Liverpool Hospital
Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit

LBIRU Research Profile

Research Team:

The research team of the LBIRU is known as the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Research Group, or BIRRG. They are located at the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research next to the Health Services Building after having relocated there in mid-2012. The BIRRG conducts a program of clinical and health services research with the broad aim of alleviating the consequences of traumatic brain injury with a focus on clinically-applied, intervention-oriented research.

The BIRRG is led by Senior Research Fellow Dr Grahame Simpson and has close ties with the Liverpool Hospital Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit and NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI). The BIRRG team come from a broad range of multidisciplinary backgrounds including Social Work, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Speech Pathology, Neuropsychology, Clinical Psychology and Rehabilitation Medicine. The BIRRG comprises a Clinical Research team (also led by Dr Grahame Simpson) and a Health Services Research team comprising members from the ACI Brain Injury Rehabilitation Directorate and led by Network Manager Barbara Strettles. Staff members work on a number of multi-centre and single centre projects as well as assisting clinical staff with quality improvement and outcome data projects.

Staff Involvement in Research:

All clinical disciplines participated in research activities in 2013. This participation ranged from being a chief investigator or associate investigator on a project, to data collection and patient identification for the various projects. Three staff members were enrolled in post-graduate university degrees this year, with eighteen staff members already holding post-graduate qualifications. A number of staff presented at conferences with four international presentations and one national. The research team collaborates with a number of external researchers, departments and institutions. In 2013 these included the Agency for Clinical Innovation/ Brain Injury Rehabilitation Directorate, Lifetime Care and Support Association/ WorkCover/Motor Vehicles Accident Authority, the Universities of Sydney, Wollongong and Macquarie, the Australasian Research Institute, Avondale College, and the Military and Suicide Research Consortium, US Department of Defence.

Research Productivity:

In the 2013 calendar year the research team was actively involved in eighteen projects, with four new projects commencing and nine projects reaching completion. Many of these projects involved interdisciplinary and multi-centre collaboration. Of the eighteen active projects there were fourteen prospective studies, three randomised controlled trials, three systematic reviews and one additional study. The types of projects included biomedical, clinical-psychosocial, clinical-functional health services and cognitive sciences/neuropsychological intervention studies. Of the eighteen internal projects, two were recipients of category 1 grants (e.g. NHMRC). Five new grants were awarded in 2013 totalling $1,199,333.

Dissemination of research:

There were seven articles published in peer-reviewed journals in 2013 that staff members had authorship on, one edited volume and an additional six published abstracts. These journals include the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, Brain Impairment and Clinical Rehabilitation. Staff members provided training in the form of workshops, seminars, lectures and inservices. Five staff members were also part of external conferences, research, policy and University committees on top of their usual job requirements.

BIRU Research Subcommittee

The LBIRU research subcommittee is chaired by the Research Group Leader and comprises the Unit Director, members of the research team, and interested clinical staff. The committee meets quarterly with the primary aims to monitor current research activities and to oversee adherence to the LBIRU research guidelines. All newly proposed projects are first reviewed by the Research Team Leader and the Unit Director, and are then brought to this committee for discussion.

 

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Last Updated: 01 July, 2014
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