Best cardiac hospital in Melbourne

achilles82 · Jul 10, 2010

Prahran is close to the Alfred and St Vincents, clayton is close to Monash and I think Cabrini. Cabrini is a private hospital whereas all the others are public, although im not too sure about Monash, but im pretty sure it is. We do have phlebotomists here which we call pathology collectors i think is the term. There are other hospitals also in Melbourne as well that you could look at like the Austin, Royal Melbourne, The Northern, Western and Eastern health.

talaxandra · Jul 11, 2010

The Alfred is part of the public, three-campus Alfred Group of Hospitals, and has a combined cardiothoracic and cardiology unit, as well as a the heart centre; the Alfred's transplantation track record is so good it now also does paediatric transplantation for heart patients at the Royal Children's Hospital. It's in Prahran, which is well serviced by public transport, about fifteen minutes by tram/ten minutes by train to the CBD. Nearby Chapel Street has some of Melbourne's most interesting fashion stores, and, the Prahran market has great produce, and there are heaps of fantastic cafes and restaurants.

St Vincent's is a public hospital established by the Sisters of Charity - non-denominational, its private sister hospital (St Vincent's and Mercy Private) is Catholic. Both hospitals offer cardiac and cardiothoracic services, though on a smaller scale than the Alfred. The rebuilt St Vincent's is modern, spacious and attractive. It's in in Fitzroy, an inner city suburn less than five minutes from the CBD, and has an ecclectic and vibrant atmosphere - nearby Brunswick and Smith Streets have great, quirky shops, factory outlets and great restaurants.

Monash Medical Centre is a large, major public hospital that services the south east of Melbourne; it is part of the Southern Health network, the largest of Victoria's health care groups. It has a large and comprehensive cardiac unit. Further out than the other hospitals you mentioned, MMC's main campus is in Clayton. Less wealthy than the other areas, housing is more affordable, and there are a number of good restaurants and shops, including outlets. Less well serviced by public transport, Clayton is easily accessible by car.

Cabrini is a private, not-for-profit group of six hospitals; cardiology services, including the cardiac care unit, operate out of the Malvern campus and are primarily elective. Malvern is a fairly expensive suburb, home to several private schools and well serviced by public transport. Nearby shopping areas include Malvern Central (a mall) and the well-known shops of GlenferrieRoad.

Note that public hospitals in Australia are somewhat different to their US equivalent - because of the way healthcare funding is structured, public hospitals are usually (though certainly not always) larger and more acute than their private equivalents. All Victorian nurses are covered by awards, which dfetermine pay and conditions; these are consistent across the public hospitals (ie the same at the Alfred and at Monash), and within private groups (ie all grade 2 year 3 nurses at Epworth have the same conditions, but these may be different to their Cabrini equinalents); only public hospitals are required to staff to ratios.

If you're thinking of going the private route and are interested in acuity, you might like to consider the Epworth; also a privately-run group, the Epworth has Victoria's only private emergency department, and two cardiac units, one in Richmond and a smaller unit at Epworth Eastern. Richmond is a booming inner suburb, with great public transport, factory outlets along Bridge Road, indie music, and fabulous, cheap Asian restaurants in Victoria Street as well as contemporary Australian dining in Swan Street.

To get an idea of housing costs check out RealEstate.com.au and/or Domain.com.au, which both have rental and purchase properties. To get an idea about how easy both the hospitals and suburbs are to navigate, check out Metlink's journey planner.

