Organisation: Metro South Health
Job Title: Senior Staff Specialist (Gynaecology)
Word Limit: 2 pages maximum
Location: QEII Jubilee Hospital, Coopers Plains
Provide high quality specialist medical care in gynaecology
As the current Senior Staff Specialist within Hervey Bay Hospital, I have demonstrated my ability to provide high quality specialist medical care in Gynaecology. Having worked in Australia now for over seven years in both Obstetrics and Gynaecology, I undertook my specialist training in both Australia and Sri Lanka and I was awarded the substantially comparable to Australian Fellow status by RANZCOG in 2010.
My experience and skills in recent years have been gained in Melbourne working as a senior registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology under a senior gynaecologist for 12 months, and as Staff Specialist in Hervey Bay Hospital. Within this role, I have conducted routine Antenatal, Gynaecology and Colposcopy clinics in Hervey Bay and Maryborough hospitals and am accredited for level 5 (RANZCOG) laparoscopic work by the local accreditation committee.
In Urogynaecology, I routinely perform all types of pelvic floor repairs including surgery for vault prolapse; I am competent in Urodynamics as well as in insertion of various mid-urethral slings. I have an interest in obstetric anal sphincter injuries and have performed hundreds of endo-anal scans in primigravid women as well as published a paper on endo-sonographic morphology of anal sphincter complex in Sri Lankan primigravid women, further demonstrating my ability to provide Gynaecological care at a complex level.
Wide Bay health consists of Hervey Bay and Maryborough Hospitals which are 30km apart and I consistently work between both hospitals, conducting gynaecology, colposcopy and obstetric clinics as well as performance of major and minor theatre lists in both hospitals. I am conversant with elective gynaecological procedures such as abdominal, vaginal and total laparoscopic hysterectomy, myomectomy, midline laparotomy for large fibroids and ovarian cysts. Further I am familiar with laparoscopic adhesiolysis, resection of endometriosis, salpingectomies, oophorectomies and appendectomy.
With a passion for the area of pelvic floor dysfunction, I perform native tissue repair such as anterior, posterior colporrhaphy with or without sacrospinous suspension or paravaginal suspension as well as retropubic, trans-obturator midurethral slings and single incision mini-sling such as MiniArc. I not only perform these surgeries regularly and successfully, but also have the ability to teach these to my registrars, which I do on a regular basis.
Supervision and teaching of junior medical staff
Over the past 10 years, I have been actively involved in teaching and the mentoring of midwives, medical students, junior and senior registrars, which I have enjoyed immensely. Currently I am the Training Supervisor for ITP trainees (Year 4 Elective) and the RANZCOG Advanced Diploma Trainees in Hervey Bay Hospital. In addition I am involved with the teaching and examining of medical students from University of Queensland Rural Clinical School.
I am an examiner for the advanced diploma examination for DRANZCOG candidates and participate as a facilitator for the basic surgical skill workshop conducted for the Queensland ITP trainees and RBWH. More teaching information can be gained from my CV under my current position at Hervey Bay Hospital.
Multidisciplinary team and clinical research
During my current role at Hervey Bay Hospital, I have been involved in working with a multidisciplinary team including an Urologist, a General Surgeon with an interest in colorectal procedures, General Physiotherapists and other allied health providers, as well as social worker and community-based staff. In addition, I frequently liaise with Obstetric Medical Physicians within the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, ensuring my patients have the best level of care and knowledge.
Within my role I have facilitated a number of clinical research projects including submission of a paper to the RANZCOG Meeting in April 2015 around the results of pelvic floor repairs performed in Hervey Bay Hospital over the last five years. This and other similar clinical research strategies have provided the basis for presentations and papers over my career.
High level communication skills in a crisis
Demonstrating my communication skills in crisis situations, as the Acting Director, I have been involved in numerous open disclosure activities when mistakes have been made within the hospital environment. On one occasion a female sterilisation procedure had failed and the woman subsequently became pregnant. This situation was very upsetting for the woman and required excellent communication on my part to calm and communicate with her and her family. I performed a HEAPS analysis of the incident in the absence of the Director. On another occasion, a patient presenting with pelvic pain was subjected to an incorrect procedure due to a documentation error. Again, this involved an open disclosure meeting with the patient along with a HEAPS analysis. Both of these situations were successful in terms of my communication abilities and ensuring patients were given the best care after stressful occurrences.
Sound knowledge at a practical level of Quality Assurance
When my clinical director is on leave, I take on the Acting Director role which gives me an opportunity to perform administrative work. Every year I present the annual Obstetric audit where obstetric indicators from ACHS data are presented, comparing local data to Queensland and a peer hospital data. I have also performed audits on obstetrics anal sphincter injuries, NovoSure endometrial ablation, an audit and re-audit on influenza vaccination during pregnancy and a self-audit on colposcopy. Ongoing audits include an audit on induction of labour and IUGR. I have performed a retrospective audit on all the pelvic floor repairs done in Hervey Bay hospital over a period of 5 years and submitted for acceptance at the RANZCOG/RCOG annual session in 2015.
Human Resource Management including WHS, EE and anti-discrimination
Working for Queensland health for the last eight years I am very familiar with, and always comply with, the human resource management policies such as workplace health and safety, equal employment opportunity and anti-discrimination policy. Whenever I have been Acting Director I have had the opportunity to apply the last two policies when recruiting the resident, principal house officers and locum specialists and registrars. I have had regular performance reviews (PAD) performed and consistently give feedback to the registrars based on their performances.
With my exceptional skills and experience, I would like to now further that knowledge by taking up a more challenging role in a centre like yours, which will expose me to more administrative, clinical and research challenges. My clinical experience and ability in teaching and the performance of a diversity of audits meets the demanding requirements of this role and I am very keen to be given the opportunity to take up that challenge.
