TRANSFORMING SURGICAL WAITLIST INTO A ‘PREPARATION LIST’
With
Dr Andrew Marks,
Staff Specialist Anaesthetist & Director of Perioperative Medicine,
Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Dr Kanika Chaudhri,
Anaesthetic Senior Resident Medical Officer,
Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia
CASE STUDY
Filmed in Sydney, Australia | January 2026
The DIAMONDS initiative aims to transform the surgical waitlist into a “preparation list,” enabling healthcare professionals to optimise patient care in the months leading up to elective surgery starting at pre-admission phase.
Patients are will be able to complete pre-admission forms online, receive timely updates, and access educational resources to ensure thorough preparation. This will allow staff to spend more time with patients.
The DIAMONDS pathway, which stands for ‘Digital Pathway of Improved Assessment, Management and Optimisation of Patients for Planned Surgery’ has commenced at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia.
patient care by streamlining assessments and addressing the challenges of the existing paper-based system.
“Staff benefit by having centralised patient information and automated routine tasks, allowing them to focus on providing high-quality care, which ultimately leads to a smoother, more efficient process for everyone involved”, says Dr Kanika Chaudhri.
“Patients benefit from user-friendly tools that enable them to complete pre-admission forms online and access educational resources, enhancing their care experience,” she said.
DIAMONDS is led by the New South Wales, Northern Sydney Local Health District, with collaboration partners Australian Institute of Health Innovation (AIHI) and the George Institute for Global Health.
Source: Adapted from NSLHD news and events
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Inner ear organoids for the study of human hearing and balance
Dr Jackie Ogier is an auditory neuroscientist, with a research focus on the molecular biology of hair cells, the specialised sensory receptors in the ear that detect sound and balance. She is a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of A/Prof Bryony Nayagam, supported by a prestigious Passe and Williams foundation fellowship.
Dr Ogier’s experience broadly spans the genetics of hearing loss, disease modelling, micro dissection, primary cell culture, stem cell culture, organoids, and proteomics. Overall, she aims to generate knowledge of hearing and vestibular sensory biology.
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CASE STUDY Next Generation Condom Contraception
Eudaemon Technologies, an early-stage medtech company with a focus on sexual reproductive health, is developing a hydrogel condom to address the need for a better feeling, next generation condom, with the potential to improve user experience and address issues with traditional latex condoms.
“Over 1 million STI’s being diagnosed every day and up to 120 million unplanned pregnancies every year result in a $60 billion health burden across the globe”, says Co-Founder and Executive Director of Operations, Dr Simon Cook.
Formed in 2018, the company focuses on developing tough hydrogels as an alternative to address issues with odour, colour, and taste commonly associated with latex condoms. This technology can be loaded with small molecule drugs for flavours or anti-STI compounds, and was developed in response to a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to address unplanned pregnancies and STIs.
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Investigating new approaches to target plaque inflammation in atherosclerosis
Associate Professor Peter Psaltis is an Academic Interventional Cardiologist who holds Level 2 NHMRC Career Development and National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowships. He has Faculty positions within the University of Adelaide, Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN) and South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). Within SAHMRI, he is the Co-Theme Leader of the Lifelong Health, Program Leader of Heart and Vascular Health and Co-director of the Vascular Research Centre in the Lifelong Health Theme.
