Sydney District initiative the Big Idea winner for 2024 Sydney Innovation Week.

“Every healthcare worker deserves to go home with their heart and their health intact.”

This is the message Dr Sam Bendall, Senior Staff Specialist RPA Emergency Department and Deputy Director My District OK, drove home to win the Big Idea for 2024. 

The R.E.S.E.T Debriefing Tool, a Sydney Local Health District original development, won $65,000 in pre-seed funding to work with Cicada Innovations and $25,000 in professional services from IDE group to develop.

A really simple tool, R.E.S.E.T. helps staff to learn from past experiences and grow together. It allows healthcare workers to share events with colleagues to help deal with stressful and traumatic events in the workplace.

“We don’t know how to debrief, we’re not taught,” Sam said.

“We want to promote reflective practice and the tool is easy to use, portable, and on your lanyard.”

Sam and her team will use the funds to further commercialise the tool and to market the product at scale. 

“We know that debriefing is good for our staff. It reduces PTSD, burnout and psychological stress. Together we can deliver better and safer care,” she said.

Hosted by previous winner Dr Joe Dusseldorp, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Specialist Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, this year’s Big Idea had four researchers pitch their ideas for potential funding.

Reflecting on his own experience, Joe was excited to hear the pitches.

“It has been transformative for me. It’s equal parts innovation and commercialisation. We really need to speak the language of commercialisation to have any chance of helping patients,” he said.

A highlight of the Sydney Innovation and Research Symposium, The Big Idea is a Sydney Research commercialisation challenge that supports researchers and clinicians in Sydney Local Health District to further develop their early-stage ideas to transform healthcare. 

The competition gives finalists only five minutes to impress the judges, followed by questions.

People’s choice awards of $25,000 and $5000 in professional services went to ANZAC Research Institute and Concord Hospital’s Associate Professor Vivien Chen, Senior Staff Haematologist, for her research in a novel biomarker for blood cancer.

The breakthrough blood test will help clinicians predict future blood clots for patients who experience heart attack and stroke.

“We hope to validate the test that we have and turn it into a one-step asset to be routinely used within a diagnostic lab,” she said.

The 2024 judging panel included Adjunct Associate Professor Vicki Taylor, Executive Director Sydney Research, and Professor Warwick Britton, Director Research, Sydney Local Health District.