General Medicine

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The Medicine Department provides a comprehensive range of adult medical inpatient and outpatient services.

Most services are  at Waikato Hospital with outreach services to a number of local and regional hospitals. Thames Hospital has its own resident physicians. Acute medicine at Waikato Hospital Waikato Hospital has approximately 12,000 acute medical admissions a year streamed from the Emergency Department (ED) to General Medicine, Respiratory and Cardiology. Who are we: 50 physicians at Waikato Hospital Four physicians at Thames Hospital 40 registrars 33 house officers Three SHOs in Thames (shared with ED/Surgery)

Physician training programme

Waikato DHB has a comprehensive, well-resourced, physician-training programme overseen by the Director of Physician Training.  

Basic physician training

• The Royal Australasian College of Physicians [RACP] accredits us as a Level 3 teaching hospital for basic physician training.
  
  
• Trainees can meet all their basic physician-training requirements by rotating through a comprehensive range of medical runs at Waikato Hospital.
  
  
• We provide an excellent programme for preparation for the FRACP written and clinical examinations with an excellent success rate in recent years.
  
  
• We are the only New Zealand hospital to subscribe to the weekly medical science lecture series video-conferenced from the RACP in Australia.
  
  
• Complementing these lectures there are weekly in-house exam-focussed sessions.
  
  
• We support attendance at the Australasian Written Examination preparation training courses and six weeks of study leave in the written examination year.
  
  
• We have regular short and long case preparation sessions for the clinical examination and organise a mock clinical examination every year.
  
  
• There is a weekly Medical Round and a weekly Grand Round.
  

Advanced trainees

All the medical specialties at Waikato Hospital are able to provide advanced training, leading to Fellowship of the Australasian of Physicians. Entry to advanced training at Waikato Hospital is competitive and, at this stage, advanced trainees can occupy a maximum of 50 per cent of registrar posts in any specialty. 

A number of UK advanced trainees have had time at Waikato Hospital accredited towards their UK advanced training.

General Medicine is primarily an acute admitting service but we do have a limited outpatient service.

Waikato Hospital has a sub-specialty split of acute admissions into General Medicine, Cardiology and Respiratory. There is no acute geriatric service so General Medicine takes acute elderly patients. 

We admit approximately 3,600 patients a year. We have two home wards and average about 60 in-patients.

There are five general medical teams. Two consultants lead most teams. There is a 5.0 FTE consultant allocation to cover the acute service. At present 13 consultants take part in the roster.

Most consultants have a sub-speciality interest and there is the opportunity for registrars to do sub-speciality clinics in Diabetes, Endocrinology, Infectious Diseases and Gastroenterology.

We have seven dedicated registrars and five house officers. The weekend roster is approximately 1:5. The run size is a category ‘C’. We have a well-organised roster with support registrars covering some long days, weekends, callback and nights. Registrars will do a set of nights every quarter.

We provide full orientation, a supportive environment with excellent teaching and protected training time. Advanced training positions are also available.

Nursing

Ward 23 manages 27 beds primarily used for General Medicine, Gastroenterology and Diabetes giving the nursing staff great learning opportunities and specialty skills. With a diverse age group ranging from adolescence to aged care, interpersonal skills are key.

No day is the same and the staff enjoy the challenge that comes with acute care. The ward philosophy is very much team focused with all staff skilled to a high level. Clinical support and education is fostered with all staff contributing to a safe working environment.

The nursing team work under a “Collaborative Model of Care” utilising a team approach. The team consists of two registered nurses and a health care assistant per 10 patients with the support of a nurse coordinator. The ward has a full time clinical nurse educator and clinical nurse manager providing strong leadership.

There is a strong focus on patient safety and quality care with the patient the primary focus.

The team enjoys a good sense of humour, home cooking, the “lolly jar” and a revamped staff room to debrief after a hard day. Social functions provide a great opportunity to relax and enjoy the cultural diversity of the team.

Media release

• New head of medicine at Waikato Hospital

Consultants

Paul Reeve Clinical Director