Lawrence Hargrave launches Pain Management Program LAWRENCE HARGRAVE PRIVATE HOSPITAL HAS LAUNCHED A NEW PAIN MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, BACK ON TRACK, WITH EARLY PARTICIPANTS REPORTING SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS. The program provides participants with a range of physical and behavioural strategies to help manage their pain conditions including exercise, hydrotherapy, mindfulness meditation and practical sessions to help participants find the strategies best suited to their individual needs. Anxiety and stress often have a major impact on people living with persistent pain, as well as on those around them. The program has helped participants achieve significant reductions in both. This has been achieved through a combination of cognitive behavioural therapy and an improved understanding of their individual capacity when it comes to managing everyday activities. Dr Tru Ngo, Dr Simon Chew & Kevin Potter Glengarry enhances the patient experience in Palliative Care Glengarry Private Hospital’s Palliative Care Unit recently launched an initiative to enhance the patient experience at their hospital. The project involves families and patients creating personalised posters showcasing the things they enjoy most and information about themselves. It enables the Palliative Care team to extend the relationship they build with their patients. Palliative Care Consultant Dr Larry Liew and Clinical Nurse Consultant Tracy Robinson developed the idea following a Palliative Care conference. Together with artist Jarrod Fuller, Dr Liew and Ms Robinson developed the communication tool in the form of a poster which is completed by the patient and their family to personalise the patient’s journey. The individualised profile is placed in the patient’s room for all carers involved in patient care to read and share with the patient. ‘Often we receive a lot of medical information about a patient but we don’t get the chance to learn much about them as a person.’ said Tracy. ‘These personalised profiles are a great way to involve families and a beneficial tool to help staff relate to their patients on a more personal level.’ More people in health and community services choose HESTA for their super The Ramsay Way - 2014 | 02 11 3 in 1 robotic surgery now at Strathfield A 73-YEAR-OLD MAN UNDERWENT A For Urological Surgeon Dr Tru Ngo and Colorectal THREE-IN-ONE ROBOTIC SURGERY AT Surgeon Dr Simon Chew, it was not just about capable STRATHFIELD PRIVATE LAST MONTH, hands using high-tech instruments, but doctors working CEMENTING THE HOSPITAL AS AN together to combine entirely new possibilities across the “OPERATING ROOM OF THE FUTURE”. specialty spectrum. In a surgical hat trick, Dr Tru Ngo and Dr Simon Chew “In the past, separate operations would mean multiple removed two primary cancers at the same time - one in scars and abdominal incisions of 20cm or more,” says Dr the prostate and one in the rectum - before repairing a Ngo who operates at both St George Private Hospital and large hernia, all in a single operation. Strathfield Private Hospital. Patient Kevin Potter, who was diagnosed with prostate “With the new approach, it’s a single procedure and we cancer in January, and whose subsequent scans revealed are able to navigate through the same surgical holes for a second mass in the bowel, described the surgery as each of the different procedures. There are just a few “astronomically fantastic” and one he believes almost small cuts at 1-1.5cm each and a separate 4cm incision certainly saved his life. to retrieve both tumours. ” Potter, who affectionately refers to his surgeons as the He says three traditional surgeries meant 10-14 days of “butt doctor and the plumber”, says the gratitude he recovery in hospital followed by longer recuperation at has for the Strathfield surgical team “is hard to put into home. words”. “With the new technique, the patient experiences “Just a few decades ago most medical advice was to put significantly less pain after the operation; and a shorter band aids on things or if it was really serious we were return to normal daily activities.” sent home to die,” says Potter, from Sylvania. Dr Ngo says that this kind of “one-stop-surgery” was a “And while the trajectory of medical care over the past new phenomenon in robotic surgery but combination few decades has always been on a steep up curve, what surgery would be more commonplace in the future as these doctors have done for me is truly remarkable. I was more doctors are trained in robotic surgery. “Theoretically in hospital on a Saturday night and had three procedures it could mean obesity surgery and gall bladder surgery is in one. done at the same time, or perhaps a rectal prolapse and uterine prolapse.” “I was out within the week, had tiny scars, hardly any pain throughout and now have a great prognosis”. Your super fund can make a lifetime of difference 3 Run only to benefit members 3 Low fees 3 A history of strong returns hesta.com.au ‘Super Fund of the Year’ Product ratings are only one factor to be considered when making a decision. See hesta.com.au/ratings for more information. H.E.S.T. Australia Ltd ABN 66 006 818 695 AFSL No. 235249, the Trustee of Health Employees Superannuation Trust Australia (HESTA) ABN 64 971 749 321. For more information, call 1800 813 327 or visit hesta.com.au for a copy of a Product Disclosure Statement which should be considered when making a decision about HESTA products. 1302.HESTA Generic Group_250x86.indd 1 22/05/14 8:37 AM
The Ramsay Way - Winter 2014
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