Our Research Focus
RRECN is committed to advancing rural emergency care through structured, evidence-based research. Our approach ensures that research is clinically relevant, stakeholder-driven, and feasible in rural settings.
Research Approach
RRECN follows a four-step process to identify, prioritise, and implement research in rural emergency medicine.
Step 1: Stakeholder Engagement
- Identify research capacity and research priorities at rural sites.
- Engage rural clinicians, patients, and healthcare administrators to determine the most pressing research needs.
- Use surveys or structured interviews to gather diverse perspectives on rural emergency care challenges.
Step 2: Identifying Practice Variation
- Analyse data from rural emergency departments to identify areas of significant variability in clinical practice.
- Focus on conditions or treatments where guideline application is inconsistent or where uncertainty exists.
Step 3: Choosing Areas for Trials
- Select high-priority areas of practice variation that would benefit from comparative trials.
- Consider predefined criteria such as patient outcomes, resource availability, and impact and rural focus.
Step 4: Designing and Conducting Trials
- Develop trial protocols comparing different management approaches.
- Use pragmatic trial designs suited to rural settings, such as cluster randomised trials and stepped-wedge trials
Current Research Projects
Research Capacity – Barriers and Enablers Project
Title: Barriers to Breakthroughs: Understanding Research Capacity and Enablers in Australian Rural Emergency Departments
Objective
This project aims to quantify and understand the barriers and enablers to research in rural emergency medicine. It uses the Research Capacity and Culture (RCC) Tool, tailored with rural- and emergency-specific questions.
Why It Matters
Rural emergency departments face unique challenges, such as geographical isolation, resource constraints, and limited research support. This study will provide actionable insights to enhance research capacity by identifying:
- Capacity – Current research activity from audits to peer-reviewed puplications
- Barriers – General and rural specific barriers such as time constraints, lack of mentorship, and limited funding.
- Enablers – General and rural specific enablers such as partnerships, research champions, and organisational support.
Impact
This research will provide a clear picture of the current state of rural emergency medicine research and serve as a staging point for building a new generation of rural emergency researchers. By understanding the gaps and opportunities in research capacity, RRECN can support long-term strategies for rural clinician- and stakeholder-led research.
Rural Emergency Care Research Prioritisation Project
Title: Research Priority Setting for the Rural Research in Emergency Care Network (RRECN)
Objective
To establish a transparent and inclusive process for identifying and prioritising research topics in rural emergency care across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Why It Matters
Rural emergency departments operate under unique conditions, requiring research that is clinically relevant, feasible, and tailored to their needs. However, rural emergency medicine research is underfunded and underrepresented in national research agendas.
This project ensures that research topics are prioritised based on:
- Clinical Relevance – Addressing the most pressing gaps in rural emergency care.
- Feasibility – Ensuring research can be successfully conducted in rural and remote settings.
- Stakeholder Input – Engaging rural clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and communities.
Project Design
This study will use a structured research prioritisation framework, combining stakeholder engagement, expert consultation, and structured consensus methods (e.g., Delphi rounds) to identify, rank, and finalise priority research topics.
Impact
This project will inform a clinician- and stakeholder-led research agenda for rural emergency medicine, ensuring future research efforts:
- Reflect the perspectives of frontline rural clinicians and their communities.
- Encourage equitable and evidence-based research.
- Support multi-centre research collaborations between rural and metropolitan institutions.
Practice Variation in Rural STEMI Care Project
Title: Understanding Variability in STEMI Management in Rural Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
Objective
To investigate variations STEMI care practices in rural settings, particularly involving thrombolysis, consultation, transport timing, and rescue angioplasty.
Why It Matters
- Deaths from cardiac disease are 60% higher for people living in rural and remote areas compared to those in urban areas.
- Distance to cardiac catheterisation labs significantly impacts management, requiring different arrangements for patient stabilisation, transport, and decision-making.
- Reported variability in thrombolysis and transport protocols leaves the best management of STEMI patients in rural Australia uncertain.
Impact
This study will determine whether significant inconsistencies exist in STEMI management in rural settings, particularly in thrombolysis use, transport protocols, and access to PCI.