UOW cardiovascular nurse researcher Professor Caleb Ferguson. Photo: Supplied.
How frail, older adults with certain heart-related conditions transition from hospital to home may be transformed thanks to a newly funded research program that aims to improve recovery and avoid hospital readmissions.
University of Wollongong (UOW) cardiovascular nurse researcher Professor Caleb Ferguson is leading a groundbreaking program to improve cardiovascular care for Australia’s ageing population and allow them to return to their home safely — tackling one of the biggest challenges facing hospitals and families nationwide.
To help Professor Ferguson undertake the research project, he’s been awarded a four-year $652,000 Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship.
He said it came after witnessing the devastating effects of conditions such as stroke and heart failure on patients and the challenges they faced when leaving hospital to return home.
Through the program, he will develop and test a nurse-coordinated, phone-based model of transitional care designed to improve recovery, reduce hospital readmissions and enhance quality of life for people living with heart disease and stroke.
Professor Ferguson is academic director of the Centre for Chronic and Complex Care Research, a partnership between UOW and the Western Sydney Local Health District, and a member of UOW’s Health Innovations multidisciplinary research team.
“As a nurse of two decades and an expert in stroke and cardiovascular care, I’ve seen how devastating stroke, atrial fibrillation and heart failure can be,” Professor Ferguson said.
“Too often, patients feel as though they’ve ‘fallen off a cliff’ after leaving hospital and returning home because they lack the preparation, information and support they need.
He said it was a gap his research would directly tackle, with new tools to coordinate care and empower patients.
“This experience drives my research to improve quality of life and help people transition safely home,” he said.
It aims to draw on his expertise leading Australia’s first clinical frailty registry, which has already highlighted the high rehospitalisation risk for older adults with multiple cardiovascular conditions.
The new research program will also strengthen the global collaboration in frailty research and build capacity among Australia’s next generation of cardio-geriatric clinician-scientists.
As part of the Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship, he will create partnerships with people with lived experience, and health services across Western Sydney, the Illawarra-Shoalhaven and Victoria, and include a large, multi-site clinical trial.
Through this fellowship, Professor Ferguson is reinforcing UOW’s leadership in cardiovascular nursing and translational health research, and its contribution to tackling national priorities in chronic disease, cardiovascular health and ageing.
