WA TMS Network

Key Priorities

Our primary objectives include:

• Validating rTMS in youth
• Investigating TMS treatment resistance
• Tailoring personalised treatment options using biomarkers such as DNA and brain signatures
• Community engagement
• Education and outreach for general practitioners and consumers

We aim to connect WA rTMS service providers in a collaborative effort to bridge the gap between research and practice to improve patient outcomes.

The network will assist clinics in becoming research-ready through support and education. We are building partnerships to identify key areas or populations, build knowledge, improve education, and establish a robust research base.

Why get involved?

Empirically, clinics that do research have been found to have better patient outcomes. The network can offer financial incentives and help in applying for external funding opportunities. We can also provide assistance for research training, TMS training, career and clinic advancement opportunities including Continued Professional Development (CPD) activities.
Together we can improve the quality and validity of WA based TMS research through collaboration with the goal of developing innovative solutions to care and improving patient outcomes.

If you agree to participate, the following will happen:

1. We will go through the relevant information and agreements that need signing, tailored to whichever one of the 3 partnership pathways you choose to engage with (you can pick one, two, all, or none).
2. We will work together to get your data or clinic ready for the agreed partnership pathways and can offer financial support where necessary.
3. We will meet regularly to discuss your priorities, contributions, and how best we can support you and the partnership.
4. We will hold biannual network meetings where all partners will be offered opportunities to be involved in training and education.

What is required of the clinics?

We will require you to de-identify your data. In some cases, we may want to speak to certain populations (i.e., youth) and may ask you to call prior patients to offer them the opportunity to participate in research. This will be carried out at your discretion and patient information can only reach us with consent. Other time and effort contributions from clinics will vary, but there is a choice to participate in all or only some aspects of the network. We will regularly check in and make time to discuss any aspects or requirements.

Partnership pathways:

We have identified 3 key partnership pathways:

1. Retrospective data sharing: Existing and past patient and treatment data (de-identified).
2. Current and prospective data sharing: Current and future patient and treatment data (de-identified).
3. Prospective collaborative research trials: We work together to implement research studies within clinics, at Perron/UWA, or across both sites. These projects can be small or large, and developed either together or based on questions we or your clinic have identified.

All patient data is to be de-identified before it leaves a clinic. Clinics will NOT be assessed on service and data will not be shared with other clinics. For analysis and publication purposes, data will be amalgamated. We are committed to making research outcomes accessible and robust. We hope you join the network to help us succeed in improving patient outcomes through the investigation of TMS safety, TMS x medication safety, disease patterns, prescribing and treatment patterns, health economics, TMS awareness, acceptance, safety, public health and more. This research will also provide useful information for health professionals and the wider community on TMS healthcare, and treatment options.