Strengthening primary care for Australian children
The National Paediatric Applied Research Translation Initiative (N-PARTI) is an Australia-wide collaboration of researchers, clinicians and consumers running from 2024 to 2029.
Project sponsor: Medical Research Future Fund
About the project 
Despite strong research evidence and the availability of best practice guidelines, aspects of paediatric healthcare remain difficult to improve.
A key reason for this is that research evidence from tightly-controlled clinical trials cannot simply be transplanted into complex, real-world settings. Instead, such evidence needs to be translated into safe, feasible and acceptable practices that can then be scaled up across the healthcare system.
The project structures and supports rapid translation to efficiently bridge the gap between research and practice in paediatric healthcare. N-PARTI targets three national priority areas:
- asthma
- type 1 diabetes
- antibiotic use.
In researching these priority areas, the project will work with GPs to improve care in line with ‘gold-standard’ guidelines. During the project, N-PARTI collaborators will use cutting-edge implementation science frameworks and techniques to implement a range of interventions to improve care, refine interventions, and roll-out the project at scale across Australia.
N-PARTI will harness the expertise of consumers, healthcare providers and implementation specialists to improve paediatric health outcomes by implementing a robust methodology to scale up, sustain change, and build translational capacity across Australian healthcare. The initiative is underpinned by our team’s internationally recognised experience in large-scale health systems research and implementation science.
This project focuses on:
- patient education
- interactive education and training for GPs
- ongoing feedback on their practices’ performance.
- co-design.
This research will unite the experience and knowledge of patients and their families, clinicians, policy-makers, and researchers to improve care for children.
Our project meets several MRFF measures of success, including:
- focusing on priority areas of unmet need
- engaging the community in new practices
- ensuring health professionals adopt best practices faster both as part of project implementation and into the future.
Our impact will be healthier Australian children and an Australian primary healthcare system that is empowered to rapidly implement evidence-based change.
Project lead: Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite
- Dr Gaston Arnolda
- Dr Georgia Fisher
- Professor Reema Harrison
- Honorary Professor Peter Hibbert
- Professor Rebecca Mitchell
- Dr Virginia Mumford
- Professor Yvonne Zurynski
Other members and collaborators
- Professor Elizabeth Ann Davis – Perth Children's Hospital, Telethon Kids Institute
- Dr Nusrat Homaira – University of New South Wales
- Professor Adam Jaffé – University of New South Wales
- Dr Brendan McMullan – University of New South Wales
- Dr Carl de Wet – Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service
- Professor Simon Mark Willcock – MQ Health
- Dr Helen Jaye Woodhead – University of New South Wales
This project is being undertaken in collaboration with:
- Asthma Australia
- Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network
- North Coast Primary Health Network
- Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators
- South-Western Sydney Primary Health Network
- Western NSW Primary Health Network
- WA Primary Health Alliance
- Western Queensland Primary Health Network
- Western Victoria Primary Health Network.