Hope this helps :)

talaxandra · Jul 12, 2010

I forgot to add:

- Melbourne's very multicultural, so most workplaces will have a ethnically and culturally diverse population (staff and patients). However, there are fewer Australian-born people of African heritage in comparison with the US, and most black people are either first- or second-generation migrants or indigenous

- we have phlebotomists, who work limited hours (usually 8-1 or so) and take routine bloods

- there is no such thing as a respiratory therapist in Australia

allnurses Guide · Jul 12, 2010

Answered in your other identical thread.

livv · Jul 12, 2010

Thank u so much for your responses. Very helpful. Gilbert am coming from the states where i have lived for 10 years but am originally from africa. I have 3 years in cardiology as an RN and 1 year as an enrolled nurse. Am not sure where that places me as far as the australian divisions. I have never drawn blood on my own because we dont have to in my hospital. The only respiratory thing i have ever done was apply nasal cannula oxygen. I cant imagine drawing ABG's or intubating. What a scene LOL! I am starting to freak out. I looked at the Alfreds cardiac website and it sounds alot like what we do on my unit but we dont do transplants. I wonder how much support their nurses get because cardiac can be scary. In my hospital we got 12 weeks in orientation and lots of additional classes. It sounds like the alfred gets alot of complicated cases and am afraid of the stress level. I have seen nurses who got anxiety attacks when they had to go back to work from a day off. I wish australia had 12 hour shift for non icu nurses. We are so spoilt coz we only work 3 twelve hour days. Are any of u guys in cardiology. Thanks again for ur input.

talaxandra · Jul 12, 2010

So some good news - you'll be a division1/registered nurse, and only anaesthetists intubate or take gases.

Changes: Australia has a 38-hour work week; for full time staff that means you work either 5 8-hour day shifts or 4 10-hour night shifts, with an extra, paid day off every month. In general all staff work all shifts, so you might have a PM, two AM's, a PM and another AM then days off, with a maximum of ten shifts in a row.

Nurses are expected to take blood, and most places (including the Alfred) offer cannulation courses.

You'll also be expected to give nebs and titrate O2, manage traches (suctioning, nebs, tape changes, inner cannula changes), set up and run humidified O2 via a Fisher & Paykel, manage CPAP for patients with OSA, and apply and monitor BiPAP. The good news here is that there are a variety of support staff to help you, especially in hours, including an ICU liaison nurse and the staff of the respiratory ward - the latter set up BiPAP and can help you troubleshoot CPAP and humidifiers, the former will know all ex-ICU and trached patients and are happy to run through practices.

I'd be surprised if you had anything like 12 weeks of orientation - where I work there are a couple of days of formal orientation off the ward, maybe a supernumerary day, and a shift or two with a preceptor, but I don't work on the Alfred's cardiology unit so things might be different there. The Alfred also has a Clinical Support and Development nurse for each ward, whose role is to support non-graduate staff.

The Alfred is certainly one of the most acute hospitals in Victoria and they have quite sick patients. They also have a younger-than-average nursing population and a strong emphasis on education. They're used to helping nurses from a variety of backgrounds transition to working in Australia - as long as you stay calm, are open to doing things differently, and keep an open mind about differences in practice and learning new skills you should be fine :)

A friend is currently in the process of moving back to the Alfred, where she did her graduate year, from Monash's cardiac unit, because she missed the autonomy and acuity.

Good luck and keep us posted :)

livv · Jul 13, 2010

Thank u so much. I will definately keep u posted. I have to be in oz by April 15th so i will start putting in applications at the end of the year. I cant wait to get there.

livv · Jul 14, 2010

Are there clinics that perform cardiac caths on an outpatient basis only in Melbourne. All patients go home after bedrest. In my hospital we have doctor's practices in the building and they have patients came in for a procedure and they are released at the end of the day. The patients recover in our heart center observation areas. Nurses that work there typically come in in the morning and close the area at the end of the day. If a patient develops complications they are moved to the cardiac units.

talaxandra · Jul 15, 2010

My cardiac experience is limited and quite old, but I'm pretty sure most of the hospitals that do cardi caths have an outpatient service similar to the one you described. You previously expressed interest in the Alfred, which has an associated heart centre that performs them (here's the patient information sheet); St Vincent's & Mercy has a strong cardiac program (here), as do Monash and RMH, and RCH do around 500 a year (but that includes inpatient figures).

For a description of the role in Australia click here.