Paediatric

Central Australia

The Alice Springs Hospital Paediatrics Department provides a high quality paediatric care for children and families in Central Australia.

Inpatient unit services

Inpatient care occurs on a 30-bed paediatric ward with support from a mixed Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit. The majority of admitted patents are Aboriginal children from remote communities presenting with a variety of medical care needs. The primary referral centre for escalation of care and advice is the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide and we are supported for retrieval by the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Medstar Kids.

Neonatal care occurs on 8-bed neonatal nursery. Primary neonatal referral centre is Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide. We keep children >32 weeks gestation and 1500g routinely and >30 weeks gestation and 1000g based on risk/benefit assessment of transfer. We have capacity for short term ventilation of patients (24-48 hours).

Outpatient services

General paediatric clinics are run daily by registrar and consultant staff and contain a mix of medical and behavioural consultations.

There are a range of developmental clinics under the paediatrics umbrella which include:

• Out of home care clinic.
• Multidisciplinary autism and developmental assessment clinic – Child development team.
• Multidisciplinary FASD and developmental assessment clinic – Central Australian Aboriginal Congress.
• Feeding clinic.
• Acute behavioural clinic.

Outreach services are provided to 27 remote communities throughout Central Australia.

Top End

The Department of Paediatrics has one of the most varied and interesting general paediatric practices in Australia and the majority of our work is with Indigenous children and their families.

The Department of Paediatrics is responsible for 3 wards:

• 22-bed general paediatric and adolescent ward (5A).
• 14-bed Isolation ward (5B).
• 18-bed NICU, plus a neonatal retrieval service.

We have a busy outpatient service at Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) and provide paediatric outreach to 37 remote communities of the Top End.

Paediatrics is a friendly, busy department, with 14 FTE consultants (shared between 18 general paediatricians, 5 paediatric subspecialists and 5 neonatologists) and onsite subspecialty services including infectious diseases, cardiology and endocrinology.

We also have several visiting paediatric subspecialists from interstate.

Clinical paediatric practice at RDH encompasses general and neonatal paediatrics. You will encounter many common paediatric conditions – bronchiolitis, pneumonia, UTI, failure to thrive – and conditions more prevalent in the Top End – bronchiectasis, rheumatic heart disease, post-strep glomerulonephritis, malnutrition and infectious diseases, such as melioidosis.

You will also care for adolescents with complex medical and mental health concerns, and children who are at risk of harm, or already within the child protection system, for which we are overrepresented on a national level. The work is challenging, unique and a glimpse into an Australia many do not have the privilege.

We have an active teaching program for residents and registrars, including weekly journal club, grand rounds, radiology meeting, infectious diseases meeting as well as the opportunity to attend the lecture series at the Menzies School of Health Research, which is on site. We enjoy a close relationship with the Menzies School of Health Research and there are numerous research opportunities, as well as increasing potential to become involved in international child health. We are part of the Northern Territory Clinical School which provides teaching for medical students from Flinders University and James Cook University.