-induced coagulopathy – a life-threatening complication. Fibrinogen level testing and replacement is a standard of care for patients with major traumatic haemorrhage in Queensland's larger hospitals.

The ROUGE study is looking to see if we can accurately identify patients in the resource-limited prehospital and retrieval environment who need fibrinogen replacement, and if early administration improves outcomes for rural and remote patients. 🧪

While recruitment is ongoing, early implementation has already highlighted the ability to and importance of delivering advanced haemostatic care in the retrieval environment. Findings from this work have the potential to inform future trauma care practice both in Australia and internationally.

Have an idea that could improve trauma care?

🚨 Applications for EMF’s Trauma Care Research Grants are open and close 6 July.

These grants support clinician-led research aimed at improving outcomes for patients in regional, rural and remote Queensland, supported by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission.

📌 Find out more and apply: https://emergencyfoundation.org.au/trauma-care/

Queensland Health

International Clinical Trials Day: Improving Care Through Evidence 🌏 Clinical trials are how we move from clinical exper...
20/05/2026

International Clinical Trials Day: Improving Care Through Evidence 🌏

Clinical trials are how we move from clinical experience to clinical certainty.

📅This International Clinical Trials Day, we’re highlighting the EMF-funded STeroids in Preschool Asthma Reduction (STAR) Study, led by A/Prof Shane George at Gold Coast University Hospital.

Funded through Round 44 of EMF’s Queensland Research Program, this multicentre, double-blind randomised controlled trial is comparing a single dose of oral prednisolone with the standard three-day course for preschool children presenting to EDs with asthma. 👏

The study is designed to assess whether a simplified single-dose regimen is non-inferior to current practice in preventing short-term morbidity, including re-presentation, need for additional treatment, adverse events, and prolonged hospital stay.

🏥Asthma remains one of the most common reasons young children present to ED, and while corticosteroids are a cornerstone of care, the optimal duration of therapy in this age group has never been directly tested in a large pragmatic trial.

By rigorously testing everyday treatments, clinical trials like the STAR Study help ensure emergency care continues to evolve, becoming more consistent, evidence-based, and patient-centred.

📌 Explore EMF Grant opportunities: https://emergencyfoundation.org.au/research-grants-calendar/

Gold Coast Health

19/05/2026

Research often starts with questions from clinical practice. For Dr Grace Xu, it began with a goal of finding better ways to care for her patients.

An emergency nurse practitioner and researcher, Dr Xu has built a strong track record with more than 40 publications and multiple EMF-funded projects focused on improving patient care, vascular access, and clinician wellbeing.

🧠 Her work includes using virtual reality to reduce pain and anxiety during procedures
📊 Improving how we approach common interventions like IV insertions
🤝 And supporting clinicians with practical tools to manage stress in high-pressure environments

Supported by EMF, her research is grounded in real clinical challenges, and shaped by the people delivering care every day.

🎬 Watch the video to hear Dr Xu's journey and why collaboration is key to getting started in research.

Footage supplied by media partner AUDIENCED Bench Side Story

Rethinking care for children with broken arms 🩹 Children commonly break their arm, and most are treated in the ED with a...
14/05/2026

Rethinking care for children with broken arms 🩹

Children commonly break their arm, and most are treated in the ED with a cast or splint. But across hospitals, treatment can vary widely, even for similar injuries.

💡 Funded through an Emerge grant in Round 44 of EMF’s Queensland Research Program, L’Oreal Steytler is leading a binational survey, mentored by A/Prof Peter Snelling, to better understand how these injuries are managed across Australia and New Zealand.

The study will explore how clinicians decide between casts and splints, and whether less intensive options could be used more often. It will also capture the experiences and preferences of children and their families, including their openness to alternative treatments.

By identifying where practice differs and what matters most to patients, this research may help guide future studies and support more consistent, patient-centred care in EDs.👏

📌 Find out more about EMF’s grant opportunities, Round 46 of the Queensland Research Program opens on 8 June: https://emergencyfoundation.org.au/research-grants-calendar/

Gold Coast Health

🌏This International Nurses Day, we’re celebrating the nurses leading innovation and improving patient care through resea...
12/05/2026

🌏This International Nurses Day, we’re celebrating the nurses leading innovation and improving patient care through research👏

Dr Grace Xu, Senior Emergency Nurse Practitioner, was awarded an EMF grant for the DECIDE Study. This project is developing a machine learning tool to help predict which ED patients are likely to need a peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC). 💡

PIVCs are commonly inserted in EDs, yet many are never used. While often routine, these procedures can be painful, invasive, and carry risks of infection and other complications for patients.

Using routinely collected clinical data, the DECIDE Study aims to support clinicians with more accurate, evidence-based decision-making around PIVC insertion. This aims to help reduce unnecessary procedures while improving patient safety, efficiency, and care quality in busy ED environments.

🙌 The project also highlights the growing role of nurse-led research in shaping the future of emergency care, including the use of artificial intelligence and digital innovation to solve real-world healthcare challenges.

Funded through EMF’s Queensland Research Program, supported by Queensland Health, this study is a strong example of frontline clinicians driving meaningful change for patients across Queensland.

