Researcher feature April 2021

8 Apr 2021

Name: Dr Simon Smith
Age: 36
Where and in what position are you working? Staff Specialist Infectious diseases and General Medicine, Cairns Hospital
Tell us which grant you received ($50000 or $25, 000) and how you are going to use it? $50, 000
How did you hear about the Foundation’s research grants? Cairns Hospital email and posters around Cairns Hospital
What is your project about? My project is about determining what causes pneumonia in FNQ. When people present to hospital with infections, we often initially use ‘best guess’ antibiotics based on the type of bugs that we know cause different types of infections. With pneumonia, we use antibiotics to cover certain bugs that are seen in both the tropics and the southern parts of Australia. However, at present, we just don’t know how often we see the bugs from the south up here in the tropics. Therefore, my aim is to identify – using new, modern techniques – the causes of pneumonia in Far North Queensland. As we are inviting patients admitted in hospital to be involved in the study, we want to make sure they have enough information and are happy to take part in this research. Their treatment doesn’t change, we are just taking a couple more blood and swab samples than people would normally get. Identifying people in hospital with pneumonia and providing them with this information takes time. A research nurse will be vital to help identify people in hospital with pneumonia and provide them with the information prior to being involved in the study.
How did you come to be studying this particular field? I work as a full time clinician at the hospital and my research is all done in my spare time. All of my research focuses on infections that affect the people living in Far North Queensland that I see and treat on a daily basis. There are some unique infections that affect people living in Far North Queensland much more so than other parts of Australia. My research aims to help improve the knowledge and treatment of these infections so that we provide the best care to the people of FNQ.
Where are you based?  Cairns Hospital
Where will your research take place? Cairns Hospital, with the plan to expand to Cooktown, Weipa and Thursday Island
Why is your research important? Pneumonia is one of the commonest reasons people are admitted to hospital. Even then, there are still many unknowns. Giving people multiple and potentially unnecessary antibiotics increases the risk of side effects and contributes to the worldwide problem of antibiotic resistance.
How will your research benefit the FNQ community? My research is focussing on FNQ so the results of the study will hopefully be an accurate representation of the infections we see in FNQ. The money I received with this generous grant will be used to employ a research nurse at the hospital. This is a very small step in gaining knowledge and expertise on how to perform research in the hospital thereby improving our capacity to do more studies.

 

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