Past Progress, Potential Possibilities
Dr. Kim Oates
Emeritus Professor, Sydney University Recipient of 2014 Kempe Lectureship Award
Most of Kim’s professional work has been associated with the Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Sydney University. He was foundation Burrows Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at Sydney University, a position he held simultaneously with Chair of the Division of Medicine at the Children’s Hospital. He was Chief Executive of the Children’s Hospital 1997-2006. Throughout 1993 he was acting Director of the Kempe Center.
He joined ISPCAN in 1982, was elected to the Executive Council in 1984 and was President 1988-1990. He re-joined Council in 2001 and served as treasurer for 6 years. He has a long association with the journal “Child Abuse and Neglect”, as a Senior Associate Editor for 6 years and remains on the Editorial Board.
Awards for services to children include the Brandt Steele Award, the Kempe Award, the Sydney University Alumni Award and The Howard Williams Medal for “Outstanding contributions to Paediatrics and Child Health in Australasia”
He is currently Emeritus Professor at Sydney University and Director of Undergraduate Quality and Safety Education at the Clinical Excellence Commission.
Abstract
Major advances have occurred in our understanding of child abuse since Henry Kempe’s landmark paper “The battered child syndrome” in 1962 and his subsequent 1978 paper “Sexual abuse another hidden pediatric... [ view full abstract ]
Major advances have occurred in our understanding of child abuse since Henry Kempe’s landmark paper “The battered child syndrome” in 1962 and his subsequent 1978 paper “Sexual abuse another hidden pediatric problem”. Kempe wasn’t the first to describe either of these problems but his stature, commitment and reputation ensured that these serious problems were at last noticed.
Since then we have learned much more about the underlying family and societal factors that contribute to abuse. We know how widespread it is and we are aware of the devastating long-term effects that will occur in many of the victims. We know about some useful preventive strategies and encouraging treatment programs. But there is still a long way to go.
Although we claim to be a multidisciplinary field, in terms of involving a range of like-minded professional groups, we are multidisciplinary in only a narrow sense. There is the potential to make a greater difference to the lives of children by adopting some of the insights from other disciplines such as genetics, molecular pharmacotherapy and public health as well as from other movements that have confronted serious problems and made major inroads in prevention, such as road safety, smoking and heart disease.
A rich source of ideas for future progress could come from “High Reliability Organizations”, organizations where the stakes are high and where advances have occurred by having a strong culture of openness, support of staff and seeing errors as opportunities for improvement. Lessons learned in the airline industry are good examples.
The patient safety movement has made considerable advances by adopting methods used by such organizations. Examples relevant to child protection include: clear, consistent communication; creating safe cultures for staff, rather than blame cultures; learning from “near misses”; safe hand-over of cases; understanding human factors, situational awareness and mindfulness; the danger of premature closure and how biased thinking can lead to adverse outcomes.
Perhaps the next big advance in child protection will come by learning from other organizations which, while unrelated to our field, can have much to teach us.
Session
KN-1 » Keynote (17:30 - Sunday, 14th September, Century Hall)
