Mossman MPHS Medical Officer Orientation Manual

2018

The purpose of this orientation manual is to provide information for doctors who provide locum services and temporary relief and those who permanently join our Medical team at Mossman Multipurpose

Health Service.

We are aware of the need to provide both local and general information over and above the initial orientation in order to

support your competence, confidence and resilience in managing uncertainty and crisis. It is our intent that you “feel safe, keep calm

and are well supported”.

We encourage you to carefully peruse this manual before embarking on your rural placement.

How to get to Mossman

Community map The Mossman map below is a basic guide to the mains streets in the area. Mossman MPHS is marked with the red H in the bottom half of the map.

Welcome to Mossman We are pleased to have you join our team during your time at Mossman Multi Purpose Health Service and trust you have an enjoyable stay.

The Douglas Shire and surrounding areas has hundreds of fantastic attractions from reef trips to Daintree rainforest tours and so much more. The website www.ttnq.org.au is a great source of information which talks through local attractions and will help you make the most of your free time!

Photos courtesy of Tourism Tropical North Queensland

Groceries & Essentials Woolworths supermarket is located about 15-20 minute walk from the hospital on Front Street, which is opened daily. Port Douglas is a short 15 minute drive south of Mossman. It’s centre offers a large range of retail outlets such as Target, Coles and IGA and other great local shopping.

Pharmacy/Chemist Mossman has two pharmacies on Front Street in close proximity to the hospital. Both stores are open Monday to midday Saturday. Port Douglas pharmacies are open 7 days a week. Opening hours are displayed on the noticeboard and in ED.

Restaurants/Coffee Shops Mossman has a few restaurants/takeaway options on offer. Mojo’s is a must for a great local dinner or visit the Exchange Hotel and Mossman Memorial Bowls Club for good local pub grub. Port Douglas has an amazing and varied range of dining experiences. A definite winner in Mossman for good coffee is the Junction Café, which is situated at the intersection of Junction Road and Front Street.

Please be aware! The beaches in the area are beautiful to visit but care should be taken, particularly during the “wet” season (November – June) when highly dangerous marine stringers are prevalent.

Read all warning signs, only swim between the flags at patrolled beaches and stay inside the stinger nets during stinger season. A stinger suit is advisable for further precaution.

Please be also mindful that many of the local rivers and creeks are home to saltwater crocodiles and not safe for swimming or walking.

General Hospital Layout

Mossman Multi Purpose Health Service is comprised of a 6 bed emergency department, a general acute ward, an 8 bed aged care unit, a community health department, x-ray department, outpatient mental health, dental and renal dialysis unit. The outpatient department also facilitates regular outreach specialist clinics.

General Ward

The ward has a capacity of 24 beds, for which we are typically staffed for 16 open, which include 4 single rooms, 3 sick-bed bays (6 beds each) and a 2 bed close observation room. Our patients present many and varied challenges, encompassing the needs of the general acute cases, wound care, the management of acute and chronic pain, accident and trauma, post chemotherapy and palliative care along with mental health patients.

2 x observation beds (located directly behind nurses’ station)

Wards A (male), B (female) and C (each ward contains 6

beds)

4 x single rooms are utilised primarily for palliative patients

and patients requiring isolation for infection control reasons.

In all areas within the hospital it is important to note:

Emergency Exits

Emergency resuscitation equipment

Fire equipment-hoses, alarms, extinguishers

Alarms – board location and understanding Please ensure to complete the mandatory fire safety training via Novell applications

Aged Care Facility

Mossman MPHS Aged Care Facility is comprised of 8 beds; 4 designated to males and 4 designated to females. Each resident is permanent, although, at times, suitable candidates have been accepted for respite care. It is important to remember that this is home to the residents and due respect is to be paid to this environment.

