OUR 2021 AWARDEE

In 2020 Dr Jessica Schults completed her research training and in 2021 the ANZ Intensive Care Foundation awarded her a $40,000 research grant. She described this funding as “life changing” and pivotal to her growth as a nurse and researcher.

Dr Schults, a children’s intensive care nurse, and early career researcher with a PhD was the key note speaker at an Intensive Care Foundation fundraising dinner in Melbourne recently and she said the grant she was given supported her to employ other nurses interested in research and investigate serious clinical issues such as the prevention of lung infection and strengthening processes to keep children and their families safe in ICU.

In Jessica’s words “Did you know there are about 5 million children in Australia and every year more than 12,000 of these children need intensive care support? This is 10 times the number of children requiring care for a cancer diagnosis.

Caring for a child with a critical illness is very challenging. For the child, for the family and for their community. Unsurprisingly, parents who share their experience report “increased stress, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress.” Some parents describe “unimaginable grief …not knowing if their child will pull through.”

The intensive care unit is home to the sickest patients, some of the most well-trained staff, and innovative technologies. It is our job as part of the intensive care team to help get children home to live the life they were meant to. A child’s positive and caring experience in the Intensive Care Unit can aid in their emotional recovery’.

At the forefront of Jessica’s research was the Intensive Care Foundation. “To put it quite simply the Intensive Care Foundation is life changing and I will be forever grateful for changing my life and enabling me to change the lives of the children and families I care for. “