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Core: 2
Dr Elaine Ng
Dr Katherine Nguyen
The Rheumatology Department has 5-10 inpatients per week and receives 5-15 inpatient consults per week.
In additon to this the Rheumatology Advanced Trainee will attend between 4-6 outpatient clincis per week, with each clinic containing between 5-10 patients.
We receive referrals from general practitioners, private specialists and speciality clinics within SWSLHD. We also receive referrals from Liverpool ED and Liverpool Hospital inpatient and outpatient services.
Outpatients Clinics
All outpatient clinics at Liverpool Hospital are supervised by a consultant Rheumatologiest. All new patients are reviewed by the consultant and all follow-up patients are discussed with or reveied by the consultant. Letters dictated to GP's and discharge summaries are reviewed weekly.
Advanced trainees attend a minimum of 4 outpatient clinics per week which includes two general rheumatology clinics, the connective tissue diseases and the spondylarthropathy and psoriatic arthritis clinic . In addition they attend specialist clincis such as the rheumatology paediatric clinic (monthly), adolescent transition care clinic (quarterly), pulmonary hypertension multidisciplinary clinic (monthly), scleroderma multidisciplinary clinic (monthly), osteoporosis refracture prevention clinics (weekly), gout clinic (bi- monthly).
The Liverpool Rheumatology Department holds a weekly departmental meeting to discuss peer reviewed cases, journal club, histopathology meeting with Dr Christopher Henderson (quarterly) as well as morbidity and mortality meetings. This is followed by weekly radiology meetings with Dr Sugendran Pillay. Finally, there is an additional weekly journal club held on Thursday mornings.
Advanced Trainees are responsible for coordinating and documenting these meetings as well as participating in presenting cases to the department as part of a rotating roster.
Advanced Trainees attend multiple inter-department meetings and multidisciplinary meetings including;
1. Combined Rheumatology-Immunology-Dermatology connective tissue diseases clinic (quarterly)
2. Combined Rheumatology-Dermatology-Gastroenterology meeting (quarterly)
3. Combined Rheumatology-Immunology connective tissue diseases meeting (weekly)
4. Combined Rheumatology-Immunology-Renal meeting (quarterly)
5. Liverpool Hospital Physician Grand Rounds, which rheumatology provides a case presentation and discussion 4 times a year
6. Liverpool Hospital Morbidity and Mortality meeting (quarterly)
Research Opportunities and Interests of the Department There are multple opportunities to conduct clincial and translational research within the Department of Rheumatology at Liverpool Hospital. We have research and methodology expertise in SLE, Scleroderma, PsA, RA, OA, OP, Gout, Patient Reported Outcomes Measures and Patient Reported Experience Measures. We also have strong links to groups undertaking qualitative research and have supervised a number of trainees in qualitative projects.
Our research department is supported by two clinical trials nurses and a department research assistant. We currently have three active clinical trials (one in GCA and two in scleroderma) and the AT has the opportunity to be involved in each of these clinical trials. Trainees are supported to obtain GCP certification.
We have previously supervised a number of PhD and Masters candidates and currently have an active ILP student research program.
We have an Arthritis Research Unit within the Ingham Applied Science Research Institute and there are many opportunities to attend courses and lecture series on applied research and statistics.
Early discussion regarding a research project that meets the RACP guidelines with the Director of the Department upon successful appointment to the position is encouraged.
There are a variety of teaching responsibilities for the Advanced Trainees, including;
1. Presentation of a case and case-based discussion at Liverpool Hospital Physician Grand Rounds
2. Presenting at weekly journal club and departmental case meetings
3. Assist in supervising junior medical staff attached to the department in the care of patients admitted to the team.
4. Teaching and organising Rheumatology SCORPIO sessions for the Liverpool Hospital BPTs in preparation for the RACP Clinical Examination
5. Participating in lecture presentations for the Liverpool Hospital BPTs in preparation for the RACP Written Examination
Dr Geraldine Hassett Phone: 02 8738 4088 Email: Geraldine.Hassett@health.nsw.gov.au
Dr Geraldine Hassett has an interest in translational research with a focus on implementing evidence into practise and consumer engagement in informing clinical care delivery and research.
Associate Professor Kathryn Gibson is actively engaged in patient reported outcome measures research as part of routine clinical care. She has a strong track record in IT, eMR and database development.
Dr David Martens has an interest in implementing and conducting research in gout, medication adherence as well patient reported outcome measures. He leads the Liverpool Gout clinic.
Dr Victoria Johnson is interested in implementation science with a focus on building and coordinating multidisciplinary clinics to enhance service provision and clinical care for patients within SWSLHD. Her clinical research interests are in SLE, scleroderma and osteoarthritis.
Dr Carlos El-Haddad leads the Osteoporosis Refracture Service. His research interests include the theory and practice of medical education (particularly 'entrustable professional activities'), qualitative research methods,and implementing patient-centred care.
Dr Ayano Kelly is an early career researcher with a strong interest in patient-centred research and implementation and evaluation of evidence- based models of care to improve health-care delivery. Her research has contributed to improved service delivery in osteoporosis re-fracture prevention and paediatric to adult transitional care services in several hospitals in NSW. She is leading research into medication adherence and is the co-chair of the OMERACT medication adherence working group.
Dr Michael Oliffe is developing, implementing and conducting research in the use of musculoskeletal ultrasound in routine clinical care. He leads the combined spondyloarthropathy and psoriatic arthritis clinics.
Dr David Massasso is interested in soft tissue rheumatism, ankylosing spondylitis and in medical education.
Dr Ian Gotis-Graham has an interest in osteoporosis and a wide range of rheumatic diseases.
Dr Damian McKay is a paediatric rheumatologist with an interest in transitional care and sports medicine
Associate Professor Davinder Singh-Grewal is a paediatric rheumatologist with research interests across the span of inflammatory arthritis and connective tissue diseases in children.
MBBS or equivalent, successful completion of the FRACP Written and Clinical Examinations
Current registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) or eligible for same
The appointment to this position is through the NSW Rheumatology Advanced Training Scheme and NSW Health.