North Central Thames Foundation School (NCTFS)
Individual Placement Description - Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Placement
The department
The type of work to
expect and
learning
opportunities
Location
Supervisor(s)
Main duties of the
placement
Typical working
pattern in this
placement
Employer
information
F1 Cardiology
Cardiology
The Coronary Care Unit has a 13 bed ward with 6 beds for patients with acute cardiac
complications. The L&D also has a state of the art Cardiac Centre, consisting of a 9 bed day
unit which provides Diagnostic Angiography, a Cardiac Pacing Service and Specialist Echo
Examinations. The placement provides a large amount of exposure to patients with Coronary
Heart Disease, including clinical syndromes such as Angina and Myocardial Infarction.
Trainees will be responsible for the day to day medical management of patients within the
department, with support from other members of the team. Trainees will gain experience in
performing procedures such; interpreting echocardiograms, 24 hour ECG monitoring, event
recording and 24 hour blood pressure monitoring.
Luton and Dunstable- Coronary Care Unit
Trainees will be allocated an appropriate Clinical Supervisor
 Preparing for morning ward rounds and running them if necessary
 During the course of the ward round you will be expected to have already or at the
time pull up relevant blood/imaging results and request any that are needed
 Telephone calls or direct discussion with relevant departments both internally –
radiology/microbiology and externally – other hospitals will be needed.
 Discussions with patients and their families will be undertaken throughout the day and
paperwork – transfer letters and TTAs take up a large proportion of time.
 Before completing the days work, current blood results need to be reviewed, and if
necessary requested for the following day.
 Insulin and warfarin must be prescribed and drug charts rewritten. These are daily
tasks but bear in mind looking after extremely unwell patients on the ward is a priority
and takes place in addition to the above named tasks. You must also make time for
departmental meetings as well as death certification and verification when required.
Coronary Care Unit
Mon:
WR am, Outlier WR,
Medical Meeting 1400 – 1500,
Team in clinic pm
Tues:
WR am, Outlier WR,
Grand Round 1400 – 1500,
Team in clinic pm
Wed:
WR am, Outlier WR,
PPM list pm
Thurs:
WR am, Outlier WR,
Team in clinic pm
Fri:
WR am, Outlier WR,
Team available pm
Across all rotations – there are on-calls:
Mon-Fri:
0900 – 2200 – 0900 – 1600 base wards – 1600 – 2200 EAU clerking
0900 – 2200 EAU clerking (to be confirmed)
Sat/Sun:
0900 – 2200 – Ward cover weekends
(Jobs, review of sick patients)
Sat/Sun:
0830 – 1600 – Weekend ward cover
(EAU post take ward round, jobs, clerking)
Nights:
2030 – 0900 – Fri-Sun or Mon-Thurs
(covering 12 medical wards, ward jobs, unwell patients etc.)
Rotas:
F1 ward based rota is a 1:20 full-shift rota.
The employer for this post is Luton & Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust which is a
highly rated acute hospital located conveniently close to major hubs in South Bedfordshire.
We serve a local population of over 350,000 from Luton, Dunstable, together with other towns
and villages in the South Bedfordshire & North Hertfordshire region. About 30% of Luton’s
population are from cultural and ethnic minority backgrounds and this coupled with the high
deprivation found in Luton means our local population display diseases and conditions which
are more usually associated with those of an inner city area.
It is important to note that this description is a typical example of your placement and may be subject
to change.