Home St Vincent's Hospital Working at St Vincent's Featured Role

 

Physiotherapist Angela talks about her role as a
Pulmonary Rehabilitation Co-Ordinator

 

On a typical day, I come in to the office, catch up on emails, phone calls, send referrals out and assess patients. I conduct the exercise classes two days a week, go to the wards to see patients and visit patients at home, if they are unable to come to the hospital classes. The patients are often complex, so there is a strong need to talk to the patients and the team to sort out any issues that they may have. There is always something to do, which is great.
 

I finished my Degree in Physiotherapy at The University of Sydney and liked the challenge of coming to a large hospital. We are involved in many of the respiratory societies, attend their meetings and I enjoy the chance to share knowledge and to meet other people in our field. This helps to provide a greater understanding of other services and the latest research to continually develop our program.

 

 

 

As the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Co-ordinator, my role involves a mix of clinical and non-clinical work. Overall, the position is based around referrals collected from the hospital, general practitioners, specialists, allied health and from patients themselves. I then assess the suitability of the patient for our rehabilitation program. In addition, I set up and co-ordinate the pulmonary rehabilitation exercise classes, which are run two days a week, each class lasts for an hour and there are usually 10 to 12 patients. We also run weekly education sessions for patients on a wide range of topics relevant to their disease. These sessions are delivered by different members of the allied health team.

 

When the need arises, I refer patients to other disciplines in allied health. Core to my role is helping people to self-manage their chronic lung disease, such as emphysema, asthma and interstitial pulmonary fibrosis. We set goals with the patient at the start of the program, and work towards these. For this outcome, the role entails a lot of communication between myself and other health professionals.

 

I have been in the role since December. Prior to this, I was a Grade One Rotating Physiotherapist here for three years. I love working in rehabilitation, it is so rewarding and I knew this role would be a great opportunity. I work closely with the Respiratory Clinical Nurse Consultant, the Respiratory Occupational Therapist and the Physiotherapy Manager. I am part of the Physiotherapy Department as well as the Respiratory Chronic Care Service.

 

Visit our job board to view current vacancies, or simply to register your profile online for job alerts matching your experience. If we post a position matching your skills you will be notified by email.