Our Specialties: Emergency Medicine
Emergency Medicine
The Emergency Department at St Peter's Hospital is a busy department that sees approximately 100,000 new patients annually. Of these, approximately 25000 are Paediatric attendances under the age of 16 who are seen in the Paediatric Emergency department. All junior doctors are given the opportunity to rotate through this area to gain experience in paediatrics. The Paediatric Emergency department is a separate facility within the main department, which is open 24 hours a day and is staffed jointly with Paediatric and Emergency Doctors. Paediatric Emergency Department is staffed by Paediatric trained nurses.
The Emergency department receives approximately 29000 ambulances every year of which category 1 Red calls are about 4000. Total admission from ED attendance is about 23000 annually. There are plans in pipeline to expand the size of the department in near future.
The Emergency Department is also a trauma unit which is a part of South West London and Surrey Trauma network. The department also serves as part of hyper-acute Stroke service.
The Emergency Department was opened in July 1998 and has dedicated minor injury and major area. A new resuscitation area was opened in January 2002. There is in addition an emergency nurse practitioner service to support the management of minor injuries. An Urgent care centre has been running since April 2016 which operates between 08:00-20:00 every day and there are plans to extend the operational hours in near future.
Patients with a wide range of medical conditions are treated within the Emergency Department in addition to patients with major trauma and minor trauma. In common with other emergency departments we are treating an increasing number of elderly patients with non-specific presentations. In addition to the resuscitation room and the Paediatric Emergency department, there are well equipped major and minor area and a plaster room. There is also a six-bedded observation bay within the Emergency Department which is planned to be expanded in very near future 2017.
The Emergency Department recently acquired a Sonosite XPorte ultrasound machine for bedside USS. The Emergency Department is supported by a number of other professional services including the Intermediate Care Team and a Falls service.
The Emergency Department is in the Medical Division. ED is supported by 7 Emergency Medicine Consultants (6.5 WTE). There are posts for 8 Specialty doctors, 4 Trainee Registrars (ST3+), 4 Clinical fellows, and 18 junior doctors (FY2/GPST/ACCS CT and trust grade SHO). There are plans to increase staffing levels and improve our recruitment and retention drive.
Local Teaching
Weekly teaching: Wednesday mornings for Core Trainees/SHO.
SpR/SD/Clinical fellows - teaching last Thursdays of the month, which is co-ordinated by ED Consultants.
Junior doctors are encouraged to participate in teaching by presenting cases, in local teaching or governance meetings.
Other Educational Events/ Opportunities
Shop floor and hands on teaching happens on every shift and our ED Consultants are very proactive towards this method of teaching.
Sub-Specialty Opportunities
CT3 doctors have 6 months placements to Pediatrics covering Paeds ED and other Acute Paediatric setting. Doctors on CESR support programme are seconded to Anaesthetics, ICU, Acute medicine and Paediatrics.
Supervision
Each Trainees and junior Doctors are allocated an Educational supervisor for a year and a clinical supervisor for rotating placement. During initial meeting learning objectives and developmental plan are set and agreed with further mid and end of placement meeting. Support and feedback are given for requested WPBA and SLEs either face to face and/or online.
Trainees are fully supported to attend regional training days, life support courses and courses recommended by RCEM (EMUS, MIMMS etc.)
Exam Support
Doctors are encouraged to discuss their intention to sit exam and support is provided for practice and feedback. Full study leave is available for Exams relating to Emergency Medicine and other relevant Royal colleges (MRCP/MRCS). ED consultants provide support and practice sessions for trainees towards FRCEM exam preparation.
Santosh Pradhan | |
The College Tutor
My Name is Santosh Pradhan, Consultant in Emergency Medicine at St Peters Hospital. I am also Course director for ATLS provider course at ASPH. I am instructor for ALS (RCUK). I have been College Tutor for Emergency Medicine at Ashford and St Peter's Hospital since Aug 2016. I take this role very seriously and aim to deliver best training experience for our trainees. The role has been more challenging especially with the emerging complexity of training needs and service contract changes.
My special interests are workforce and resource management. Medical workforce recruitment for Emergency Medicine has been a national challenge due to harsh working condition and demand-supply mismatch and variability in training opportunity. My focus in coming years is to provide a vision towards developing training led workforce development.
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Further information about the this specialty can be found at
www.ashfordstpeters.nhs.uk/accident-and-emergency
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