Independent Learning Project Students – 2020

Jeshua Reece is an Honours student at UNSW, currently researching Emergency Medicine with the SWERI after completing a Bachelor of Medical Science with Distinction in 2018. Jeshua’s Honours project, Hyperglycaemic Presentations to the Emergency depaRtment, or the HYPER Study, aims to investigate the culturally diverse population in the South Western Sydney Local Health District to assess specific population trends in health and provide targeted preventative care. Diabetes is predicted to become the number one burden of disease over the next 10 years in Australia. In line with SWERI’s goal to use clinical research to provide evidence and guide healthcare, the HYPER Study aims to detect demographic trends in hyperglycaemic presentations to Liverpool Hospital ED. This retrospective study will analyse mass-data from over 90,000 patients using complex adaptive systems and Geographic Information System modelling. In doing so, the HYPER Study will serve as an epidemiological surveillance study to identify sufferers from hypergylcaemia in a tertiary setting. This is of particular importance to the structuring of the healthcare system, as literature suggests the worst controlled diabetics are the least inclined to access primary health institutions. Therefore, by identifying predictors and characteristics of high-risk diabetic groups, this project aims to potentially reorientate how and where primary health care is delivered.