A Mount Isa academic is taking part in a world first taskforce, to combat COVID-19.
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Mount Isa Rural and Remote Health James Cook University professor Sabina Knight has joined the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce, a panel of experts from across Australia using global evidence to create 'living guidelines' to cope with the virus.
The new Taskforce has been convened by the Australian Living Evidence Consortium which is based at Cochrane Australia in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University.
Professor Knight said she was representing CRANAplus and was on the panel observing the virus.
"We have been working with the evidence given by Cochrane examining the international evidence from around the world," Professor Knight said.
"There's so much information out there so it is important people get it from the correct sources and what we are doing is guaranteeing that with the highly regarded Cochrane medical research organisation.
"The end result will provide us with universal living guidelines for how the condition of COVID-19 should be treated.
"China and Italy didn't get a chance to do something like this and they are giving us their evidence to make sure it doesn't happen here in Australia."
Teams of researchers, experts and clinicians have been working around the clock to deliver the national guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 across primary, acute and critical care settings.
Chair of the Taskforce, Associate Professor Julian Elliott said Australia's world-leading efforts in generating 'living' clinical guidelines in areas like stroke and diabetes have now pivoted to focus wholly on helping clinicians manage COVID-19.
"There is urgent need to arm Australia's healthcare professionals with evidence-based guidance about how best to care for people with COVID-19," Professor Elliott said.
"These will be 'living guidelines', updated with new research in near real-time in order to give reliable, up-to-the minute recommendations to the clinicians during this unprecedented health crisis.
"These guidelines will help our front line clinicians treat COVID-19 with confidence, knowing that their approach is backed by evidence and the very latest research from around the world."
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