Trainee Positions At Western Health

Western Health
Department of Neurology
176, Furlong Road
St Albans Vic 3021
Australia

VIC, 3021
Australia

Contact Details

Prof. Tissa Wijeratne
tissa.wijeratne@wh.org.au
Phone : (03) 8345 6070
www : http://www.westernhealth.org.au/Services/Neurology_and_Stroke/Pages/default.aspx

Positions

Training Positions : Two
Elective Training Positions : One
Fellowships : One

Core Position Descriptions
Twelve months in neurology and stroke. The workload is shared between five registrars: two advanced trainees; one BPT; and two advanced trainees in general medicine carrying out subspeciality training in neurology. The advanced trainees will rotate through three months of neurology, three months of stroke, three months of inpatient referrals at the Western campus and finally three months of focused neurophysiology. In addition there are four HMOs, one stroke intern and one or two neurology fellows . Inpatient work entails the management of over 2,000 patients admitted to the unit on an annual basis: About half of these patients have a variety of neurological disorders and the other half have stroke or TIA. There are multiple outpatient clinics: general neurology, acute neurology, stroke, TIA, first seizure, epilepsy, MS clinic and movement disorders. There are four weekly EMG sessions, three EEG reading sessions, and one inpatient video-EEG reporting session. The department holds weekly grand rounds, journal club, neuroradiology meeting and two audits. There is a weekly general medical grand round.

Elective Position Descriptions

Hospital Information

Western Health provides for a catchment of approximately 850,000 in the western suburbs of Melbourne. There are three public hospitals in the region. Sunshine Hospital, where most of the major medical subspecialties including Neurology are located, is a teaching facility for the University of Melbourne. There are two associated referring hospitals: Western Hospital, which has a busy Emergency Department, and Williamstown Hospital. The Clinical School for the University of Melbourne in the west is located at Sunshine Hospital. Western Hospital has state of the art imaging facilities and utilizes Neuropathology Services at Melbourne Health. There is a neurosurgical unit on site.

Department Beds :
25 including four acute stroke beds.

Department Clinics
Neurology and Acute Neurology.

Department Specialty Clinics
TIA. First Seizure. Epilepsy. Movement Disorders. Stroke. EMG, EEG.

Department Meetings
Weekly neurology meeting at Sunshine Hospital on Tuesday.
Weekly journal club at Sunshine Hospital on Tuesday.
Weekly neurology meeting at Royal Melbourne Hospital on Wednesday morning.
Weekly neuroradiology meeting on Friday.
Twice weekly neurology audit: Tuesday and Friday.
Four weekly NCS/EMG teaching sessions on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Three weekly EEG teaching and reading sessions.
One weekly inpatient video-EEG telemetry meeting.

Department Staff
Department Staff

Prof Tissa Wijeratne. Head, Department of Neurology & Stroke Service . Special interest: Stroke , headache medicine , Movements disorders, education and research
Dr Victor Chong. Special interest: Multiple Sclerosis, CNS infections.
A/Prof Zelko Matkovic. Special interest: Epilepsy
Dr Hans Tu. Special interest: Stroke, general neurology
Dr Simon Li. Special interest: Neurophysiology and Epilepsy
Dr Simon Sung. Special interest: Movement Disorders.
Dr Abhishek Malhotra: Special interest: Neurophysiology.
Dr Sujith Ayyappan: Special interest; Neurophysiology
Dr Martin Short: Special interest;Multiple Sclerosis, neurophysiology
Dr Nyan Lynn: Special interest; Neurophysiology
Dr Kar Yan Lo: General neurology, Education & Training
Dr Cynthia Chen. Special interest: General neurology & Epilepsy

Junior Staff Positions In Neurology
Two advanced trainees in neurology. Two advanced tainees in General Medicine on rotation to Neurology. One Basic Physician Trainee on rotation to Neurology. Four HMOs (2nd or 3rd year graduates). One Stroke Intern One or two Neurology Fellows.

Trainee Responsibilities
Organising inpatient admissions, supervision of HMOs in the care of inpatients, attending outpatients, review of patients referred to the neurology unit, undertaking neurophysiology investigations under consultant supervision (four sessions per week), reading EEGs with consultant supervision, regular presentations at the Western Health neurology grand round and attendance at the at RMH weekly neurology grand round, participating in clinical trials, and attending multidisciplinary ward meetings with allied health staff.
The trainee is encouraged to attend relevant courses and meetings in Melbourne and elsewhere in Australia.
On call for Neurology: one in five.

Selection Criteria
As outlined by the ANZAN and RACP.

Philosophy Of Training

Neurology Training In State
Attendance of brain school activities on a Thursday morning and by video-conference link once per month on a Wednesday afternoon.

Other Information
There is an active neuroscience research program in our department. Our head of the department Prof. Tissa Wijeratne is also the current director, Academic Medicine, University Department of Medicine ,University of Melbourne, Sunshine Hospital, St Albans . The academic department facilitate and encourage prospective trainees to take up a higher degree within the department of Medicine ( Stroke, multiple sclerosis, neuro ophthalmology with strong collaboration with Department of Neurosciences, La Trobe University & Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne ). If you are interested in pursuing a higher research degree in neurology , contact our academic coordinator aloka.carbone@unimelb.edu.au ( tele: 61-3-83958119) .

Further Online Information
http://www.westernhealth.org.au/Services/Neurology_and_Stroke/Pages/Key-Contacts.aspx