Metro North Health Metro South Health

Improving emergency care for older adults at risk of delirium 🏥 This newly published EMF-funded study led by Kendall Wil...
11/05/2026

Improving emergency care for older adults at risk of delirium 🏥

This newly published EMF-funded study led by Kendall Williams Queensland at Redland Hospital evaluated the impact of the Geriatric Emergency Department Initiative (GEDI) for older community-dwelling adults who received a 4AT delirium screen on presentation to the ED.

The study found patients receiving GEDI input were:

🔸 Less likely to be admitted to hospital
🔹 More likely to be safely discharged home
🔸 More likely to have frailty identified and documented
🔹 And, for some patient groups, experienced shorter ED length of stay

The findings highlight the value of specialist geriatric support within EDs, supporting safer, more tailored care for older adults while reducing pressure on busy hospital systems.

📅 This research will be presented at the upcoming Australasian College for Emergency Medicine Queensland Autumn Symposium 2026 in Brisbane on 21-22 May, where emergency clinicians and researchers from across the state will come together to share research and ideas to improve emergency care.

📌 For more information about the ACEM event: https://acem.eventsair.com/acem-queensland-autumn-symposium-2026/

📖 Read the publication in Emergency Medicine Australasia: https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.70266

Authors: Kendall Williams, Alison Craswell, Henry Tsao, Salih A. Salih, Tania Quaglio, Andrea Taylor

Metro South Health

What happens after we fund research? 💡 At Redland Hospital, emergency physician Dr Henry Tsao and colleagues set out to ...
07/05/2026

What happens after we fund research? 💡

At Redland Hospital, emergency physician Dr Henry Tsao and colleagues set out to compare two regional anaesthetic techniques for patients with wrist and forearm fractures. 🩹

Through the EMF-funded SUPERB Trial, clinicians compared ultrasound-guided supraclavicular block (UGSCB) with the traditional Bier block.

The findings showed UGSCB was:

🔹 Just as effective for procedural pain relief
🔹 Associated with high patient satisfaction
🔹 Provided longer-lasting post-procedure comfort in many cases

Some patients reported pain relief lasting up to 12 hours, which many described as a highly positive part of their ED experience.

Published in Emergency Medicine Australasia, the results are now informing local practice and have contributed to growing interest in ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia.

This is what funded research looks like, improving options, experiences and care in the moment. 👏

Metro South Health

2026 Emergency Care Research Symposium 🚨 What does leadership in emergency care research actually look like? Across Que...
06/05/2026

2026 Emergency Care Research Symposium 🚨

What does leadership in emergency care research actually look like?

Across Queensland, it looks like clinicians, researchers, and health system leaders working together to turn evidence into better emergency care, in real time, across real systems. 💡

🏥 EMF is proud to sponsor the 2026 Emergency Care Research Symposium, hosted by Gold Coast Health Emergency Care Research, taking place on 25-26 June, bringing together research, including EMF-supported work, and collaboration across Queensland’s emergency care system.

From trauma and critical care through to paediatrics, elderly care, ultrasound, and health system strengthening, the program reflects the breadth of research shaping the future of emergency medicine.

At the centre of this work are leaders like Prof Gerben Keijzers, whose extensive contributions to emergency care research, including through the GCH Emergency Care Research Group, reflect the close link between clinical leadership and research translation in practice.

We look forward to the conversations, connections, and collaboration across the two days. 👏

📌 Register for the event: https://gchedresearchsymposium.my.canva.site/

🩸 Evaluating blood administration practices within LifeFlight Supported through an EMF Research Capacity Building grant...
05/05/2026

🩸 Evaluating blood administration practices within LifeFlight

Supported through an EMF Research Capacity Building grant, this study from LifeFlight Medical Services delivers the first comprehensive Australian snapshot of prehospital blood transfusion use across a statewide retrieval system.

Analysing nearly 8,000 missions in 2024, the study found:

🔸 Blood transfusions were used in just 2.9% of missions - rare, but critical when needed
🔹 Trauma accounted for 59% of cases, but 41% were medical or surgical
🔸 A shift to carrying a mix of O-positive and O-negative blood was safe and effective, with O-positive used in women of childbearing age in just 1 in 2,000 missions
🔹 Strong stewardship of blood products, with low wastage (3%) despite complex retrieval environments

This kind of real-world evidence is essential for planning, governance, and ensuring patients receive the right care, wherever they are across Queensland. 👏

The EMF Research Capacity Building grant led by Research Champion Dr Ben Aston, is not focused on a single project, it’s developing the systems, data infrastructure, and research capability within LifeFlight that enable research like this to happen.

📖 Read the publication: https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.70253

Authors: Bradley Richardson, Tara Pidgeon, Susanna Cramb, Ben Powell, Ben Aston

Building research capability isn’t just about funding projects, it’s about empowering clinicians to lead change from wit...
30/04/2026

Building research capability isn’t just about funding projects, it’s about empowering clinicians to lead change from within 💡

In the latest issue of INSPIRE magazine by Research Australia, we share how an EMF Research Capacity Building Grant at The Prince Charles Hospital is transforming emergency medicine research on the ground.

Led by Research Champion Dr Faye Jordan, this work is supporting clinicians to step into research, building skills, confidence and a lasting culture of innovation within the ED. 👏

We also highlight how research capacity is being built into aeromedical and retrieval services with early work underway at Royal Flying Doctor Service - Queensland Section and LifeFlight.

📖 Read the full article (pp. 70–71): https://researchaustralia.org/inspire-magazine/

Metro North Health

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