Multidisciplinary Team

Doctors

Nurses

ATODS (Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Services)

Community Mental Health

Child Health

HACC (Home and Community Care)

Dietician

Physiotherapist

Social Worker

Wound Management

Indigenous Health Workers

Podiatrist

Speech Pathologist

Occupational Therapist

Pharmacist

Recreational Officer

X-ray Operator

Radiographer & Sonographer

Unfortunately, as it is the nature of rural and remote health, not all disciplines are based permanently at the Mossman Campus. To overcome this, regular outreach services are provided by such disciplines to ensure that all patients’ needs are met to the best of our ability.

Listed below are a few of the most commonly used internal extension numbers. A full internal telephone directory can be found at various locations through the facility, including at the nurses stations. Director of Nursing Peter Le Griffon 41220 Nurse Unit Manager Ann Dollard 41294 Nurse Educator Shaun Cram 41277 Emergency Department 41217 Doctors Rooms 41216 Front Reception 41200/9 Kitchen 41229 Wards Person 41292

For external access add 408 before an extensions number.

Medical and Allied Health Services

Acute Ward 24 bed acute/subacute inpatient unit

Accident & Emergency 1 resuscitation bay, 3 acute beds, procedure room and eye room (includes slit lamp). Usually staffed by SMOs and PHOs during the day/evening and 1 PHO during the night with an SMO on standby.

Outpatients Clinic

+

Cardiac Rehabilitation

Gastroenterologist Surgical Specialist Gynaecologist Paediatrician Mental Health including Child and Adolescent Mental Health Respiratory Medicine Aged Care Assessment Team Breast Screen every 2 years

Allied Health Clinics

+ Occupational Health

Podiatrist (once every fortnight) Speech Pathologist (once every fortnight) Dietician (once every fortnight)

Fracture Clinic Weekly fracture clinic

Mental Health On site mental health and visiting psychiatrist every week

Radiology XR and USS on site radiographer and sonographer available 0800-1630 every weekday and on call during the weekend and after hours.

Physiotherapy On site weekdays Social Work Services Part-time Pharmacy On site weekdays

For further information regarding Mossman MPHS please refer to: http://www.health.qld.gov.au/cairns_hinterland/html/dsmphs.asp

List of Mossman/Port Douglas Medical Centres

MOSSMAN MEDICAL CENTRE

P: 4098 1248 F: 4098 3158

Dr Mark Colbridge Dr Edward Guirguis Dr Jacqueline Reid Dr Stehphen Salleras Dr Patricia Campbell Dr Bogdan Maslowski Dr Shu Wing Chan

PORT VILLAGE MEDICAL CENTRE

P: 4099 5043 F: 4099 4216

Dr Mark Colbridge Dr Edward Guirguis Dr Jacqueline Reid Dr Stehphen Salleras Dr Patricia Campbell Dr Bogdan Maslowski Dr Shu Wing Chan Dr Douglas Quarry

APUNIPIMA (GORGE CLINIC)

P: 4037 7380 F: 4038 4380

Dr Louise Craig Dr Douglas Quarry Dr Mark Wenitong Dr Jacqueline Mein Dr Yvonne Doveren Dr Helen Pedgrift Dr Deepa Gadhvi Dr Liam O’Regan Dr Alan Ruben (Paediatrician)

NEW HORIZONS (PORT DOUGLAS)

P: 4099 1111 F: 4099 1188

Dr Ron Bleier Dr Louise Bleier Dr Liz Stringer

WENDY WHITE MEDICAL

P: 4098 1286 F: 4098 1700

Dr Wendy White

MOUNTAIN VIEW MEDICAL

P: 4098 1711 F: 4098 3020

Dr Alexandra Bernhardi Dr Cameron Thomas McGee Dr Helen Hobson Dr Peter Stapelburg

