JOB DESCRIPTION

General Medical Physician –with sub speciality interest

Department of Medicine

Position Title: / General Physician –with sub speciality training
Organisation Unit: / Medicine, health of Older People, Emergency & Clinical Support
Location: / WhangareiHospital, Northland District Health Board
Responsible to: / Clinical Head of Department, Department of Medicine, Northland District Health Board
Primary Functions of the Position: /
  1. To provide general medical care bothinpatients and outpatients for the medical service in Northland
  2. To provide clinical service and direction in a subspecialty area

Functional Relationships

The Physician will develop and maintain excellent relationships with:

Internal / External
  • Clinical Head of Department (CHOD)
  • Other physicians
  • Clinical Nurse managers and other senior nurses of the medical service
  • Senior Medical staff employed by NDHB
  • Registrars and House Officers
  • Chief Medical Officer
  • General Manager
  • RegionalHospital services
  • Other WhangareiHospital services
/
  • Patients and family/whanau
  • GPs
  • Tertiary specialists and referral hospitals
  • Relevant community agencies

Key Responsibilities and Expected Outcomes

Northland District Health Board has established a set of values by which the organisation will respond, in part, to achieving its goals and objectives through their workforce. The following Values and supporting statements are expected behaviours of each individual employed with NDHB:

Values / Supporting Statement
People First
Tangata I te tuatahi / People are central to all we do
Respect
Whakaute (tuku mana) / We treat others as we would like to be treated
Caring
Manaaki / We nurture those around us, and treat all with dignity and compassion
Communication
Whakawhitiwhiti korero / We communicate safely, openly and with respect to promote clear understanding
Excellence
Taumata teitei (hirangi) / Our attitude of excellence inspires success, competence, confidence and innovation

The position of Physician encompasses the following major functions or key result areas:

  • In collaboration with other physicians to provide inpatient and outpatient general medical services for Northland, including acute 24 hour care and follow-up patient management
  • In collaboration with the CHOD and other physicians
  • In consultation with Clinical Director and CHOD ensure that knowledge and skills development is ongoing and up to date with current trends
  • In conjunction with CHOD,CD and General Manager (GM), contribute to the successful management and service planning and development of the medical service of Northland
  • Treaty of Waitangi
  • Health and Safety

The outcome requirements of the above key responsibility areas are outlined below:

Key Responsibility Area / Expected Outcomes
In collaboration with other physicians to provide inpatient and outpatient general medical services for Northland, including acute 24 hour care and follow-up patient management /
  • Participate in on call roster, attending urgent admissions at WhangareiHospital as required
  • Be available for telephone consultation from GPs, other hospitals, junior medical staff and other services, during both normal hours of work and while on call.
  • Perform regular ward rounds when on call (daily on weekends and public holidays)
  • Discuss patients with multi-disciplinary team and refer patients to tertiary services as appropriate
  • Perform regular routine ward rounds with junior medical staff and the multi-disciplinary team of the ward reviewing the progress, management and discharge plans of inpatients admitted under your care.
  • Be available to discuss and/or see patients as required at other times.
  • Attend to referrals from other wards/services as necessary.
  • Participate in multi-disciplinary ward team meetings to establish goals, review progress, management and develop discharge plans.
  • Ensure handover of information regarding patients of concern to on-call medical team.
  • Delegate tasks and responsibilities to junior doctors as appropriate to their level of skill and supervise their work.
  • Perform regular outpatient clinics at hospital sites around Northland.

In collaboration with the CHOD and other physicians /
  • Liaise regularly with tertiary referral services regarding aspects of patient care and for education purposes.
  • Accept outpatient referrals for new and follow-up patients, as part of the outpatient service for Northland Health.
  • Provide regional visiting service to other peripheral sites, seeing outpatients and inpatient referrals.
  • To set and maintain high quality standards of care for inpatient and outpatient care.
  • Ensure all documentation and processes are clearand meet the regulations of Northland Health.

In consultation with Clinical Director (CD) and CHOD ensure that knowledge and skills development is ongoing and up to date with current trends /
  • Develop and maintain personal professional practice in accordance with RACP Maintenance of professional standards, legislative requirements, policies and guidelines (or equivalent).
  • Peer group supervision/networking is undertaken on a regular basis.
  • Participate in the provision of supervision and training for the Registrars and House surgeons, nursing staff and allied health professionals in the Inpatient and Outpatient services, community groups and agencies.
  • Be involved in performance management which reflects the current environment and which is reviewed at least once annually.
  • In accordance with Service delivery priorities develop special area of expertise consistent with own professional discipline and interests, and thereby act as a resource person for the Service.

In conjunction with CHOD,CD and General Manager (GM), contribute to the successful management and service planning and development of the medical service of Northland /
  • Develop liaison with tertiary referral hospital and tertiary specialists.
  • Contribute to the planning and provision of Medical Service in Northland.
  • Attend planning or management meetings as requested.
  • Prepare reports as required.
  • Provide direction, both written and verbal, to ensure safe management and where necessary, develop written guidelines.

Treaty of Waitangi /
  • Contribute to the promotion of the principles of Treaty of Waitangi and the involvement if Maori within the decision making process for their health and independence, within District Health Board management processes and procedures
  • Include the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi within all aspects of the role and its outcomes
  • Ensure that consultation and engagement processes include appropriate mechanisms to meet the need of Maori in a culturally appropriate and safe manner
  • Attend the Northland District Health Board Treaty of Waitangi Training

Key Responsibility Area / Expected Outcomes
Health & Safety /
  • Ensure compliance with designated responsibilities detailed in Northland District Health Board’s Health and Safety Policy
  • Promote an environment of physical, occupational, cultural, ethical and legal safety
  • Observe safe work practices, rules and instructions relating to work, and be pro-active in hazard management
  • Willingly co-operate in the achievement of all health and safety goals and initiatives by:
Practicing and observing safe work methods;
The use of safety equipment;
Reporting unsafe conditions or equipment; and
Reporting and documenting all accidents or incidents
  • Attend Good Stuff Day annually

Variation of Duties

Duties and responsibilities described above should not be construed as a complete and exhaustive list as it is not the intention to limit in any way the scope or functions of the position. Duties and responsibilities can be amended from time to time either by additional, deletion or straight amendment by the General Manager Clinical Services to meet any changing conditions, however this will only be done in consultation with the employee.

