Pure Land funds projects
DOCTOR Lucy-Anne Tolcher now has the funds to undertake an important research project about antibiotic prescription rates in children.
The Toowoomba Hospital emergency registrar’s project received a share of $120,000 worth of funding from Pure Land Learning College.
Venerable Wu Chyuan said they chose to donate the money because they believed medical staff had the passion for helping people.
“We believe our money, through them, can help a lot of people,” he said.
Pure Land donates money each year for research projects by staff employed at Toowoomba Hospital, Baillie Henderson Hospital or Mt Lofty Heights Nursing Home.
The Toowoomba Hospital Foundation received the $120,000, which will be awarded to projects.
Dr Tolcher, along with her team Dr Annabel Cavanagh and Remo Ostini, received $6720 which will investigate the outcome of children presenting with upper respiratory tract infections in urban versus rural settings and the antibiotic and readmission rates.
“Comparing children that present under 12 years of age with no prior medical conditions and seeing if they were prescribed antibiotics,” Dr Tolcher said.
“And if they were prescribed antibiotics, how did that affect their re-presentation rates and outcomes?”
Dr Tolcher said the team had found antibiotic prescription was a topical issue and they were worried about the ongoing and increasing resistance to antibiotics.
“It is just a study that hasn’t really been done before in an emergency department,” she said.
“We do see a lot of children come through emergency departments, especially over winter and just seeing if our current practice is guideline driven and whether we can help with education in the future.”
The funding was great validation of the significance of the study.