Video Transcript

Carissa - Hi, I'm Carissa and we're inside the Toowoomba Hospital today to give you a behind the scenes look at how a helping care for our communities. And I'm joined today by Dr. Alistair Hamilton, who's an emergency physician in the emergency department. So, Dr. Hamilton, thanks for joining us. Can you just start off by telling us a bit of what's a day in the life like for you here in the emergency department?

Dr Alistair Hamilton - Yes, sure. Every day working in the ED here is highly variable, but always busy. And that's what I love about my job. So to give an example, one minute you can be looking after a patient with a minor injury in the procedures area, for example, and then a few minutes later taking part in a multidisciplinary resuscitation. And looking after the wide range of patient presentations that we see here, including common presentations such as chest pain, abdominal pain, and so on.The job is very rewarding. I really enjoy it and it's very much a team based activity where we're all working for the best outcomes for our patients.

Carissa - Wonderful. And no one ever wants to end up in the emergency department. But if someone does. Can you explain the process from when they come through the doors? How are they prioritized?

Dr Alistair Hamilton - So all patients are triaged according to the Australasian Triage Scale, which is a nationally benchmarked triage process, and patients are given a triage category between one and five. A category one patient is a patient for life threatening condition who requires immediate concurrent assessment and treatment, and those patients would universally be seen immediately by staff in the appropriate treatment area.The majority of the higher acuity patients come by ambulance, as you can imagine. However, if a patient was to present directly to the wait room with a Category one presentation, they'd still be seen immediately and in the appropriate area. Category five patient at the other end of the spectrum would be a patient with a chronic or minor presenting issue, and then the other patients are triaged accordingly between that.

Carissa - So there's a lot of stuff that happens behind the scenes that people just wouldn't see when they're sitting in the waiting room.

Dr Alistair Hamilton - Yep, as I mentioned, the ED is always a busy place and we have a busy department and see many patients each day from the perspective of the patients waiting in the wait room. Absolutely. It might seem like it's taking a while to get seen on occasion. However, there's a lot happening behind the scenes where patients are getting treated throughout the department, and in addition, there’s ambulances continually arriving with with more patients.And because we have a good triaging process, patients are seen in the appropriate order.

Carissa - You all do such an amazing job. And we know that Toowoomba Hospital has had some of its busiest days on record recently. As I said, you know, the staff work so hard, are you proud to be a part of this team here?

Dr Alistair Hamilton - Absolutely. We have a fantastic team here in Toowoomba. You're right, the patient presentation numbers nationally in fact, have been at unprecedented levels. But everyone is pulling together, working really hard to deliver the best possible care to our patients and emergency medicine, one of the reasons I pursued a career in it is it is a team based activity. So from the nursing staff, medical staff and then all the support staff such as our Radiographers and laboratory technicians, we're all working together to look after our patients and deliver the best care possible.

Carissa - And you're not just an emergency physician in the emergency department. You also work with LifeFlight. Can you tell us a bit about that?

Dr Alistair Hamilton - That's right. So I'm retrieval physician with LifeFlight and work here locally at the Toowoomba base where again, we've got a fantastic team. The work at the LifeFlight helicopter base is a combination of inter hospital transfer work. So transporting patients from predominately smaller to larger centres based on their clinical need. And then approximately 20% pre-hospital work. So attending motor vehicle accidents, incidents on farms and the like to deliver medical care in the pre-hospital setting.

Carissa - And how well do LifeFlight and Toowoomba Hospital work together when that chopper does land here?

Dr Alistair Hamilton - We're really well integrated and communication is always excellent from the pre-hospital or IHT environment through to the emergency department and other teams involved in patient care. And we're really fortunate locally that we have several doctors through the hospital, through both the emergency department and the anaesthetic department who work for LifeFlight in the pre-hospital and retrieval setting as well.So we've got a very diverse skill mix, a diverse team and a team that works really well together for our patients.

Carissa - Can you tell us how long you've been working at Toowoomba Hospital?

Dr Alistair Hamilton - Yep. So I actually commenced my medical training here as an intern back in 2010 and completed emergency training in both Toowoomba and Brisbane and returned in 2018 and came back to Toowoomba because I found it a really rewarding place to work and to live and we've got a fantastic team that I enjoy working with in our ED.

Carissa - You must have seen a lot of patients over those years. I can imagine you develop quite a connection with them when you are caring for them as well.

Dr Alistair Hamilton - Absolutely. In our job, the clinical care is, of course, of the utmost importance. But the connection that you develop with patients and families is incredibly important as well. As you mentioned earlier, no one wants to come to the ED and we see people in illness in literally having the worst day of their lives. And it's a real privilege to be able to support them and make a human connection with them, delivering compassionate care and the highest possible standard of medical care as well.

Carissa - Beautiful. Well, on behalf of the community, thank you for everything that you do. And if you have any topics, ideas or questions that you'd like us to cover for the next video, be sure to let us know on our feedback form and we'll see you soon.