Griffith Uni Working in Partnership with Gold Coast University Hospital

By Petrina Smith
Wednesday, 25 September, 2013

[caption id="attachment_4834" align="alignright" width="133"] Gold Coast University Hospital.
Picture supplied by Hassell[/caption]
As the new $1.76b Gold Coast University Hospital prepares to open its doors to the communitythis Saurday (28 September), Griffith University also prepares to partner alongside in a vast range of collaborative initiatives.Having opened its primary health care, research and teaching facility, the Griffith Health Centre, in July this year, the university is already successfully operating an expanded range of clinical services and a wealth of new student opportunities which focus on chronic disease management, sports health and mental health. This currently includes the Griffith Health Clinics which comprise dentistry; physiotherapy/rehabilitation; exercise physiology; psychology and dietetics.
Now the university is embarking on over 170 collaborative activities with the Gold Coast Health Service in a bid to improve health care outcomes for patients. These activities range from extensive research collaborations with the university’s Griffith Health Institute, to expanding student study placements and innovative teaching
and learning initiatives.

“The Griffith Health Institute is the Gold Coast University Hospital’s major research partner, engaging in active, state-of-the-art research collaboration and research training,” says acting director of the Griffith Health Institute Professor David Shum. “Co-location of the hospital with the Griffith Health Institute at Griffith’s Gold Coast campus is fantastic. "The research studies that we have in place with the Gold Coast University Hospital
recognise the essential be

nefits of patient-centred and translational research. “The collaborative grants we have in place with the Gold Coast Hospital Foundation offer researchers from both institutions the opportunity to join forces, develop a collaborative relationship and tap into the unique environment where researchers, health professionals and patients are connected – three vital components to effective and progressive health
research.”

Research studies are many and diverse and include areas such as treatment for paediatric Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), identifying the genes responsible for colorectal cancer and developing strategies for medical staff to ensure care during a hospital relocation.
Meanwhile, the university has a large number of student placements planned at the new hospital, ranging from but not limited to, nursing and midwifery, speech pathology and occupational therapy (due to begin at Griffith in 2014), to psychology a
nd nutrition and dietetics.
“The Gold Coast University Hospital brings unprecedented opportunities for improved health care outcomes for patients through innovative training in the clinical environment for students,” says Professor Nick Buys, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Director of the Health Institute for the Development of Education and Scholarship (Health IDEAS).
“With the introduction of new degree programs, opportunities for continuing education and the Faculty’s Inter-professional Learning Framework that underpins professional training, the linkages with the new hospital are critically important to develop and grow these areas into the future.”