NW Thames Foundation School
Individual Placement Description
Placement
F1 Respiratory and General Internal Medicine
The department
The department has a mixture of clinicians, academics,
nurse specialists, specialist physiotherapists,
Respiratory physiologists and administrative staff who
work closely together. There are close links with the
Infectious disease/HIV team and with the radiology,
microbiology, histopathology and cytology departments.
The hospital is part of the wider Imperial College
Healthcare NHS Trust along with the Hammersmith
Hospital and Charing Cross Hospital. Some services
operate across all sites and there are close links
between the Respiratory physicians within the trust.
There are 5 Consultant Chest physicians who lead the
acute respiratory and general medical inpatient teams
Trust & Site
St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS
Trust - mainly Manvers Ward and Rodney Porter Ward.
The type of work to
expect and learning
opportunities
There are two inpatient Respiratory teams, together
forming one of five medical firms who participate in the
acute medical take and manage admitted patients.
Both teams manage patients with acute and chronic
respiratory disease along with patients with general
medical problems. Team A takes responsibility for
inpatients with confirmed or suspected lung cancer and
Team B, takes responsibility for inpatients with
confirmed or suspected TB.
The weekly timetable differs slightly according to the
team the F1 is assigned to. They will rotate through
both teams during their time in post.
The F1 will also participate in the acute take (including
night shifts) and in the ongoing care of patients admitted
via the take until their discharge or triage to a different
medical team. The F1 will also provide out-of-hours
ward cover on an on-call rota.
The overall educational objectives of the F1 year are to
provide the trainee with the knowledge, skills and
attitudes to be able to:
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Take a history and examine a patient
Identify and synthesise problems
Prescribe safely
Keep an accurate and relevant medical record
Manage time and clinical priorities effectively
Communicate effectively with patients, relatives
and colleagues
Use evidence, guidelines and audit to benefit
patient care
Act in a professional manner at all times
Cope with ethical and legal issues which occur
during the management of patients with general
medical problems
Educate patients effectively
Become life-long learners and teachers
In addition in this post the F1 will gain experience of
interpreting thoracic radiology; performing procedures
under supervision such as arterial cannulation,
intercostal aspiration and drainage, lumbar puncture; the
use of non-invasive ventilation.
This is an Academic respiratory unit and the F1 will be
expected to take an active role in education and
research. This will involve teaching medical students
and completing one audit or research project. They will
have opportunities to present at the weekly
departmental educational meeting and potentially at the
hospital grand round.
Clinical Supervisor(s) for Dr Melissa Wickremasinghe
the placement
supervisor for the F1s.
is
the
educational
Dr Matthew Berry, Dr Sarah Elkin, Dr Onn Min Kon, Dr
William Oldfield and Dr Melissa Wickremasinghe are the
clinical supervisors on the chest team.
Main duties of the
placement
As part of the chest team, along with the F2, CT1 and
SpRs (STs), the F1 will be responsible for the ward
based care of patients with acute and chronic respiratory
disease and patients with other general medical
problems requiring inpatient care. They will be expected
to ensure that the medical records of these patients are
accurately maintained.
The F1 will be expected to attend the structured
teaching programmes provided by the department and
the weekly Foundation teaching.
They will participate in the acute medical take and
provide ward cover according to the on call rota.
The F1 will be responsible for other specific clinical
duties as allocated by consultants including performing
duties in occasional emergencies and unforeseen
circumstances.
Typical working pattern in Timings of Consultant ward rounds will vary depending
this placement
on which team you are on and which Consultant is
leading the ward team – full details are provided in an
induction pack.
Mon: AM:Ward cover; PM: Consultant ward round
Tues: AM: Ward round with SpR; PM Ward work
Wed: AM: Departmental teaching; Microbiology MDT,
ward work; PM: FY1 teaching; ward round
Thurs: AM: Cancer MDT; Radiology meeting; PM:
Consultant ward round
Fri:AM: ward round; PM: ward work
On call requirements:
Acute medical take 1 in 10; ward cove rapproximately 1
in 20, night shifts approximately 1 in 20.
Employer information
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust was created on
October 1, 2007 by merging St Mary’s NHS Trust and
Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust and integrating with
the faculty of medicine at Imperial College London. Now
one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, we have
come together with the College to establish one of the
UK’s first Academic Health Science Centres (AHSCs).
It is important to note that this description is a typical example of your placement and may be
subject to change.