ANNUAL REVIEW master Final3a - St Vincent's University Hospital

St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group Limited - Annual Review 2007
Department - Anaesthesia, Intensive Care & Pain Medicine
Training in the use of ultrasound devices to aid the placement of central venous access devices has
continued, and there is increasing willingness of all to embrace this technology.
Formal training in central vascular access is now a training requirement of the College of Anaesthetists. Drs
McShane and McDonald again organized the Vascular Access Study Day in the College. This course
continues to be popular and oversubscribed. It provides didactic lectures, live and cadaveric demonstrations
and tuition in the use of ultrasound.
South East Dublin Department of Anaesthesia
Again in 2007 consultant recruitment to the SEDDA hospitals was severely curtailed. This was due to a
combination of reasons but mainly to uncertainty about the new consultant contract and uncertainty about
what hospitals were to be built up. Consequently, we again relied, heavily on locum consultant services.
These enabled the comprehensive anaesthesia services in the group to be maintained. We are again grateful
to the contribution made by these doctors. We were happy to welcome one new Consultant to the SEDDA
group, Dr. Paul Murphy, who will be joining the liver transplantation anaesthesia team and will also work with
the Pain Service. We wish him well in his career here.
The SEDDA training scheme retains its popularity, with a constantly increasing number of applications. This
reflects on the individual teaching done by consultants and the facilities and varied clinical experience
available in the constituent hospitals.
Pain Medicine
2007 was another year of immense development in the Pain Service in St. Vincent's University Hospital with
the appointment of a new Consultant in Pain Medicine, Dr Paul Murphy. Dr Murphy did his Pain Fellowship
training in the world famous North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia, under the guidance of Prof Michael
Cousins. We also had the project of planning a new pain suite, and the commencement of the transfer of
our clinical activities from St Anthony’s Rehabilitation Centre to the main SVUH building.
Outpatient Activity
Number New Return Total
Of Sessions Patients Patients
Tues 51 250 2,244 2,494 Dr O'Keefe
Tues 46 23 264 287 Dr Victory
Wed 51 112 886 998 Dr O'Keefe
Pain Unit 148 3 370 373
Total 296 388 3,764 4,152
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