Coffs Harbour Nursing Life :: Working Life

A new Base Hospital at Coffs Harbour has recently  been completed costing $80.6m. The new hospital provides upgraded core services and enhanced services in the areas of mental health; aged care and rehabilitation and some clinical support services and primary and community care services.

Medical Unit
The 48 bed Medical Unit within the new Coffs Harbour Health Campus represents an amalgamation of the Acute Care Unit and the Medical Floor at the old site.  As such the Medical Unit provides a wide range of services to medical patients including rehabilitation, treatment of acute exacerbations of chronic illness and high dependency patients requiring cardiac monitoring. Located within the Medical and Therapeutic Care Centre the staff of the Medical Unit work closely with the Renal Unit, Cancer Services and the Aged Care Team to ensure the continuum of care for our patients is maintained.                                                     

 As with other areas of the new Campus the Medical Unit enjoys a very comfortable and attractive environment for its patients, visitors and staff.  Patients are able to access  sunny courtyards directly from their rooms and two large lounge rooms.  All rooms have ensuite bathrooms and feature televisions, telephones and electric beds with pressure relieving mattresses.  With 8 single rooms the Unit is able to support private patients.

The Medical Unit is staffed with 30 full-time equivalent (FTE) Registered Nurses, 10FTE Enrolled Nurses, two Nurse Unit Managers (levels 1 and 3), a part-time Clinical Nurse Educator, a full time Medical Registrar, 2 ward clerks providing support after hours and a full time Surgical Dresser. A full time Discharge Planner works closely with the staff, patients and families to ensure appropriate arrangements are made for patients after discharge.

Coffs Harbour Critical Care Unit is a combined intensive care unit and coronary care unit. It consists of 5 intensive care beds, four of which are ventilated. Intensive care is a level II (JFICM) generalist unit and patients include both medical, surgical and trauma. We provide a retrieval service within the network including Macksville, Bellingen, Dorrigo and Grafton. The ICU also provides the Medical Emergency Team for the Coffs Harbour Health Campus. Our intensive care unit is equipped with latest Puritan Bennett ventilators, BiPAP Visions and Prisma dialysis machines. The ICU is supported by a full-time Intensivist and 24 hour consultant medical officer coverage.

The Coronary Care unit has a well established Cardiac Rehab Service and is supported by a Exercise Stress Testing Service, Cardiac Echo Service, a Cardiologist and in the near future a Cardiac Catheter Lab.Nursing staff are supported by a Clinical Nurse Educator, Clinical Nurse Specialists and a pro-active Allied Health team. Flexible work practices are encouraged. Research and quality improvement are actively endorsed. Currently the unit is involved in a number of nursing and clinical research projects, and commitment to quality improvement is ongoing. This dynamic Critical Care Unit has progressed significantly over the past 3 years and is continuing to do so.

Hydrotherapy Pool
The hospital has a new Hydrotherapy Pool in a light, airy setting.  The pool is air-conditioned to enhance patient comfort and is used by the Physiotherapy Department on a daily basis for inpatient and outpatient treatment as well as being utilised by other community groups such as CHERP, Asthma Association, Arthritis Foundation and Diabetes Australia.It provides water wheelchair for access into the pool by less able clients.

The Emergency Department can, if requested, provide a retrieval service to other hospitals/roadside. The Emergency Department also have a team that can be mobilised  for local or out of area disaster response.

Services within this department include:

• 2 monitored resuscitation rooms with capabilities for ventilation
  
• 9 monitored beds and 5 non-monitored beds in the main area.
  
• 3 consulting rooms, one of which has an Ensuite
  
• 1 multipurpose room which can be used for seclusion of mentally ill patients
  
• 1 eye examination room,
  
• 1 plaster room and
  
• 1 procedure room

Medical Imaging
Medical Imaging is situated behind the Emergency Department and is directly accessible to the ED. Services are provided within the department and via mobile imaging throughout the campus as required. 

Paediatric Unit (Children's Ward)

The Paediatric Unit has 16 spaces, each with room for a parent to stay overnight next to their child.  The unit also features two, two-bed Adolescent Rooms, with their own lounge area, a children"s playroom and a parent’s lounge equipped with beverage facilities.

The unit has it’s own specially designed outdoor playground for the use of patients, a tutorial room for the education of staff and a large procedure room so children can be treated within the same clinical area should the need arise

Day Surgery Unit (DSU)

This unit has the capacity 10 chairs and six beds and is situated close to the pre-admission theatre and adjacent to the operating theatres and Recovery Unit. All patients undergoing elective surgery are admitted through DSU. Additional procedures undertaken include: Blood transfusions, Intragam infusions, BCG instillations, Bone marrow biopsies, Lumbar punctures, Venesection Injections of IV methyl prednisalone, and injections of IV pentadamine Other procedures as requested and booked for out-patients by their GPs.

Surgical Unit

This is currently a 34 bed surgical unit but has the capacity to expand to 48 beds and is situated on the first level behind the Intensive Care Unit. Within this unit there are eight single rooms, four monitored high dependency beds and a procedure room. All the beds in this unit are electric which assists patients to manage comfort as well as assisting staff adjust the height of beds. An Early Discharge Service is attached to Surgical Unit and manages patients going home early following surgery and requiring IV antibiotics, dressings and wound management and follow-up.

Birthing Unit
There are four Birthing Suites which open onto their own courtyard.  All have en-suite facilities for the woman and her partner, including a shower and a deep spa-sized bath. 

Special Care Nursery
The Special Care Nursery has eight spaces for cots, six for babies in humidicribs and two high dependency clinical areas.  Each cot has a separate bathing area. Within the Special Care Nursery is a private feeding room for the comfort of the mother and her neonate.

Maternity Unit
In the Maternity Unit there are single and double rooms, all with electrically adjustable beds and en-suite bathrooms. The Maternity Unit opens onto a landscaped courtyard with its own children’s playground for the entertainment of siblings visiting the new arrival.

A special feature of the ward are the two family rooms designed to aid parents who need professional support in the development of the skills needed to care for their baby at home.