ROYAL NORTH SHORE HOSPITAL
Department of
Anaesthesia
Welcome to Royal North Shore Hospital Department of Anaesthesia, Pain Management, and Perioperative Medicine. We are a major tertiary referral and teaching hospital located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
About Us
Our mission is to provide safe, compassionate, and pioneering anaesthetic care to all patients, continuously striving to excel in education, research, and innovation. We endeavour to create a culture that supports the wellbeing and performance of our department.
Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) is a major teaching and tertiary referral hospital located in St Leonards, Sydney, Australia. It has a strong and proud history in education, research and provision of high quality clinical care. RNSH provides a comprehensive range of complex specialty services to patients from across NSW, including major trauma, severe burns, spinal cord injuries, neonatal intensive care, bone marrow transplantation, neurosurgery, and interventional neuroradiology, alongside acute medical, surgical, mental health, paediatric, cancer, and maternity services.
The campus is also home to the Kolling Institute, a medical research institute, and the Pain Management and Research Centre which specialises in treating patients with acute pain, cancer pain, and chronic non-cancer pain.
RNSH provides comprehensive perioperative management, with 18 operating theatres, interventional radiology and neuroradiology suites, pre-admission clinic, and perioperative care. The RNSH Anaesthetic Department is staffed by 117 specialist anaesthetists, alongside provisional fellows, registrars, residents, nursing, administrative, and technical staff.
The RNSH Anaesthetic Department provides specialist care in anaesthesia, including subspecialty services in Acute and Transitional Pain, Allergy, Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia, Chronic Pain, Clinical Simulation, Neuroanaesthesia, Obstetric Anaesthesia, Paediatric Anaesthesia, Perioperative Medicine, Regional Anaesthesia, Teaching and Medication Education, and Trauma.
Subspecialities
The Department of Anaesthesia provides comprehensive specialist care in the following areas.
Acute & Transitional Pain
The RNSH Department of Anaesthesia, Pain, and Perioperative Medicine provides a comprehensive Acute Pain Service and Transitional Pain Service.
Perioperative Allergy Service ->
The Royal North Shore Perioperative Allergy Clinic is a dedicated outpatient service for any adult or child who has experienced a suspected drug allergy under anaesthesia care.
Severe Burns Unit ->
RNSH is the home of the NSW Statewide Burns Referral Service as well as receiving admissions via the Emergency Department and Trauma Service.
Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia ->
RNSH has two cardio-thoracic theatres running three days per week and one cardio-thoracic theatre two days per week. We perform approximately 350 cardiac surgical procedures, 200 thoracic surgical procedures and 250 cardiac device implantations annually.
Clinical Simulation ->
The Sydney Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre (SCSSC) offers a realistic and immersive simulation experience for healthcare professionals. The SCSSC also has a full range of patient simulators, advanced anaesthetic simulator, part-task trainers, and technical and educational support from our team of in-house experts.
Environment ->
Royal North Shore Hospital’s Department of Anaesthesia is very proactive in sustainable perioperative medicine. Two of our anaesthetists, Dr Andy Lindberg and Dr Penny Hodges, are NetZero Co Leads in Anaesthesia for the Northern Sydney Local Health District.
Neuroanaesthesia ->
As the primary NSW state referral centre for major head and spine trauma, it is no surprise that approximately 75% of almost 800 neurosurgical cases per year are emergencies (approximately 2/3rds of which are intracranial).
Obstetric anaesthesia ->
Royal North Shore Hospital is a major tertiary teaching and referral hospital for maternity services for Northern Sydney Local Health District. Over 2000 babies are born in our hospital each year. Our Department provides comprehensive 24 hour anaesthetic care for women in pregnancy.
Paediatric anaesthesia ->
RNSH provides elective and emergency anaesthetic services for children from 6 months to 15 years old for a range of surgical and diagnostic procedures.
Perioperative Medicine ->
The RNSH perioperative team provides innovative multidisciplinary patient-centered care. The team is involved in the development and implementation of optimisation and ERAS pathways, as well as, interventions to reduce perioperative complications.
Research ->
Royal North Shore Hospital is a Participating Centre for LOLIPOP Trial and The SNaPP Study. Additionally information on current trials and research is available on the above link.
Trauma Service ->
RNSH provides elective and emergency anaesthetic services for children from 6 months to 15 years old for a range of surgical and diagnostic procedures.
The Northern Sydney Anaesthesia Research Institute (NSARI) is an independent not-for profit research organisation affiliated with Royal North Shore Hospital and the University of Sydney.
Our aim is to promote and produce clinically relevant research in the field of anaesthesia. Our vision is to become a premier medical research institute in the field of perioperative medicine.
We also aim to facilitate relationships with other medical specialties to collaborate and integrate research activities and to promote the science of anaesthesia within the community.