DR E ARCHER

P: 4099 5276 F: 4099 4285

Dr John Archer

Weekly Timetable

MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN

AM 0800: Handover Meeting + Ward Round

0800: Handover Meeting + Ward Round

1130: Ward MDM

0800: Handover Meeting + Ward Round

0800: Handover Meeting + Ward Round

1130: Ward MDM

0800: Handover Meeting

0900 Aged Care Ward Round

0800: Handover Meeting + Ward Round

0800: Handover Meeting + Ward Round

LUNCH

PM 2130: MD Handover

2130: MD Handover

1700: Prepare Fracture Clinics

2130: MD Handover

1300: Fracture Clinic

2130: MD Handover

2130: MD Handover

2130: MD Handover

2130: MD Handover

Handover Meeting Every morning at 08:00 am all clinicians on that day will take handover of all patients admitted the previous evening by the duty PHO. This meeting takes place in the Library. A ward round follows to review patients and plan for care.

Ward Multidisciplinary Meeting

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 11:30 am the ward NUM, Home and Community Care (HACC) coordinator, allied health staff (physiotherapist and occupational therapist) and social worker meet to discuss every patient on the ward. This is a useful opportunity to flag patients in the need of multidisciplinary support both within Hospital and within the community, especially with regards to discharge planning.

Aged Care Ward Round

Every Friday morning is the Aged Care Ward round. Firstly attend to any routine tasks in consultation with the aged care staff. These tasks include, but are not limited to outpatient scripts, medication charts. The ward round should focus on new problems identified by staff or residents. A brief past medical history review, systems review, clinical examination, medication review and review any outstanding investigations should also be undertaken.

Fracture Clinic This occurs every Thursday afternoon at 01:00 pm in the Emergency Department. This clinic runs for approximately 2 hours, depending on the number of patients to be reviewed, and is currently coordinated by our temporary Allied Health Assistant. All patient charts will be sourced from Medical Records and compiled the day preceding fracture clinic. Each chart is accompanied by a Fracture Clinic form to be completed by the RMO in the afternoon preceding Fracture Clinic. This form outlines patient flow during the clinic and includes important information such as if an XRAY is required, cast removal/application and physiotherapy review. X-ray request forms to be completed, where applicable, and leave both forms in the patient’s chart. The Allied Health Assistant is also able to perform basic POP splinting and synthetic casting. If you are unsure at any point please contact either a senior SMO on duty or the Orthopaedic Registrar on call at Cairns Hospital. Please also note future booking requirements/discharge/removal appointment cards on the front of the chart that will need to be completed after the patient is seen and given to admin staff.

Bedside Rounds/Clinical Handover

A bedside round is undertaken every day following the Handover Meeting. This bedside round will be led by a SMO during clinical handover. Clinical handover requires ADDS scores to be quoted and documented in the progress notes during rounds. All patient charts are kept on a trolley in the nursing station. This trolley also contains blood, imaging referral forms and outpatient prescription forms.

Bloods

All bloods are to be ordered on paper request forms and as a minimum must contain the patient’s name, URN & DOB. All request forms must contain a provider number. These forms are located on the ward. All bloods are sent to Cairns Hospital with a twice-daily blood run, including weekends. Rational blood ordering is paramount and no routine bloods should be ordered unless under instruction by the treating doctor. Many of the nurses are trained to collect blood. Please add some clinical detail to the form.

Medical Imaging Our permanent Radiographer/Sonographer is supported by one on call X-ray operator who is also our full time Operational Services Supervisor. X-ray operators can only perform a limited range of basic x-rays. Our Radiographer however provides an excellent service for x-ray and ultrasound but all other requirements for medical imaging must go to Cairns. The doctors also have access to a small portable ultrasound machine for fast scans in emergencies, vein location etc.

Auscare If you have organised blood tests it is your daily responsibility to check and extract results.

Radiology Medical Officers must fill out and sign the radiography requests forms. Once these forms are completed the form needs to be forwarded to the relevant department. Phone numbers and fax numbers are found on the rear of the request form. All medical imaging is to be ordered on paper request forms. The purple form is for Mossman and the green form is for Cairns. All request forms must contain a provider number. These forms are located on the ward and can be obtained from the Medical Imaging department.

