Operating Theatre Suite

The operating theatre suite consists of 5 operating theatres located on the lower ground level of the Peter Howsen Wing. The department has recently been refurbished to provide a more efficient patient flow and to improve staff facilities.

The department treats over 7,000 elective and emergency cases per annum. The specialties covered include Otology, Cochlear Implantation, Rhinology, Head & Neck, General Ophthalmology, Ocular Plastics, Oncology, Ocular Motor, Corneal, & Vitreo Retinal surgery.

Our elective surgery service operates between the hours of 0830 - 1700 Monday to Friday, whilst emergency surgery cover is provided 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.

In addition to our East Melbourne site the operating theatre suite provides nursing and support staff to our external spoke services, located at Broadmeadows and Maroondah. This service allows highly specialised staff from our East Melbourne site to share their skills with other healthcare professionals in the community.

Our Anaesthetic nursing division provides anaesthetic support to the radiology department by Anaesthetising children to assist with pre-operative CT scanning prior to cochlear implant surgery.

Our mix of surgery is approximately 70% ophthalmology and 30% ENT. Of our total throughput we average 10% paediatric cases.

The Sterilising Services Department provides sterile processing services to all areas within the East Melbourne Eye & Ear site and our external spoke services. This represents instrument processing for over 12,500 operations per annum performed in the 5 operating theatres and 3 day surgery theatres, and our 3 external theatres located at our spokes. In addition to this the department processes instruments for the Emergency department, Outpatients clinics and wards.  All practices within the sterilising services department are compliant with relevant government legislation, in particular AS4187.

Major projects carried out have included the refurbishment and ongoing upgrade of the operating theatres. Implementation of real-time patient treatment documentation via our patient management system PiMS. A joint project to implement a computerised tracking system. Successful completion of this will position our departments as some of the most technologically advanced operating theatres within Australia.

Recent review of the management structure has provided the opportunity for restructure to provide a more cohesive and coordinated approach to managing both physical and human resources within the departments.

The departments employ in excess of 65 nursing and support staff. The management team consists of 4 Associate Unit Managers of the following specialties: Anaesthetics, Vitreo Retinal Surgery/General Ophthalmology, Specialised Ophthalmology, & ENT Services. Clinical Care Coordinator, Manager Sterilising Services, Educator Anaesthetics/PACU, Educator Surgical. These positions report to the Perioperative Services Manager, who in turn reports to the Chief Nursing Officer & Director of Surgical Services.

The departments take an active approach to ongoing education and holds a firm commitment to change management based on evidence based practice. The team is supportive and actively participates in education and support for new and existing staff members.

The unit provides an excellent education service to both internal and external clients. With DHS support we have successfully completed Perioperative Refresher Programs to assist nurses returning to the operating theatre. We also provide undergraduate, post-graduate, and international trainee orientation and training in the area of perioperative nursing and are actively involved in the hospitals graduate nurse program.

For further information or to discuss employment opportunities please contact:
Marc Foley, Perioperative Services Manager