Full Steam Ahead? The unintended harm of detecting Fetal Growth Restriction
Channel: The Royal Society of Victoria
Date: 2020-08-20

Roshan Selvaratnam's findings have been used to change practice in Victoria. To combat the decreasing specificity of detecting Fetal Growth Restriction (FGR), he created a balance performance measure to inform hospitals of the unintended ‘collateral’ harm of their strategies to improve FGR detection. The balance measure definition is: ‘the proportion of babies iatrogenically delivered for suspected FGR before 40 weeks’ gestation with a birthweight ≥25th centile’. In 2020, the measure will be introduced into Victorian routine reporting for release to health services. The national Safer Baby Bundle has also welcomed the embedding of his balance measure as the first such measure into their program, the first time a balance measure has been used in population stillbirth programs anywhere in the world, providing Australia an opportunity to lead initiatives in the safe reduction of stillbirth rates.

Roshan Selvaratnam is a final year PhD candidate with the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Monash University. This presentation titled "Full Steam Ahead? The unintended harm of detecting fetal growth restriction" comprises his entry to the Biomedical and Health Sciences category of the Young Scientist Research Prizes in 2020, an annual competition conducted by the Royal Society of Victoria during National Science Week in Australia. Roshan is the Second Prize winner of this category.

Due to Stage Four lockdown conditions in Victoria in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this presentation was necessarily filmed on 13 August, 2020 and presented to judges at the Royal Society of Victoria on the evening 19 August, 2020, both via video conference.