Discharge Summaries A discharge summary must be completed within 48 hours of discharge if not sooner. Each discharge summary is completed using your own name and provider number within the standard Queensland Health application accessed via the QHEPS intranet. http://qheps.health.qld.gov.au/ > Tool and Templates > - Application and Tools < Enterprise Discharge Summary

CME/PD We encourage ongoing development and have an acute & challenging program with help of EMET in Cairns and TMT. Regular VC and on site education programs exist and doctors are expected to attend and participate.

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Roster The roster is available as “Read Only” on the desktop. Please do not change or save alternatives as this can lead to confusion. Alterations can only be made by email request to the Med Super.

Night Shift Carry the on-call phone. This is the phone GPs and others are put through to. Alternatively ensure your mobile is charged/on and the number is available to nurses on the ward and ED.

There is a nicely furnished Doctor’s On Call room with en-suite and TV. Please remember to put the key back in the correct area for the next doctor’s use. If you are requested to come and review someone it will be because the nurse is worried enough to ask you.

The PHO is 1st on call with SMO on standby on site or within 10 minutes of the hospital.

Afterhours - all triage cat 1-3 patients and ADDS score > 5 must be physically seen. If they are sick enough to be admitted, they are sick enough to see the doctor. All ward admissions overnight must be seen prior to admission.

Students

Mossman has built itself a great reputation with the universities as a remote site and Medical students are keen to come here. We therefore have a large turnover of students each year and are keen to maintain the high standard of educational opportunities we offer. We actively teach and encourage students-medical and nursing assigned to our hospital – they are our future colleagues – have patience with them, be friendly and inclusive in social areas.

Transfer High Risk: The Queensland Clinical Co-coordinator (QCC) should be notified. This is a statewide coordinated retrieval service that will organise transfer (chopper or doctor escort QAS) and source beds at the other end. They are available for advice on critically ill patients needing transfer and may communicate over the videoconference system in the resus room.

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With these critically unwell patients you do not need to waste time discussing any aspects of management with inpatient teams yourself.

Stable patients; options are by private arrangements or by QAS. Discuss with colleagues if not sure on appropriate choice. You will obviously need an accepting inpatient team. Inform ED consultant and arrange a log number.

QAS transfers require; a QAS booking form, which will need a QHAT code, the code matrix is in the doctors’ room (this will dictate how promptly they arrive and the level of escort needed, QAS usually are unable to provide any sort of escort so it will be either an EN or RN or doctor if one is needed. The booking form also needs a transport log number, which is obtained from the patient transport officer at Cairns Hospital. Cairns Private Hospital accepts patients with private insurance; usually a single speed dial call will sort an admitting doctor and bed for you. Discussions with the private consultant in that specialty are also needed.

Transfers back to Mossman MPHS; these should NOT be immediately accepted without discussing with the Med Super & NUM (who will consider beds and nurse staffing). We will accept patients from our area, especially the ones we’ve transferred down. We do not ordinarily accept out of area patients awaiting placements or patients with behavioural problems.

Mental Health We are not an authorised mental service for R&Rs or Eos therefore they need to go to Cairns Hospital Mental Unit. We have an excellent community mental health service for patients you deem safe to stay. They will gladly review ward patients for us. For violent dangerous patients discuss with police for backup in ED or transfer-protect our nurses and yourself at all costs – remember we have a zero tolerance policy for abuse and aggressive behaviour.

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Deliveries Policy is to send to Cairns unless birth is imminent. There may well be a midwife available, but this is not a rostered service. Use the resus room in the event of emergency delivery. A resuscitaire is available. Flying squad assistance is available from Cairns.

Regular training is arranged in the event of an unexpected delivery.

We are not staffed or experienced in the care of the newborn baby or mother; therefore our policy is to transfer all newly delivered to Cairns Maternity. Please discuss with the Med Super and/or NUM.

