Bairnsdale

Core rotations

  • Acute Care

    Bairnsdale Regional Health Service (BRHS) has a busy emergency department (ED) staffed by a highly motivated multidisciplinary team, who manage over 23,000 emergency presentations per year. Students will work under the supervision of the senior medical emergency doctors, and alongside Fellows of the Australian College of Emergency Medicine (FACEM), Fellows of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (FACRRM), registrars and interns, with exposure to a wide variety of patient presentations during the completion of their ED rotation at BRHS.Students will be actively involved with patient assessments, providing treatment and input to patient management, organising investigations, liaising with patients, families and other hospital departments, being involved in referrals, and having input into patient discharge planning. In addition, students will engage with, and observe, the resuscitation and acute care areas under supervision. Students will attend the weekly emergency education program, facilitated by senior emergency doctors.

  • Aged Care

    Bairnsdale Regional Health Service (BRHS) has a purpose-built 20-bed sub-acute/rehabilitation unit encompassing geriatric evaluation management (GEM) beds, an inpatient post-surgery rehabilitation unit, respite facilities, Alcohol and other Drugs (AOD), and a transitional care program (TCP) for patients prior to discharge. In this unit, students will work within a multidisciplinary team under the supervision of a senior clinician to provide holistic, contemporary and best practice care. Students will work alongside the intern, gaining experience and insight into the clinical activities expected of a junior doctor in a rehabilitation and aged care facility.Students will actively participate in daily ward rounds and discharge planning under the supervision of the physician, in addition to regular case-based meetings. Clinical activities include: admitting new patients to the ward, clinical assessment of patients, and performing clinical procedures such as venepuncture, intravenous cannulation and insertion of indwelling urinary catheters. Supporting the work of the intern is excellent preparation for practice and students will gain insights into the processes of referring patients appropriately, preparing discharge letters and performing medication reviews. Students have the opportunity to join education sessions in the sub-acute/rehabilitation unit and attend lunchtime junior doctor education sessions.

  • Medicine

    Bairnsdale Regional Health Service (BRHS) has a medical service that provides a range of general and specialised care to patients. The 34-bed medical/surgical unit provides acute medical care for inpatients with cardiac, respiratory, renal, neurological and gastroenterological conditions. This is a large ward incorporating multidisciplinary patient care. During this rotation, students will gain greater insights into the function of a large ward and the role of health care providers such as nurses, allied health professionals and the Aboriginal health care team.Clinical placement is under the supervision of the three permanent physicians at BRHS, and students will attend daily ward rounds and bedside teaching. Students will work alongside the intern and registrars and be involved in theday-to-day activities expected of junior doctors. Opportunities to practise relevant skills include intravenous cannulation, venepuncture, insertion and removal of urinary indwelling catheters, in addition to supporting patient admissions, patient reviews, discharge planning, referral processes etc. Education in this ward includes fortnightly telemedicine tutorials with a tertiary hospital, weekly junior doctor education sessions, bedside teaching and weekly emergency department education.BRHS’s medical services provide a range of general and specialised care to patients. These services include:OncologyDialysisAcute medical careSpecialist consulting

  • Scholarly Intensive Placement (SIP)

    SIP projects offered at Monash Rural Health Bairnsdale are in collaboration with Bairnsdale Regional Health Service (BRHS) and Monash Rural Health research staff. Most projects offered at BRHS are clinically based, focused on quality assurance/quality improvement (QA/QI) audit-style work, and linked on national standards and areas identified as a need within the health service. These projects are intended to enhance the students' understanding of health care QA/QI processes, an important part of future practice, and to improve patient outcomes at BRHS. In addition to QA/QI projects, students may have the opportunity to undertake research-based projects with Monash Rural Health staff in various areas or education-focused staff with a member of the broad team working across MRH and BRHS.

  • Surgery

    Bairnsdale Regional Health Service (BRHS) is equipped with two theatres that cater for general, ophthalmological, urological, orthopaedic, paediatric and gynaecological and obstetric surgery. This is a busy surgical department that is all equipped to deliver emergency surgery. BRHS has three permanent general surgeons who supervise final year students. In addition, visiting surgeons covering disciplines including gynaecology, urology, paediatrics and ophthalmology work in this department. Students will work alongside the surgical registrar and intern, and gain experience and insights into the role of a junior doctor in a surgical department.When based at BRHS students will participate in all activities for which this team is responsible, including daily ward rounds, clerking of new patients, assessment of patients in the surgical ward and ED, scrubbing in for theatre lists and spending clinical time in the day procedure unit and with longer stay admissions. Students will practise procedural skills such as venepuncture, intravenous cannulation, airway management and insertion of indwelling urinary catheters.Students also shadow the surgeons in the consulting rooms and participate in outpatient consultations. Final-year students will join the BRHS junior doctors education session bi-weekly with the surgical intern, facilitated by senior doctors including their surgical supervisors. Students will be invited to present patient cases to their supervisor for further learning.