Injury Strategy: Small Grant Round 2012-13

The MAA is pleased to announce a series of small grant rounds. The total funding available for the small grants round is $150,000 over a period of twelve months.

The aim of these grants is to assist organisations to develop initiatives in trauma and injury management for people injured in motor vehicle crashes in NSW across the continuum of care. There will be four consecutive themes for each of the small grant rounds. Each theme will be allocated a quarter of the total funding.

The themes are:

The theme for the fourth round is Quality practice improvement in a clinical setting.

The aim of quality improvement projects is to develop a system by which better health outcomes are achieved through analysing and improving the service delivery process. Projects in this category may focus on a single component of the quality improvement cycle or cover the entire quality improvement cycle. Where a project proposes a single component of the quality cycle applicants will need to demonstrate how they plan to complete the cycle.

Examples of projects under this category would be:

1. Safety: Reducing adverse consumer outcomes.
2. Effectiveness: Providing services based on best practice such as development or implementation of fact sheets or clinical algorithms. 
3. Consumer-centred care: Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences by providing timely, complete and accurate information patients can understand.
4. Timeliness: Providing timely care and assessment resulting in reduced length of stay in emergency departments.
5. Efficiency:  Improving the discharge processes for consumers by developing a well–defined discharge planning process, involving consumers/carers in the process.
6. Equity: Providing care that does not differ in quality because of personal characteristics. Such as developing consumer resources in different languages, developing e-resources for consumers and building capacity of service providers in rural and remote locations.

Each grant round will be announced separately. Successful applicants will be announced on 15th July 2013. The maximum amount per grant is $15,000 and projects must be completed within 12 months.

Details of organisations that can apply are listed in Section 1: Administration, Small Grant Application Form available below:

• Application Form (280kb) *This form is best viewed with Adobe IX and above
• Guidelines (Round 4)  (119kb)
• MAA Small Grants - Letter of Offer (29 October 2012) (136kb)

If you have any questions, please contact: maagrants@maa.nsw.gov.au

Small Grant Round 1 Outcome (Education & Training) – February 2013

The MAA is pleased to advise that funds were awarded for three projects.

Professor Michael Nicholas, Director Pain Education Pain Management Research Institute, The University of Sydney and Elizabeth Leonard, Clinical Nurse Consultant Trauma Services, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital were the successful applicants.

Professor Michael Nicholas will deliver the following projects: 

1. Talking about pain $15,000

Key interview and communication skills are   needed to conduct a biopsychosocial assessment and case formulation of a patient with a chronic pain condition arising from minor-moderate motor vehicle accidents. These skills are important for interviewing patients with chronic pain, helping them to make sense of their pain and how it is affecting their lives. This project will develop two videos demonstrating key interview and communication skills to primary health care practitioners. These steps are a necessary precursor to implementing a self- management approach to chronic pain.

2. Skills training for pain assessment and self management $15,000

Primary health care practitioners are often at the front line of managing patients with persisting pain conditions following minor- moderate motor vehicle accidents. While information and research is available regarding pain self- management, there is little formal training for primary health practitioners to perform this work. This project will provide an interactive, skills-oriented and accessible approach to skills training by providing four online skills training courses for 40 participants over five weeks.  

Elizabeth Leonard will deliver the following project:

3. RAPH Trauma Team Training Course resources upgrade $10,000

The Trauma Team Training is a course that was developed to educate and support medical and nursing staff to effectively manage patients sustaining multiple injuries. The grant will enable the development of on-line training resources. These resources will support course structure, limit didactic session times and allow for further simulation training within the course.

Small Grant Round 2 –Service Development and improvement – April 2013

The MAA is pleased to advise that funds were awarded to the following projects.

1. Westmead Trauma Algorithms App $15,000

Westmead Hospital Trauma Unit and relevant subspecialties have designed a set of Clinical Algorithms using the best available evidence to provide standardised process of care for trauma patients presenting to Westmead Hospital. The project will result in an app, available across all platforms, that provides easy access to these clinical algorithms, particularly for the junior and mid-level medical staff treating trauma patients. These standardised processes will reduce error and promote efficient, safe care for trauma patients.

