Royal North Shore Hospital is the tertiary hospital of Northern Sydney Local Health District. We are the referral centre for patients requiring cardiac surgery or structural cardiology procedures from the Central Coast Local Health District. Overall, this represents a catchment area with a population of over 1.3 million.
Royal North Shore Hospital 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.
The hospital has a large Structural and Electro-physiological Cardiology program. Over 200 TAVI (Trans-catheter Aortic Valve Implantations) procedures, as well as percutaneous mitral valve interventions, left atrial appendage and septal defect closures are performed annually.
We have sixteen accredited cardio-thoracic anaesthetists providing clinical services for these cases.
The Fellowship program will offer two days of clinical work in cardio-thoracic anaesthesia. This work will be performed in business hours under direct (level one) supervision.
Additionally, there will be clinical work covering Emergency and General theatre lists for one or two days per week.
Cardio-thoracic fellows are expected to contribute to the general (non-cardiac) on-call roster. This represents approximately three weekend days shifts and ten night shifts over a three month period.
The trainee will be expected to concurrently undertake training in Trans-Oesophageal Echocardiography. This may be undertaken through the University of Melbourne Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Ultrasound, or through completion of the National Board of Echocardiography examination.
The trainee will be provided with non-clinical time. During their fellowship, there is an expectation that they will undertake a Clinical Audit.