MB BS, FANZCA, FFPMANZCA, FCICM, GDipHlth&MedLaw
Scott graduated from Adelaide and toured Alice Springs, UK, and Africa before returning for specialist training. He then enjoyed five remarkable years in Townsville doing Anaesthetics and Pain Medicine, providing tertiary level care in a regional setting where anything and everything could present. The importance of a broadly skilled Intensive Care Service was obvious in this setting, and Scott was hopelessly drawn in. After completing ICU training, again in Adelaide, he gained additional paediatric ICU training at Sick Kids, Toronto, with elective time in echocardiography, palliative care, home ventilation, and ice-hockey.
From 2007-13 Scott became Staff Specialist in Anaesthetics and ICU at the Townsville Hospital, and Visiting PICU Consultant at Royal Children’s and Mater Children’s Hospitals in Brisbane. From 2014-16 he led the newly opened PICU in Townsville, achieving CICM accreditation in 2015. He also ran an outpatient paediatric ECHO service, incorporating rheumatic heart disease research with James Cook University.
Scott is passionate about enabling regional and rural health services. He helped develop Beyond Paeds BASIC, a course for senior, adult-trained clinicians who are forced to manage children occasionally. The course introduced him to Geelong, and he was so impressed he applied for a job!
Outside medicine Scott invests his energy in an environmentally sustainable farm forestry project in north Queensland. He plays a little music, and his grown up ‘little adults’ both attend Melbourne University. His long-suffering wife is a tertiary language teacher and ambassador for cultural diversity.

Head of Paediatric Critical Care
Prior to 2011, paediatric critical care consisted of time-critical resuscitation and rapid transfer to Melbourne. In response to increasing clinical demand we have now deliberately integrated paediatric clinical care into the core business of the ICU. Two bed spaces have been modified to suit this purpose, backed up by expanded stores of paediatric specific equipment, in-room teleconference capability, and augmented staff training and education programs.
We collaborate closely with our colleagues in Paediatrics, ED, and Special Care Nursery, and liaise with PIPER at Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, whenever patient acuity or complexity require it.
Barwon Health ICU coordinates high level educational programs, including Paediatric BASIC and High-SPAEDS courses, and is collaborating with Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital in developing a bespoke PICU nursing transition course.
Barwon Health’s paediatric ICU data are submitted to ANZPICR for regular audit.
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Monday, May 16, 2022 - 15:59
JAMA COVI-PRONE no difference in endotracheal intubation or secondary outcomes in 400 patients who were not intubated and had confirmed or suspected COVID-19, when randomised to awake prone positioning compared with usual care. Posthoc analysis raised the possibility that patients with a PF ratio greater than 150 may benefit from prone ventilation.
Monday, May 16, 2022 - 14:42JC: JAMA FIRST-ABC Step-Down RCT critically ill children requiring noninvasive respiratory support following extubation, HFNC compared to CPAP post extubation failed to meet noninferiority criterion for time to liberation from respiratory support ( 50.5 hours HFNC vs 42.9 hours CPAP. 1-sided 97.5% CI for HR was 0.70, failed to meet the noninferiority margin of 0.75)
Monday, May 16, 2022 - 13:26JC: JAMA early tracheostomy (median D4 MV) vs standard (D11) in 382 adults receiving MV after acute, severe stroke, not associated improved outcomes, specifically favourable mRS (adj OR favourable outcome 0.93 95% CI 0.6-1.42, p=0.73)
Monday, May 16, 2022 - 11:59NEJM- The opportunities to become proficient at neonatal intubation are decreasing. Does peri-intubation high flow nasal oxygen decrease hypoxia and increase first-pass success? In 202 neonates, successful 1st attempt intubation without physiological instability occurred in 50% (HF) vs 31.5% (SC), RD 17.6%, 95% cI 6.0-29.2, NNT 6.
Monday, May 16, 2022 - 10:52JC: No diff 90-day neurological outcomes between patients transported to a local stroke center first vs directly to a thrombectomy-capable referral center in patients with suspected large-vessel occlusion acute ischemic stroke