ANNUAL REVIEW 2004 - St Vincent's University Hospital

Department of Respiratory Medicine
Departmental Review
Activity
Inpatient Admissions 408
Discharges 378
St. Michael’s Hospital Admissions 384
Out-Patient Acitivities
New Return Total
Prof. McNicholas
Tuesday (Respiratory) 314 1022 1336
Wednesday (Sleep apnoea) 0 357 357
Dr. McDonnell
SVUH (Resp) 57 375 432
SVUH (TB) 149 683 832
SMH 68 712 880
Pulmonary Function Laboratory
Total Patients: 3138
Total tests: 6061
Sleep Laboratory
Total Admissions: 524
CPAP commencements: 159
Service Developments
Plans were developed during 2004 to establish a 6-bedded acute non-invasive facility
in St. John’s Ward, which is expected to come into operation in the first half of 2005.
This facility will significantly improve the level of care for medical patients in acute
respiratory failure requiring non-invasive ventilation.
Pulmonary Function and Sleep Laboratory
Three 8-week student placements were accommodated from DIT in the clinical
measurement degree course. All technicians attended the Irish Thoracic Society
meeting in Cork and two technicians attended the British Thoracic Society meeting in
London. Technicians from St.Vincent’s University Hospital provide Pulmonary Function
testing service two days per week in St. Michael’s Hospital. In St. Michael’s a total of
449 patients had 750 tests.
The Sleep Research Laboratory continues a varied clinical and basic science research
programme that has been evolving over several years. Ongoing collaboration exists
with the research group of Dr. Cormac Taylor in the Conway Institute at UCD and the
Department of Electronic and Electrical
Engineering (Dr. Conor Heneghan and Prof.
Mark O’Malley), also in UCD, in addition to
the Department of Physiology, R.C.S.I. (Dr.
Aidan Bradford).
Respiratory Education Centre
The Respiratory Education Centre received
a total of 1800 consults during 2004, 650 of
these were out-patients. Deirdre Donaghy,
Patricia Jones and Lindsay Brown successfully
completed a distance learning non-invasive
ventilation module through University
Hospital Aintree in Liverpool. Policy
development has been this year’s focus.
The nebuliser policy was updated. An
extensive tracheostomy care policy was
devised collaboratively. Respiratory Nurse
Specialists continue to devise audit tools to
evaluate service provision, policy
implementation and patient satisfaction.
On World COPD Day, 96 people visited
the stall set up on the hospital concourse
and educational support was well received.
World Asthma Day was similarly promoted
and well received.
St. Michael’s Hospital.
The COPD Unit in St. Michael’s Hospital
continues to be busy accepting patients
directly from the Emergency Department
in St. Vincent’s University Hospital when
appropriate. The Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Unit also remains very active with a total of
81 new patients to the programme in 2004,
with reviews carried out on 2,452 patients.
This represented a significant increase in
activity over the preceding year. The
patients are primarily referred from the
respiratory services in St. Vincent’s
University Hospital as well as patients from
St. Michael’s Hospital. In addition to patients
with COPD, a significant number of patients
136
St Vincent’s Healthcare Group