Grant recipient: Dr Jeremy Hsu, Director of Trauma, Westmead Hospital

2. Improving outpatient pain management $14,814.31

The project will identify the incidence and cause of ongoing pain and barriers to compliance with prescribed analgesic regimes in trauma patients post discharge. It will generate evidence to improve the patient discharge process and evidence based patient information tools.

Grant recipient: A/P Kate Curtis Clinical Nurse Consultant Trauma St George Hospital

3. Development of a Trauma Service ‘web-app’ for smart phone use $15,000

The project will develop a multiplatform web app to facilitate dissemination of key trauma protocols and guidelines relevant to clinicians within Sydney Local Health District. The app will be a convenient and accessible way to provide information and clinical guidance for clinicians. The app will be incorporated into a range of clinical decision calculators based on data at RPAH designed to facilitate patient flow, assist with patient care and expedite discharge planning for trauma patients.

Grant recipients: Elizabeth Leonard/Michael Dinh –Trauma Coordinator/Trauma Director RPAH

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Injury Management Grants and Funded Projects

The focus of the IM grants and projects strategic plan is to ensure that the best possible health and social outcomes are achieved for people injured in motor vehicle crashes, and the best possible use is made of the available resources.

The MAA’s Injury Strategy Branch administers a injury management (IM) grants program which:

1. provides support and funding for programs that will assist effective injury management;
2. develops and supports education programs in connection with effective injury management;
3. encourages early and appropriate treatment and rehabilitation to achieve optimum recovery from injuries sustained in motor vehicle crashes; and
4. supports an efficient and affordable CTP Scheme.

IM Grant Program aims

• Aim 1: Improve the health and social outcomes for injured people in the scheme
• Aim 2: Facilitate evidence based practice in injury management
• Aim 3: Contribute to the cost effectiveness and efficiency of the Scheme
• Aim 4: Ensure the MAA’s grants administration is consistent with best practice

Consideration for project funding is based on whether the proposal targets identified priority groups and fits into predetermined grant stream categories as outlined below.

The priority groups are based on high frequency and high cost injuries, especially in relation to vulnerable users (typically including motorcyclists, pillion passengers, pedestrians and cyclists). These include but are not exclusively limited to people who have sustained the following:

• whiplash
• mild – moderate traumatic brain injury;
• psychological injury;
• orthopaedic injury.

• research and translation of research
• education and training.
• service development and improvement projects.
• health services and scheme capacity building.
• data system development, analysis and utilisation.

Inception Cohort Study Tender Outcome [e-Tender reference 1200950]

This tender sought to identify a research team with the capacity to conduct a cohort study to identify strategies or interventions that will improve health and social outcomes of people injured following land based transport accidents in NSW. The study will include compensable and non compensable participants aged over 18 years. It is anticipated that recruitment will commence in 2013 with the  project having a final cohort size of 1,500 at 2 years post injury.

Research methods will include data linkage to Medicare and PBS subject to ethics approval.

Outcome of the tender process

The MAA is pleased to advise that Professor Ian Cameron, Chair Rehabilitation Medicine University of Sydney, Rehabilitation Studies Unit is the successful applicant.
Professor Cameron will lead a multidisciplinary team of academics and clinicians who are leaders in this field from Australia and New Zealand.

The principal investigators on the Study are:

The following document lists all current Injury Management grants as of July 2012 and provides short summaries of selected projects. 

• Injury Management Current Projects (148kb)

Prior to the creation of the Lifetime Care and Support Authority in October 2006 the MAA’s grant program focussed on issues associated with spinal cord and severe traumatic brain injury. The grants and projects noted in the following table do not reflect the current strategic direction of the MAA’s Injury Management Grant Program and are provided for historical reference.

• Injury Management Funded Projects (155kb)