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Clinical
Academic Opening of new Coronary Care Unit at St. Luke’s Hospital,
Kilkenny
A
Symposium to celebrate the Clinical Academic Opening of the new Coronary
Care Unit at St. Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny, was The
Symposium began with introductions and welcome addresses by Anne
Slattery, General Manager, St. Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny, John Magner,
Acting Chief Executive Officer, South Eastern Health Board, Professor
Desmond Fitzgerald , Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Professor Peter Sleight,
John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, and Dr. Michael Conway, Consultant
Cardiologist, St. Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny. The
group then visited the Cardiac Investigation Department, the Coronary
Care Unit and the Cardiac Rehabilitation Department at the hospital. Oxford and Dublin Professors The
South Eastern Health Board was delighted to welcome a number of
clinicians who addressed the Symposium, including Prof. Desmond
Fitzgerald, RCSI, Dublin and Prof. Peter Sleight, John Radcliffe
Hospital, Oxford,/ University of Pavia, Italy. Three members of staff
from St. Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny, also made presentations – Dr.
Michael Conway, Consultant Cardiologist, Helen O’Brien, Coronary Care
Unit, and Maria Horgan, Chest Pain Nurse. Prof.
Sleight was Professor of Cardiology in Oxford and put Oxford cardiology
on the world map. He was one of the group of Oxford physicians who took
the Radcliffe from a county type general hospital to an institution of
international renown, covering all the specialties with the most
advanced research laboratories. He founded and developed the famous ISIS
Trials (International Studies of Infarct Survival). Prof
Desmond Fitzgerald has become a pre-eminent figure in the science of
cyclo-oxygenases. His unit at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin is
renowned for its scientific programmes. CCU The
New Coronary Care in St. Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny is a state of the art
unit with six beds that became operational in January. The unit is fitted
out with the latest advanced cardiac monitoring equipment and staffed by a
Consultant Cardiologist, specialist nurses and support staff. The
unit provides emergency and fast track treatment for patients presenting
with acute cardiac symptoms and angina. Arising from the cardiovascular
strategy, specialist staff (chest pain nurse, disease management nurse,
resuscitation officer) work with the integrated multisciplinary team to
reduce mortality/morbidity in patients who present with acute cardiac
conditions. The
equipment cost for the unit was over €570,000 and the unit consists of a
four bay unit, a single room, an isolation room and ancillary facilities. Rehabilitation In
addition, the Cardiac Rehabilitation Service has been functioning at St.
Luke’s since January, 2001 in a temporary refurbished demountable
building. This programme is designed to help patients who have had
myocardial infarction and cardiac surgery return back to normal life as
quickly as possible. The
programme provides education to patients on modifying risk factors and on
compliance with treatment, psychosocial and vocational support and a
structured programme of exercise training. This programme requires a
multidisciplinary approach including, specialist nursing, medical,
dietetic, cardiac diagnostic, physiotherapy, dietician, smoking cessation,
pharmacy and stress management services. Cardiac Investigation Suite The
Cardiac Investigation Department in St. Luke’s Hospital commenced
service in October 1995. The department provides a comprehensive range of
non-invasive and semi-invasive procedures (ECGs, 24 hour ambulatory
ECG/Blood Pressure monitoring, event monitoring, stress testing,
echocardiography /transeosophageal echocardiography, stress echos and
pacemaker follow-up). The
department has further expanded following the appointment of additional
staff and the purchase of specialist equipment supported by the
Cardiovascular Strategy With
the shortfall of qualified staff, the department commenced training of
student cardiac technicians in October 2000 over a three year period in
collaboration with the Regional Cardiac Diagnostics Training Programme and
Dublin Institute of Technology. Over 4500 ECGs, 1300 holter monitors and
1400 echocardiograms were amongst some of the investigations performed by
the department during 2001. The development of the service has facilitated
prompt diagnosis and treatment of patients with cardiac conditions and has
also limited the hardship endured by patients who previously had to travel
to Dublin for these tests. The
department has an advanced cardiology clinical management system which
facilitates linkages to all the cardiac departments in the region and
allows for clinical audit and quality control.
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