A research project driven by clinicians at Royal North Shore Hospital over more than 20 years has been nominated for a NSW Health award.

Professor Simon Finfer with Associate Professors Anthony Delaney and Naomi Hammond led the initiative in collaboration with colleagues at RNSH, The George Institute for Global Health and the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Group.

The project involved a series of large-scale clinical trials to determine which intravenous fluids gave critically ill patients the best chance of surviving their illness. 

Through their work they were able to determine best practice, confirming the best fluid approach for individual patients. 

Professor Finfer, a senior intensive care physician, said the results of their ground-breaking research have been incorporated into national and international clinical practice guidelines, saving many thousands of lives and millions of health care dollars.

“The research has delivered enormous health benefits to the people of New South Wales, and more broadly to communities across the world,” he said.

“With so many people receiving fluids when they come to hospital, even small differences in how they affect the risk of death and other outcomes are important.”