The Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) Emergency Department (ED) treats approximately 58,000 adult patients a year. It is the second busiest Adult Emergency Departments in Australia and treats the largest number of trauma patients in Western Australia.
The department workload can be heavy and the pace is unpredictable offering a potentially challenging and personally rewarding nursing career. Experience can be gained in a range of areas: ie, handling multiple trauma victims and cardiac arrests, dealing with patients with behavioural disturbances, undertaking relatively simple tasks such as bandaging and sling applications, managing challenging incidents.
The variety of presenting complaints, combined with the volume of patients, enable nursing staff at RPH to develop a wide range of skills. The skills that you will gain from working in the Emergency Department, in particular the emergency assessment skills, will be beneficial to any areas you choose to work in future.
The Department offers comprehensive education in Emergency Nursing. This includes postgraduate in the Emergency nursing stream of critical care nursing. This program is coordinated jointly through Royal Perth Hospital and Edith Cowan University.
The Emergency Department has a well-structured orientation program, which includes role development throughout different areas of the department. You will gain a wide variety of skills including manual defibrillation, CPAP, cardiac monitoring, and regional blocks. The staff are friendly and supportive, and keen to share their experience through preceptorship.
For further information or to apply directly, please contact the Emergency Department Nurse Manager:
Wendy Barker - Nurse Manager
T: (08) 9224 8763, page 2048
F: (08) 9224 7045
P: GPO Box X2213, Perth WA 6847
E: wendy.barker@health.wa.gov.au