Snake Bites There is a local agreement that all snake bite victims are to be transferred to Cairns. This is of course dependent on how convincing the story is, but IS irrespective of what you think they have been bitten by. The iSTAT INR cartridges are not reliable under these circumstances according to the manufacturer. The VDK should only be used if there are clinical signs of envenomation and you are considering using anti-venom.

Drug Charts When drugs are prescribed and commenced, it is your responsibility to fill in the relevant section – see example

Resources

Prescribing Guidelines http://qheps.health.qld.gov.au/cairns/html/pharmacy_prescribe.htm http://qheps.health.qld.gov.au/cairns/html/pharmacy_pbs.htm

CHHHS Clinical & Quality Safety Unit http://qheps.health.qld.gov.au/cairns/html/quality_home.htm

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Procedures http://qheps.health.qld.gov.au/cairns/html/policies_home.htm

Mandatory Medical Training

Fire

Blood Products

Patient Centred Care

http://qheps.health.qld.gov.au/cairns/html/ld-mandatory.htm

Finally Although all this information may seem overwhelming at the moment, it won’t be long before all of the pieces of the puzzle fall into place!

We welcome you to Mossman Multi Purpose Health Service and look forward to having you on board our team!

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Medical Imaging Protocol

Medical Imaging Hours Mon – Fri 0800 -1630 (Lunch 1230 – 1300)

All imaging required during these hours please bring request forms to MI.

An Xray Operator shares the On Call with the Radiographer/ Sonographer. Xray Operators are limited to Chest, Extremities and

Lateral Cervical spines. For any Spinal, Cranial, Facial or Ultrasound Imaging, the Radiographer/ Sonographer is usually available upon

request when not On Call.

For all after-hours routine imaging, outpatient referrals need to be placed in the allocated Imaging vertical tray in ED with the patient’s

contact details. MI will contact the patient to arrange an appointment and advise them of the required preparation the next day. Do not send

patients home with Imaging referrals!

On weekends and public holidays the On Call staff will routinely phone up doctors at 0830 to see if there are any patient’s returning for imaging at 0900 from the day / night before. Please notify the

handover Doctors or triage nurses if any prepped patients are returning so the On Call Staff member can be notified.

PACS web access is available on all computers throughout hospital (Skull Icon in Novell). All routine imaging during work hours is

reported with 1-2 hours and available on the web.

Log in : doctor - Password: doctor

The radiologist on call roster is located in the Doctors room on the notice board for any urgent reporting out of hours. Make sure your referrals contain legible descriptive clinical indications to obtain an

accurate diagnosis.

Urgent tertiary imaging CT, MRI, Angio etc needs to be arranged as an ambulance transfer with nurse escort. The patient should be referred to ED Cairns Base Hospital with a referral letter and Imaging request

form. If patients are clinically well they need to arrange their own transport.

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MEDICAL IMAGING WEEKENDS and PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

TO AVOID THE WEEKEND OVER FLOW OF PATIENTS RETURNING ON MONDAYS FOR REQUIRED IMAGING,

PLEASE NOTE!

THE RADIOGRAPHER ON-CALL WILL BE ROUTINELY COMING INTO ED AT 9am ON SATURDAYS, SUNDAYS AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

FOR REQUIRED ROUTINE XRAYS. THE RADIOGRAPHER WILL RING THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT AT APPROXIMATELY 08.30 TO

CONFIRM IF ANY IMAGING IS REQUIRED. DO NOT SEND PATIENTS HOME WITH REFERRALS.

FOR ALL URGENT AND EMERGENCY XRAYS, PHONE RADIOGRAPHER ONCALL AS PER NORMAL.

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Patient comes in on EEO (done by QPS or QAS)

Patient requires assessment within 6 hours of presentation – during this

time patient can be brought back by QPS if absconds prior to assessment.

