50,000 milestone reached at Sunshine Coast University Private Hospital Sunshine Coast University Private Hospital has just passed the 50,000 patient milestone, with the 50,000th patient passing through the door in early March. The Ramsay Way 2016 | 01 7 HOSPITALS St George Private New Heartbeat of the South St George Private Hospital has significantly increased its cardiac capacity with a major renovation of its coronary care unit (CCU), more beds and high-acuity cardiac monitoring. The project will focus on tracking the outcomes of spinal surgery treatment as reported by patients and benchmarking these against other major international organisations. This project will bring together the specific outcomes of thousands of spinal treatments from around the world enabling future spinal surgical patients to have high quality and quantitated information about the likely outcomes of procedures. Pindara Neurosurgeon Dr Leong Tan has been appointed Chief Investigator for the study and he will be joined by colleagues Ellison Stephenson, Chris Schwindack and Anna Chang. “People with back pain need the best information to make informed decisions about the expected outcomes of spinal surgery. The data gathered in this project focus on what matters most to patients. “Patients want to know how they will fare after treatment – whether they can return to work; whether they will need pain medication, require additional treatment, be able to take care of themselves and most importantly will their symptoms improve? “The study will help to guide the medical profession globally in choosing the best types of surgery for specific spinal conditions because benchmarking articulates what treatment works best for the various types of conditions,” said Dr Leong Tan. Pindara Private CEO Trish Hogan said the hospital had specialist expertise in spinal surgery and collaborating with the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) to measure patient outcomes would open up new opportunities to compare and improve performance globally. “We have an excellent team of neurosurgeons and orthopaedic specialists. This research will allow clinicians across the world to learn from each other and rapidly improve the care of patients,” said Ms Hogan. Ms Hogan said Pindara Private Hospital has embraced the opportunity to be involved in world-class research that will directly benefit patients. “It’s a whole-of-organization approach including patient input and the commitment of various departments within the hospital. We’ve seen cultural shift among staff who are now collaborators, supporters and promoters of the research,” said Ms Hogan. Ramsay Health Care Managing Director Chris Rex said the Company’s strategic alliance with ICHOM represented the organizations’ long-term commitment to driving value in health care around the world. “We are committed to delivering superior quality care throughout our hospitals for every patient, every day. Continuous measurement of what we deliver for patients will provide a key input into innovation and quality improvement. “Our doctors have welcomed this new measurement approach and will work together with us to measure and then benchmark patient-focused outcomes,” Mr Rex said. As an ICHOM partner, Ramsay Health Care in in the good company of leading medical institutions, including the Boston Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and Erasmus MC in the Netherlands. The new system provides 96 hours of continuous heart monitoring which can then be sent directly to each patient's cardiologist, surgeon or GP. For staff and GPs following up an admission, this takes much of the guesswork out of an in-hospital cardiac event (by tracking multiple events and viewing larger areas of the heart more accurately). The new equipment will ultimately facilitate reduced length of stay and more hospital admissions by freeing up beds. Combined with three new operating theatres to go live in May; as well as onsite consultative, diagnostic, interventional and preventative cardiology – SGPH is shaping a new age of patient care innovations for cardiac patients. "In days past there was only one central station. Now there are multiple viewing stations which means clinicians can see patients anywhere in the unit, providing quicker care," says St George Private Hospital DCS Matt Wall. "From the patient perspective there will also be no more "nuisance" or "fake" alarms – where a patient's movement triggers an alarm warning. "This means patients can benefit from much improved sleep quality, also aiding recovery." St George Private also has one of the most utilised private Cath Labs in NSW providing more than 1,500 interventional cardiac procedures a year. The Cath Lab boasts the world’s first commercially installed radiation dose-tracking system providing exquisite clarity of image and the ability to pinpoint radiation doses more accurately than ever before. Pindara Private Commences International Study into Spinal Surgery Outcomes Leading Queensland neurosurgeons from Pindara Private Hospital are set to join an International Research Consortium to investigate and document world’s best practice in spinal surgery. CEO Oli Steele said since the hospital opened in November 2013 it had averaged around 2,000 admitted patients each month. “By any measure, the performance of the hospital over the past 12 months had been exceptional,” said Oli. “And we are providing a great service to the community by providing complex health services right here on the Sunshine Coast, delivered by high calibre doctors. “As a testament to the calibre of our hospital, its people and the consistently strong levels of positive patient feedback and outcomes, we have attracted a number of new specialists from metropolitan centres including Melbourne and Brisbane, and regional powerhouses such as Rockhampton and Mackay in the areas of orthopaedics, cardiology, rehabilitation medicine, general surgery and bariatric surgery.” Patient Mark Doyle and cardiologist Maurits Binnekamp in the new CCU at St George Private Hospital. Neurosurgeon and Chief Investigator of the ICHOM lower back pain trial at Pindara Private Hospital, Dr Leong Tan, shows a patient how to fill in their outcomes online.
The Ramsay Way - Autumn 2016
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