Research Supervisor Connect
This is a PhD opportunity to work on a funded pilot randomised trial, with nested qualitative interviews, evaluating the effectiveness of a language translation App for the management of people with musculoskeletal pain from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in the emergency department.
Camperdown - School of Public Health
Australian emergency departments provide care to highly culturally and linguistically diverse communities. However, existing interpreting services are not sufficient to cover the high demand. Our previous study showed that around 8% of patients with back pain presenting to emergency departments in the Sydney Local Health District required an interpreter, but they were twice more likely to receive guideline-discordant care for back pain, such as lumbar imaging and hospital admission, compared to patients able to communicate independently. This could be partially attributed to inefficient patient-clinician communication which forces clinicians to rely on objective results from unnecessary diagnostic tests and extended observation to rule out any underlying serious pathology.
This study will be a multi-site, two-arm, parallel, feasibility and pilot randomised controlled trial with nested qualitative interviews. The PhD student will be liaising with the research team to enhance the functionality of a current language translation App, conduct a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the App amongst patients presenting to emergency departments with musculoskeletal pain who are unable to communicate in English, and conduct semi-structured interviews and focus groups with clinicians and trial participants.
Dr Gustavo Machado is an NHMRC Investigator (EL2) and Robinson Fellow at the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney and Sydney Local Health District. He has published extensively on topics related to musculoskeletal pain, physiotherapy, emergency and pre-hospital care, and public health.
Prof Chris Maher is Professor in Sydney School of Public Health, founding Director of the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health and Co-Director of Sydney Musculoskeletal Health. He is a physiotherapist, recognised internationally for his clinical research in the low back pain field.
Dr Qiuzhe Chen is a postdoctoral research fellow with a background in Medicine and Physiotherapy.
The opportunity ID for this research opportunity is 3467