After assessment ALL cases needs to be discussed with On-Call Psychiatrist at Cairns Hospital

If HIGH risk, R & R needs to be done and patient sent to Cairns.

If MODERATE risk, patient can be

admitted to Mossman MPHS

If LOW risk, patient may be discharged

Plan must be approved by Psychiatrist

EEO paperwork completed with discussion with Psychiatrist, Psychiatrist’s name and date/time of discussion.

The Viewer How to request access

Requesting access

If you have a Novell Username and a Novell Password you can request access from The Viewer.

1. Click on this link or enter this URL in QHEPS: https://eds.health.qld.gov.au/emr.

2. Enter your Novell Username and Novell Password.

3. Click on Submit.

4. The Viewer Access Request screen displays.

5. Complete the fields and click the ‘Submit Request’ button. This will automatically send your request to

the approver that you selected.

6. The system will send you email advising when your access has been granted.

If your request for access has not been successful please review the comment from the approver and

reapply.

For example,

ED Physician,

CNC Ward 3B

The Viewer Clinician: For clinicians e.g.,

doctors, nurses, allied health

The Viewer Clinical Support with

Clinical Access: For HIMs, clinical

coders, medical typists, and administration

staff requiring clinical information

The Viewer Clinical Support: For

administration staff — displays ONLY

demographic and encounter information

If there are no

approvers at your

facility select the closest

large hospital

If available, select the

same discipline.

If not, select EDS District

Coordinator/HIM

Looking for more information?

More information regarding how to use The Viewer including a detailed user manual can be found on

QHEPS at http://qheps.health.qld.gov.au/the-viewer-support/html/resources.htm

Contact us

Phone: 1800 198 175

Visit: http://qheps.health.qld.gov.au/emr-viewer/home.htm

QML Pathology Registering Dr’s to view online results

1. Go to QML web page: http://www.qml.com.au/

2. At the home page click on ONLINE RESULTS

3. Click on Sign Up

4. Select the GROUP PRACTICE option, this enables you to enter all the doctors

for each area under one log in

5. Create the groups user name and password. Make this as simple as possible as

all the doctors will be using the same user name and password eg: user name

Neurology2 password Neurology 02

6. Next you need to enter the group Manager or Medical Director Details.

It is suggested that this should be the Clinical Directors information be added

here.

7. Practice details: This is the group name ie Cardiology Clinic. Enter the postal

address for the hospital PO Box 902 Cairns 4870

8. Now Dr’s that work within that clinic need to be entered. You will need their

correct name, and provider number for Cairns Hospital.

9. Once the above have been entered all the doctors listed under that clinic will

be able to view the online results for all patients that attend the clinic.

10. If you need to add new Dr’s to the clinic then you will need to email

qml.it@primaryhealthcare.com.au with doctor name, provider number, and the

user name that you created for that clinic. QML will then add the Dr to the

account for you.

11. IMPORTANT – Do not delete any Dr’s that have left the service from the

account for the clinic. Doing this will mean that all the pathology that has

previously been ordered for a patient will also be deleted. E:g If Dr Bossingham

is deleted from the Rheumatology account, but his patient is now seeing the

new Rheumatologist all past pathology

ordered by Dr Bossingham for the patient will be unable to be viewed.

Access to online results for Sullivan Nicolaides

1. Go to the Sullivan Nicolaides website www.snp.com.au

2. At the top of the page click on Doctor Services

3. Scroll through the list and click on Results Online

4. Click on Application for clinic staff

5. Fill in the form listing all the doctors for the clinic. Most times S&N will

issue a generic User Name and Password for use by all doctors listed

for that clinic.

6. Once the form is completed mail it to the address at the bottom of the

page. S&N will post out the details of the account and password for

dissemination to all clinicians.

