Proposed topic area: Community sports safety – implementation of policy and procedures for emergency management.

This project is associated with the Australian Collaboration for Research into Injury in Sport and its Prevention, which is one of only nine worldwide to be recognised by the International Olympic Committee as a Centre of Research Excellence into Injury Prevention and the Promotion of Health in Athletes. This research project is aimed at improving the awareness, understanding and management of medical emergencies in community sport. The project will begin with an investigation of the Victorian Government Department of Health & Human Services (Sport and Recreation Victoria), automatic defibrillator program. The initial aim is to explore, using a mixed-methods approach, the implementation and maintenance from program participants toward intended emergency medical management, specifically in relation to cardiac preparedness. Following this, the PhD project will address broader issues of medical emergency prevention and management within the community sports setting extending to issues of significant trauma (e.g. head injury, spinal injury), environmental risk (e.g. heat illness, lightning strikes), asthma management, and other major/catastrophic health problems.

Supervision: Dr Lauren Fortington (Principal), Prof Caroline Finch (Associate)

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