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications
Essential / Desirable
  • Primary medical qualification eligible for full registration with the Medical Council of New Zealand (conditional or temporary registration may be acceptable under certain circumstances)
  • Specialist post-graduate qualification eligible for registration on the Vocational register with the Medical Council of New Zealand. This qualification must be in the general field of internal medicine (FRACP) (recognisable other specialist qualifications may be acceptable in certain situations).
  • Current Drivers License – valid for New Zealand
  • Qualify to undergo “Maintenance of Profession Standards” requirements of the RACP

Experience
Essential / Desirable
  • Specialist post-graduate qualification eligible for registration on the Vocational register with the Medical Council of New Zealand. This qualification must be in the general field of internal medicine (FRACP) (recognisable other specialist qualifications may be acceptable in certain situations).

Awareness and Understanding of
Essential / Desirable
  • The Treaty of Waitangi and its application to the health setting
  • Privacy Act (1993) and Health Information Privacy Code (1994)
  • Health and Safety in Employment Act (1992)
/
  • Health and Disability Commissioner (Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights) Regulations (1996)
  • New Zealand Council of Healthcare Standards

Skills & Personal Attributes
Skills
  • Developed interpersonal skills
  • Excellent written and verbal communications skills
  • Ability to balance competing priorities
  • Good time management skills
  • A high standard of written and oral communication
  • Ability to initiate and facilitate open communication

Personal Attributes
  • Ability to be flexible. versatile and open to change
  • Must be a team player
  • Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team
  • A high standard of personal presentation
  • The ability to work autonomously and harmoniously within a multi-disciplinary team.
  • Diplomatic & approachable

Performance Development Review

An initial review of performance will be conducted after three months, with an annual review thereafter.

An individual Development Plan will be developed to reflect the contribution this position is expected to make towards achieving the team’s objectives and measures. Key result areas will be developed and agreed at this time.

Authorised by:
Manager:
Date:

Acceptance

Acceptance of the position implies acceptance of this position description.

Position Title:
Signature of employee:
Date:

Job Summary

The appointee will be expected to provide Medical services within Northland as well as sharing the acute medicine on-call with the other physicians. When rostered to the wards, the appointee will have a registrar and house physician. He/She will have an office with computer/IT access to the patient administration system/laboratory, and radiological PACS. The wards have wireless computer access facilitating the ward rounds and electronic discharge summaries. Administrative support is provided by a pool of typists and a Divisional secretary. The duties of the post will be based upon 10 programmed activities (PAs), loosely comprising of:

7 Direct Clinical care PAs

  • Outpatient sessions
  • Wards Rounds
  • Specialty Operative sessions
  • Patient Administration
  • On-call

3 Supporting Clinical Activities

  • Teaching/Training
  • Continuing Professional Development/CME
  • Research
  • Management

The Department of Medicine

The Medical Division provides Acute Medicine care as well as outpatient/non-acute/elective inpatient care to the population of Northland. In-house we cover a range of subspecialties including Cardiology, Renal/dialysis, Diabetes and Care of the Elderly, Respiratory Medicine,Oncology, endoscopy, hepatitis and nerve conduction studies. We periodically have visiting specialists/teams contracted from Auckland and Middlemore Hospitals covering Neurology, Pacemaker follow-up, complex Cardiology, Rheumatology, Oncology, Haematology, Immunology and Dermatology.

The Division currently has 52 acute medical beds on two wards and 5 CCU beds. Bed-occupancy rates are very high. The CCU is run as a co-operative with the on-call physicians retaining ownership of patients and treating according to standardised and agreed guidelines. There is a rehabilitation ward which incorporates the 4-bedded stroke unit. The 10-bed ICU is run by the intensivists/anaesthetists.

The outpatient workload is also increasing. In addition to clinics at Whangarei, we provide regular specialist visiting services to the three regional hospitals. Most are accessed by road, but Kaitaia involves a 40 minute flight from WhangareiAirport. All specialists are required to participate in these important services

The medical service has five teams of two physicians with registrars and house officers allocated to each team. The registrar and house physician posts are recognised for training by the RACP. The physiciansin each team work a roster of 5 weeks on the wards covering acute medicine followed by 5 weeks of mainly outpatient clinic and visiting clinical responsibilities.

The renal service is comprised of 5 specialists, 1 registrar and 1 house officer. The main dialysis unit is at WhangareiHospital with one satellite unit at bay of Islands Hospital and a second satellite unit due to open at KaitaiaHospital in 2010.

Teaching and Training

We are committed to providing teaching and training to the junior staff. The Medical Division has daily junior doctor presentations and a Wednesday morning Grand Round. Journal club, dedicated house physician teaching, and Hospital Grand Rounds occur weekly. You will be expected to actively participate in these sessions.

Support Services

The Radiology department provides ultrasound, plain radiography, invasive diagnostic imaging, CT and MRI. PACS is available at all NDHB hospitals.

There is a full on-site laboratory with on-site pathologists plus laboratories at each of the regional hospitals

We have an excellent new library which has over 100 hard copy journal subscriptions and widespread electronic media availability.

Hospital-wide electronic information capability is available in all wards and clinic rooms.