Great state. Great opportunity

Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service

History of Mossman MPHS

The original hospital services for the district were provided by the Port Douglas Hospital which was erected in or around 1878 and which served Mossman and Daintree as well as the port area until its relocation to Mossman in 1930. This event was one of the last of the transfers of public utilities from Port Douglas to Mossman. The general movement was brought about by severe factors such as the establishment of the rail link between Kuranda and Cairns which put paid to Port Douglas as a major port, the introduction of sugar cane and the siting of the sugar mill at Mossman.

Extract from The Shire Handbook 1979

“By the decade of the 1920’s the business centre of the Shire was definitely moving away from the waterfront port to the vicinity of the Mossman Sugar Mill.... The Court House and Banks followed the general exodus to the new administrative centre of Mossman....The old established Port Douglas Hospital.....was demolished in about 1935 and removed in portions….”

It will be interesting to see whether the tremendous growth which has occurred in Port Douglas over the last decade or so will at some time in the future mean that there is again a complete reversal in the location of medical services to the community.

When the decision was taken to build the hospital in Mossman, Cairns architects Hill & Taylor were commissioned to draw the plans and specifications and JJ Riley gained the contract to build. The building was completed in 1930 and the new Hospital Board met for the first time on the 21st June in that year. The official opening took place in August 1930. The new facility was to service an area north to the Bloomfield River, south to Ellis Beach and west to Julatten from that time until the present with very little change in its structure until its redevelopment in 1993.

Structural stability is one thing but the changes in the provision of health have been enormous. The hospital now boasts two doctors and it is no longer necessary for the “Matron” to give open ether anaesthetics to the patient being operated on by the only doctor in the district.”

Great state. Great opportunity

Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service

There has been little change in the types of cases treated at the hospital such as medical surgical, paediatric, maternity and geriatric but the redevelopment has meant that more appropriate surroundings and facilities are now available. The twenty bed nightingale wards are gone and in their place are single, two bed, four bed and six bed wards. Nursing is by patient assignment which offers individualised care rather than the old if efficient functional practice.

Visiting Consultants provide specialist medical, gynaecological, obstetric, paediatric and surgical care. A two bed high dependency ward with modern equipment ensures safer care for the critically ill or injured.

Cairns Hospital, 80kms south of Mossman, acts now as a back- up service for cases not considered suitable for care at Mossman MPHS. This is a real luxury compared to the early days when the Cook Highway which links Mossman to Cairns was barely wide enough to allow two cars to pass. The “Base” also provides an expert retrieval team which uses a helicopter for transferring some patients.

One of the most significant changes has been the construction of a specially designated area for our beloved elderly patients. Previously the hospital had no facilities for the frail and elderly and they were nursed in the ward along with every other patient regardless of medical or surgical conditions. What was once a 10 bed Female Ward is now known as Geriatric Ward complete with the budgerigar “Gerry” and new refectory where patients can eat, watch television or be entertained by staff or relatives.

Mossman Hospital is now part of the Cairns sector of the Peninsula and Torres Strait Regional Health Authority. Other hospitals which make up the Cairns Sector are the Cairns Hospital, Cooktown Hospital, Gordonvale Hospital, Yarrabah Hospital and the community Clinics of Hopevale, Laura and Wujal Wujal.

The main industries in the Shire are tourism and sugar cane growing. The 10,000 population is made up of mostly Europeans but there are approximately 1000 Aborigines or people of Aboriginal descent living in the town.

Great state. Great opportunity

Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service

The Hospital endeavours to be part of the community and enjoys

tremendous support from the people in the Shire of Douglas.

This is evidenced by the many pieces of equipment donated by organisations in the town and purchased from funds raised by the Burse Auxiliary.

The Shire is expected to double in population by the year 2000 and the staff of the Mossman Hospital are determined that the hospital will grow as the need arises and that they will do their best to give quality care to all patients who avail themselves of the Hospital facility.

Mrs IM Smith

Director of Nursing Mossman Hospital 1972-1994

Great state. Great opportunity

Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service

Great state. Great opportunity

Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service