RESEARCHER PROFILE
Georgina Hughes,
Pharmacist & PhD Candidate
University of South Australia Clinical and Health Sciences
Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA)
South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute
Georgina Hughes is a pharmacist & PhD Candidate with the University of South Australia Clinical and Health Sciences and the Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA), undertaking research at South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI).
Georgina’s PhD study and first published paper was on how to improve the safe and effective use of antidepressant medicines and optimise quality use of medicines in older people accessing residential aged care.
The study, published in the Journal of American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA), was led by Georgina, in collaboration with Professor Maria Inacio and Associate Professor Janet Sluggett. It’s Australia’s first national study investigating the use of antidepressants among older people living in residential aged care homes across the country, analysing the de-identified data of 779,659 residents from 3,371 aged care homes, between 2006 and 2019.
“We found antidepressants were used by 46.1% of residents in 2006 and this increased to 58.5% of residents in 2019,” Ms Hughes said.
“Nearly six in every ten residents of aged care homes are using an antidepressant, which is much higher than use in the general older population.”
The use of antidepressant medicines among older people in aged care homes in Australia is high, and there is a need for better mental health support and safer use of antidepressants to improve clinical care and health outcomes for older people.
Antidepressant medicines can have side effects, especially in older people, and Australia is one of the largest consumers globally.
Almost 60% of aged care home residents are using antidepressant medicines, prompting the need to investigate the reasons for such high usage.
Georgina talks to how big data is crucial in understanding and improving the use of antidepressant medicines in aged care, leading to better clinical care and health outcomes for older people in Australia.
Georgina is passionate about practice-informing, translational and innovative research to improve quality use of medicines and health outcomes.
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Forensic psychiatry research in the setting of the justice system
Prof Kimberlie Dean is Head of the Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health at UNSW. She was appointed to the inaugural Chair in Forensic Mental Health at UNSW in 2011, a joint appointment with Justice Health NSW. She also holds a Clinical Academic appointment as a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist with Justice Health NSW. She is Academic Program Director for the Masters Forensic Mental Health at UNSW.
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Professor Sandy Middleton
NURSING RESEARCH INSTITUTE, ST VINCENT’S HEALTH NETWORK SYDNEY, ST VINCENT’S HOSPITAL MELBOURNE AND AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA -
Novel forms of brain stimulation & psychedelic assisted psychotherapy
Professor Paul Fitzgerald is the Head of the School of Medicine and Psychology at the Australian National University. He is an academic psychiatrist with a MBBS degree, Masters of Psychological Medicine and research PhD. He has conducted an extensive range of experimental studies and clinical trials, focused on the development of novel treatment options for patients with mental health conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, PTSD, autism and Alzheimer’s disease.
