Roxon Launches AMOSS The Hon Nicola Roxon’s launch of AMOSS last month was a promising beginning to our surveillance and research on rare and serious conditions in pregnancy. Roxon captured the essence of the day: “Antenatal pulmonary embolus and amniotic fluid embolism aren’t familiar terms to most – no-one wants to have first hand experience of what these terms mean – but they relate to tragic outcomes in childbirth, and that’s why we’re here.” AMOSS is the first national surveillance system to study rare and severe conditions in pregnancy. Minister Roxon referred to AMOSS as “complementing the scope of work underway to improve national data collections within maternity services” and “exemplifying in progressing improvement and change through collaborative models”. Over 45 people attended the launch. Matilda House, an Ngunnawl elder, welcomed us to land. Talks by an eminent Midwife, Obstetrician and perinatal epidemiologists Professor’s Lesley Barclay, Jeffrey Robinson, James King and Elizabeth Sullivan followed. The focus of our research - making pregnancy and birth safer – was poignantly highlighted by an interview with a woman who had suffered a roller coaster of events - fortunately with a happy outcome - at birth. It highlighted the distress that rare conditions (or interventions) in pregnancy can bring for partners and family as well as women themselves, and emphasised the need for research that will reduce these events. The breadth of involvement in AMOSS was evidenced by attendance from ACM, SOMANZ, RANZCOG, RACP, ANZCA and ANZICS, New Zealand representatives, AIHW, jurisdictional departments of health, perinatal academics, clinicians and consumer group representatives, joined us in celebrating the start of this research. In turn, the launch provided a valuable forum to consider key aspects of AMOSS’ research. 
Advisory Group In the afternoon our first Advisory Group meeting was held. The activities consisted of progress updates, group-work and a session on the way forward. The Advisory Group’s four core dimensions were agreed as: - To provide strategic advice to AMOSS on the implementation, delivery and development of the Australasian Maternity Outcomes Surveillance System (AMOSS) as a national maternal research and surveillance system
- To advise and assist with prioritising conditions to be investigated
- To promote safety and quality in maternity care
- To assist with the translation of findings from AMOSS into clinical practice wheren indicated
The advisory group consists of professional college members, consumer groups, AMOSS State & Territory representatives, Jurisdictional Department of Health Representatives, New Zealand chapter of RANZCOG, New Zealand Clinical Directors Network, New Zealand Perinatal Maternal Morbidity Review Committee, Public Health academics and representatives from the AMOSS project board. The key messages from group-work were: - There is a need for consistent guidelines across hospitals, states and interstate.
- We need to maintain our focus and generate results not just data: the point of AMOSS is to make change happen
- We need a focus on the planning and intervention of women with risk factors as the real policy issue is where the event occurs. “We have inappropriate placing of high-risk women in centres that are not equipped to manage their care” “Need to establish better guidelines for management of high-risk women – who/when/where etc”
- A key aim is to have multi disciplinary research
ascertainment of cases should be somehow linked to hospital’s risk management processes. - We can provide a role in education, reporting, learning “Close the loop”.
- Facilitate effective transfer of useful data and encourage data linkage methods
If you wish to add your comments to these discussions, please click here. We value your input.
Getting involved We now have over 95 hospitals around Australia and New Zealand participating in AMOSS. Whilst this is a terrific start, we’re aiming to get all hospitals with over 50 births a year on board. The quality of data in this research of rare conditions will be reflected by the diversity of locations and extent of participation by as many hospitals as possible. To start the ball rolling, just click on the link below, or call
02 9382 1068. | 
www.amoss.com.au – Put it into your favourites! Welcome to our website. This site holds information about AMOSS what conditions we will be researching, latest news, the data collection facilities, a forum for women to tell us their story and a forum for the Advisory group.
We will be starting data collection in selected hospitals from 1st August. We will phase in data collection once we have ethics approval from your hospital. Name Change You may have noticed that we have changed our name to the Australasian Maternity Outcomes Surveillance System, to include our New Zealand partners in the surveillance and research on AMOSS conditions. We look forward to working with you on this project. Welcome aboard We would like to welcome aboard Geri Vaughan to the project team. Geri is currently developing the AMOSS database and working with Dr Nolan MacDonnell recruiting and coordinating AMOSS in Western Australia. Geri can be contacted at geri@unsw.edu.au |
AMOSS team
Janice Biggs
Dr Wendy Pollock
Geri Vaughan
Tel 02 9382 1068  Perinatal and Reproductive Epidemiology Research Unit (PRERU)
School of Women's & Children's Health
Sydney Children's Hospital
Level 2 McNevin Dickson Building
Randwick Hosptials Campus
Randwick NSW 2031 AMOSS Investigators Associate Professor Elizabeth Sullivan, Perinatal and Reproductive Epidemiology Research Unit, School of Women and Children’s Health, University of New South Wales Professor David Ellwood, School of Clinical Medicine, Australian National University Medical School Professor Michael Peek, Nepean Clinical School, University of Sydney Dr Marian Knight, National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, United Kingdom Professor Lisa Jackson Pulver, Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales Professor Caroline Homer, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Technology, Sydney Professor Elizabeth Elliott, Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit; The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney Dr Claire McLintock, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland, New Zealand Ms Elizabeth Chatham, Women’s Hospital Australasia Dr Nolan McDonnell, Department of Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, Western Australia Dr Yvonne Zurynski, Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney Professor Tessa Ho, Office of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, University 
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