Summary
Ruud Nijman is an honorary senior clinical lecturer at Imperial College with a special interest in diagnostics and clinical decision making in paediatric emergency medicine and infectious diseases. He is also a consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine at the St. Mary's hospital - Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust in London.
He originally trained as a medical doctor at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2007). He completed his PhD in Paediatrics at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on the topic of diagnostic strategies for children with fever at risk of serious bacterial infection presenting to emergency care under the supervision of Prof. Henriette Moll and Prof. Ewout Steyerberg (2014; available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1765/77189). He also completed an MSc in Clinical Epidemiology at the Netherlands Institute of Health Sciences (2011). He made the transition to Imperial College to continue his academic work under the supervision of Prof. Ian Maconochie in 2013.
His academic work until now has focussed mainly on the recognition and management of children at risk for serious bacterial infections presenting to the emergency department. This work included the development and validation of clinical prediction models, assessing the clinical utility of vital signs and biomarkers, and evaluating management strategies of children at risk for sepsis. Additional projects aim to use large scale, routine, and linked health data to better understand childhood infections at a population level in North West London. Ruud was one of the main authors of the first Dutch national guideline (2013) on the management of children with fever in secondary care. He is one of the supervising researchers of the FIRE (Febrile Infants Regional Evaluation) study by the REACH committee, a pan-London, trainee-led research network.
He is currently an active researcher within the PERFORM and DIAMONDS consortia (chief investigator: Prof. Levin, Imperial College): multi-centre, Horizon 2020 funded, studies recruiting children with acute infections with the aim to discover and validate new biomarkers to differentiate viral and bacterial infections. As part of these consortia, he is involved in ongoing studies looking at the epidemiology of children of fever visiting the emergency department, led by the team at the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (Principle investigator: Prof. Henriette Moll). He also applies metabolomic platforms in an attempt to identify metabolites associated with bacterial infection, with the goal of building point of care diagnostics tests. As a visiting fellow, he is part of the team within the PERFORM consortium evaluating the health economics of implementing a potential new diagnostic test in children with fever in health care systems across Europe, together with researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Principal investigator: Dr. Shunmay Yeung). His academic projects during the COVID-19 pandemic include the multinational EPISODES study (principal investigator) and the BATS study.
In addition, he was principal investigator of a study looking at the management of refugee children presenting to emergency departments across Europe. This project was performed in collaboration with the Research in European Paediatric Emergency Medicine (REPEM) Network and the Paediatric Emergency Research in the UK and Ireland (PERUKI) network, and received financial support from the European Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases. He recently published a joint statement on refugee children and young people and the war in Ukraine, together with the EAP and EUSEM.
Ruud was one of the author’s of two children’s books to promote patient education of children presenting to the emergency department:
- Nijman RG, Scherpbier N, Witvliet M, ‘Varkentje heeft koorts’ (‘Piglet has fever’), published by Mozaiek junior, Zoetermeer, 1stedition, 2012 (children’s book; ISBN 9789023994084). [Supported by grant from Stichting Coolsingel]
- Nijman RG, Scherpbier N, Witvliet M, ‘Varkentje krijgt Gips’ (‘Piglet needs surgery’), published by Mozaiek junior, Zoetermeer, 1stedition, 2014 (children’ s book; ISBN 9789023994671.). [Supported by grant from Stichting Vrienden van Sophia]
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Dewez JE, Pembrey L, Nijman RG, et al., 2022, Availability and use of rapid diagnostic tests for the management of acute childhood infections in Europe: A cross-sectional survey of paediatricians., PLOS One, Vol:17, ISSN:1932-6203, Pages:1-22
Roland D, Gardiner A, Razzaq D, et al., 2022, Influence of epidemics and pandemics on paediatric ED use: a systematic review, Archives of Disease in Childhood, ISSN:0003-9888
Nijman RG, Honeyford K, Farrugia R, et al., 2022, Presentations of children to emergency departments across Europe and the COVID-19 pandemic: A multinational observational study, PLOS Medicine, Vol:19, ISSN:1549-1277
Nijman R, Oostenbrink R, Moll HA, et al., 2021, A novel framework for phenotyping children with suspected or confirmed infection for future biomarker studies, Frontiers in Pediatrics, Vol:9, ISSN:2296-2360, Pages:1-18
Nijman R, Borensztajn D, Zachariasse J, et al., 2021, A clinical prediction model to identify children at risk for revisits with serious illness to the emergency department: a prospective multicentre observational study, PLOS One, Vol:16, ISSN:1932-6203, Pages:1-19
McArdle AJ, Vito O, Patel H, et al., 2021, Treatment of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, New England Journal of Medicine, Vol:385, ISSN:0028-4793, Pages:11-22
Bressan S, Buonsenso D, Farrugia R, et al., 2020, Preparedness and response to Pediatric CoVID-19 in European Emergency Departments: a survey of the REPEM and PERUKI networks, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Vol:76, ISSN:0196-0644, Pages:788-800
Nijman R, Maconochie I, Lyttle M, et al., 2020, Emergency care provided to refugee children in Europe: RefuNET - a cross-sectional survey study, Emergency Medicine Journal, Vol:38, ISSN:1472-0205, Pages:5-13
Nijman R, Joergensen R, Levin M, et al., 2020, Management of children with fever at risk for paediatric sepsis: a prospective study in paediatric emergency care, Frontiers in Pediatrics, Vol:8, ISSN:2296-2360, Pages:1-17
Hagedoorn N, Borensztajn D, Nijman R, et al., 2020, Variation in antibiotic prescription rates in febrile children presenting to Emergency Departments across Europe (MOFICHE): a multicentre observational study, PLOS Medicine, Vol:17, ISSN:1549-1277
Wang X, Nijman R, Camuzeaux S, et al., 2019, Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children., Sci Rep, Vol:9
Levin M, Cunnington AJ, Wilson C, et al., 2019, Effects of saline or albumin fluid bolus in resuscitation: evidence from re-analysis of the FEAST trial, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Vol:7, ISSN:2213-2600, Pages:581-593
Stol K, Nijman RG, van Herk W, et al., 2019, Biomarkers for infection in children: current clinical practice and future perspectives., Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, Vol:38, ISSN:0891-3668, Pages:S7-S13
Nijman RG, Moll HA, Smit FJ, et al., 2014, C-reactive Protein, Procalcitonin and the Lab-Score for Detecting Serious Bacterial Infections in Febrile Children at the Emergency Department <i>A Prospective Observational Study</i>, Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, Vol:33, ISSN:0891-3668, Pages:E273-E279
Nijman RG, Vergouwe Y, Thompson M, et al., 2013, Clinical prediction model to aid emergency doctors managing febrile children at risk of serious bacterial infections: diagnostic study, British Medical Journal, Vol:346, ISSN:1756-1833
Nijman RG, Thompson M, van Veen M, et al., 2012, Derivation and validation of age and temperature specific reference values and centile charts to predict lower respiratory tract infection in children with fever: prospective observational study, British Medical Journal, Vol:344, ISSN:1756-1833