In 2017, we held our very first DFTB conference in Brisbane. We didn’t know if it would work.We didn’t know if anyone would come.We certainly didn’t know that five years later we would return to the same city carrying the weight of a global pandemic, an entirely online conference, and a community that had grown far beyond what we imagined. Between 2017 and 2022, the world changed. For a long time, DFTB existed in pixels.Zoom rooms.Time zone spreadsheets.Muted microphones.Frozen faces. So when...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
By August 2021, many of us were tired in ways that were hard to name. The pandemic hadn’t just stretched healthcare systems — it had stretched people.Clinicians were carrying exhaustion, grief, moral distress, and uncertainty, often quietly, often alone. So we created CUFA — Coming Up For Air. We described it simply as “a day about narrative medicine and the stories that shape us.”In truth, it was something more deliberate: a pause in the noise. A chance to listen. A reminder that medicine is...
2 months ago • 2 min read
If you’re about to start a rotation in Paediatrics — welcome. Whether you’re coming from adult medicine, surgery, ED, or somewhere entirely different, starting something new can feel unsettling. Children are smaller. Parents are watching. The noises are louder. The stakes can feel higher. That feeling is normal. And you’re not expected to know everything on day one. What does help is having a simple mental framework — something familiar to anchor you when everything else feels unfamiliar....
3 months ago • 1 min read
As the year winds down, it feels like a good moment to pause. Not to rush into resolutions or bold declarations — but to look back, briefly, at what quietly accumulated over the past twelve months. In 2025, DFTB published more than 75 blog posts, reaching over 1.5 million readers around the world.Those numbers still feel slightly unreal when written down.Behind them were early mornings, late nights, shared drafts, careful edits, generous reviewers, and a community that keeps showing up....
3 months ago • 1 min read
In 2019, the world stopped.Clinics emptied, borders closed, and we all learned the shape of our own four walls more intimately than we ever expected. But even as the world locked down, the DFTB community refused to disappear.If anything, the urgency only heightened our purpose: to bring people together, learn from each other, and find a way forward for the children in our care. We’d spent months immersed in COVID conversations — including the huge task of summarising all paediatric COVID...
4 months ago • 1 min read
In 2019, DFTB crossed an ocean. After Brisbane and Melbourne, it was time to see what would happen if we took our unique blend of science and story to new soil. So we packed our slides, our curiosity, and a suitcase full of hope, and landed in London. It was our first — and, as it turns out, our last — DFTB in the UK. But it was unforgettable. How we convinced them to put our logo on Big Ben, I'll never know. From the very first moments, we knew this conference would be different.We didn’t...
5 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, Welcome to another edition of Bursting The Bubbles, DTFB's newsletter with some top tips, evidence highlights, and the best dad jokes. This week we look at intraosseous access, debriefs, and promoting good sexual health Let's do it... WEEKLY BUBBLE WRAP: HOW CAN WE PROMOTE GOOD SEXUAL HEALTH What’s it about? Positive youth development (PYD) programs promoting adolescent sexual health behaviours differ from sex education programs in that they focus more on strengthening wellbeing,...
over 2 years ago • 7 min read
Hey Reader, Welcome to another edition of Bursting The Bubbles, DTFB's newsletter with some top tips, evidence highlights, and the best dad jokes. This week we look at lactate, urticaria, and your favourite type of noodle. Let's do it... WEEKLY BUBBLE WRAP: IS LACTATE A HELPFUL SCREENING TOOL? What’s it about? This retrospective observational cohort study looked at whether lactate can be used to predict the need for acute resuscitation in paediatric emergency department (PED) patients. The...
over 2 years ago • 10 min read
Hey Reader, Welcome to another edition of Bursting The Bubbles, DTFB's newsletter with some top tips, evidence highlights, and the best dad jokes. This week we look at ET tube insertion, VP shunts, and how to read a scientific paper. Let's do it... WEEKLY BUBBLE WRAP: DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT ENDOTRACHEAL TUBE? What’s It About? Precise placement of endotracheal tubes (ETT) can reduce the complications associated with intubation e.g. pneumothorax and atelectasis. Though the gold standard for...
over 2 years ago • 9 min read