What is General Medicine?
General Medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and nonsurgical treatment of diseases affecting the internal organs of the body in adults.
Specialists in this field are called specialist general physicians. They are doctors who have trained in various specialties such as diseases of the heart, lungs, brain and other organs. Often people have more than one part of the body involved in an illness or the exact cause of symptoms is not clear. The General Physician is an expert in diagnosing what is wrong and managing illnesses that are complex.
General Medicine at Auckland City Hospital sees approximately 13,000 patients every year.
The General Medical Team
This consists of the consultant (the specialist general physician), the registrar (a doctor who is training to be a specialist) and a house officer (a doctor in training who is more junior than the registrar but is a qualified doctor). Sometimes, as part of the team, there are trainee interns who are medical students who have yet to pass their final exam but are gaining practical experience. More junior medical students may also accompany this team.
The outpatient service is provided by our consultants and registrars within our outpatient clinics on Level 6 of the Support Building.
Click here for directions to the outpatient clinics. The doctor will examine you and ask questions about your symptoms, previous illnesses, medications, and your situation, to get helpful information to diagnose what is causing the illness. The doctor will refer you to other specialists and for tests or treatments as needed.
The inpatient service is provided by our four wards – Ward 65, 66, 67 and 68 located on Level 6 of Auckland City Hospital. Each ward has a charge nurse who is responsible for the patient care in the ward.
Inpatient service is provided to patients who:
- require treatment that cannot be undertaken at home (this may include medication given into a vein, "IV drip")
- need investigations that are best carried out while staying in hospital
- are too unwell to manage at home.
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Inpatient service
If you suddenly become unwell and need to be admitted to hospital with a medical rather than a surgical problem, you will most likely be seen by the General Medical team (see above)...
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Outpatient service
If your GP wants advice about the diagnosis or management of an illness, he/she may refer you to this clinic. Your referral is given priority depending on the information in the referral letter. It is important that, if your condition worsens while waiting to be seen, you revisit your GP...
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New Zealand citizens or people who have obtained permanent residence are entitled to free health care.
Persons not ordinarily resident in New Zealand will be required to pay the full cost of their treatment. If you are a Non New Zealand Resident, or not born in New Zealand, please bring your passport to your appointment.
Visiting hours in General Medicine are from 11am – 1pm, and then 3pm – 8pm. Please do not visit outside these times unless you have discussed it with the charge nurse. Our patients are often very unwell and we try and give them an opportunity to rest between 1pm and 3pm. While your relative may be happy to be disturbed at this time other patients within the ward require a rest period.
There is a maximum of two visitors at a time at the bedside.
Whanau/family rooms are available on each ward, except during the busy winter months. We ask that visitors are considerate of other patients and keep noise levels low when visiting and supervise children at all times. Unwell visitors or young children should refrain from visiting. In special circumstances one visitor may stay overnight, usually in the whanau/family room, after discussion with the charge nurse.
There is a seating area on Level 6 outside the chapel/quiet room if your family would like to meet there.
Tea and coffee making facilities are available for patients on the ward and you are welcome to help yourself.
If you are being admitted to hospital do not bring valuables with you. While we do our best to keep your possessions safe you will need to be responsible for looking after them.
If you arrive in hospital acutely we strongly recommend you either send valuables home with a relative or friend or ask the nurses to have them locked away with the cashier.
We are unable to take responsibility for 'lost' or damaged items.
Inpatients
Approximate meal times
Breakfast usually arrives between 8 and 8.30 am, lunch is usually delivered between midday – 1pm, and dinner between 5.30pm – 6.30pm. There is a tea and coffee service at set times throughout the day.
Telephone use
Unfortunately a telephone may not always be available. We ask that ward calls are kept short because the hospital is charged business rates. There are public pay phones available outside the wards. The mornings are a particularly busy time so if possible try and call after lunch when the ward is a little more settled.
AUCKLAND INAUGURAL GENERAL MEDICINE NURSING CONFERENCE 2009
Tena koutou katoa.
Welcome to the Inaugural General Medicine Nursing Conference information site on Healthpoint. A big thank you to all the delegates who attended, without you there would be no conference. It was a great chance to network, share ideas and catch up with old friends or colleagues.
We believe this conference was a first for NZ being both General Medicine Nursing and managing long term conditions. It was held in the Clinical Education Centre here at Auckland City Hospital with approximately 120 delegates attending from around the country. There were a multitude of speakers discussing ways to move forward in the management of Long Term Conditions, the likes of which nurses are very familiar with, and see on a daily basis. It was great to hear and see how well nursing is responding to this challenge, coming up with innovative ways in which to address the issues of managing long term conditions.
Chronic Disease Management must be in the forefront of our minds. Promotion of self management and goal setting for this population group through dialogue, effective planning and education is paramount.
We hope you took away some information, methods or ideas of interest to apply to your practice when caring for this patient population.
Perhaps at the next conference you may even like to present what you have implemented.
Until the next conference. Noho ora mai.
Please see below the list of presenters and their presentations:
| Yvette Baker, Stroke Service |
Transient Ischaemic Attack: Mountain or molehill? |
| Diane Hart, Respiratory |
Making a Difference as a Nurse Practitioner in Respiratory
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| Sandra Speedy / Chrissy Taylor, Renal Service |
Chronic Kidney Disease - Nurse Specialist Role |
| Lucy Meldrum, Palliative Care |
Liverpool Pathway Care Programme |
| Michele Lowe, Community HIV Team |
HIV and the Family Clinic |
| Christine Nicholas, Piki Te Ora Nursing Service |
Piki Te Ora Nursing Service |
| Jan Black, Diabetes |
COMING: Diabetes is Not Just Obesity |
| Jenny Littlewood, Practice Nurse |
Making the Difference |
| Chloe Eatson / Lisa Inman-Emery, Community Rehab Team |
Community Rehab Team |
| Jane Hannah, Heart Failure |
End Stage Heart Failure |
| Sonja Karon, Gerontology |
Managing Incontinence Within Chronic Diseases |
| Kate McCallum, TARPS – Chronic Pain |
Keeping the Patient Safe During Relaxation |
| Dr John Henley, General Physician |
COMING: Generalism to the Fore - A shared passion |
| Dr David Spriggs, Clinical Director, General Medicine |
Why Birthdays are Good for You – A Review of Ageing |
| Hilda Fa’asalele, Pacific Health |
COMING: The Parish Community Nurse |
| Karyn Scott, Admission Planning Unit |
Chronic Illness in the Acute Care Setting |
| Denise Thatcher, A+Links Home Health |
Community Transition for Older People |
| Jan Marshall, Smokefree |
The Elephant and ABC. A Smoking Tale |
| Anna Day, Infection Control |
Norovirus and its Effects |
| Joanne Agnew, Lecturer, School of Nursing, Auckland University |
Passion of Nursing |
