Facilities of the Practice
Originally the practice was
built in the mid 1980’s as a 1-2 doctor practice; the
building has
now had major extensions in 1994 and again in 2005.
At present it boasts 5 large consulting rooms, a comprehensively
equipped 3 bed treatment room, large reception area, separate administration
areas, and a library and kitchen staff
area upstairs. 
The building is conveniently situated some 300 metres off the main street opposite a children’s playground on one frontage and a park “the Duck Pond” on the other.
The consulting rooms are spacious, with a curtained off barouche and examination area in each.
The treatment room is set up for procedures such as suture of lacerations,
excising lesions, dressings, ECG, Spirometry
(both on new Welch Allyn pc based
devices linked into the clinical
package), and other minor procedures.
We are comprehensively equipped, having invested significantly in updating plant and equipment consistently since 2005.
Our three Practice Nurses have roles in assisting with procedures, sterilizing, immunization, wound care, assisting in test result follow-ups, and education. Each Practice Nurse has specilised areas consisting of diabetes resource Nurse and Midwife, women's health, and Cardiac and lifestyle. In 2007 we were lucky enough to recruit a skilled Mental Health Nurse, through the Medicare initiative, this has expanded to become a full cycle of care offered to patients, assisting towards the proactive use of Doctors time. Seen as valuable members of our team, we are focused on proactively utilising the Nurses time to in return maximise our doctors time. This is recognised in Medicare, with government payments for various activities.
The Eudunda practice is
situated in a council owned building on the Main street of Eudunda. The township
is 27 km northeast of Kapunda.
It
consists of two consulting rooms, a treatment room, reception area, record room,
and a kitchen.
The treatment room allows the performance of minor procedures, If need be, procedures can be booked at the Kapunda site instead, or alternatively performed at the nearby Eudunda Hospital.
Eudunda at present has a Nurse on site 2 days of the week, and the Mental Health Nurse consults here one session per week.
We have traditionally had 4 permanent GPs, a registrar and an intern, we have recently taken on a 3rd year medical student through the Flinders University Parallel Rural Community Curriculum program (PRCC) this sees a student with us for 12 months at a time. Due to community growth and demand we are seeking to recruit another permanent GP to compliment our services.
The practice is fully computerised, using a windows terminal services based environment throughout. We use Zedmed office and clinical packages. (www.zedmed.com.au) This Australian package is problem based, reliable, and has excellent technical support. Record keeping has been successfully “paperless” since Nov 2005. The terminal services environment allows access to the same desktop and therefore all clinical information from both practices, both hospitals, aged care facilities, and from home. The links to various sites are via ADSL broadband internet, providing a link fast enough so that even image files have only minor small delays in transfer.
Our practices are accredited with Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL). This is current for 3 years from July 2009. Accreditation is voluntary however our practice views it as portraying a message of ‘quality in practice’ and a commitment to continuing improvement in Australian General Practice.
Both practices have a strong teaching focus and we have one or two general practice registrars with us each year. Since January 2005 we have been fortunate to have an intern rotating every 10 weeks from the Lyall McEwin Hospital. This scheme has been an enormous success, and favorably viewed by patients, interns and the practice alike. The interns practice under close supervision of practice doctors, and are involved in all aspects of practice work both general practice and hospital based.
Recently we have accepted a Flinders University Medical Student into the practice for their entire 3rd year (of a 4 year postgraduate course) under the PRCC program (Parallel Rural Community Curriculum). This is a well established program that is already operating in 3 other regions of South Australia. One student is allocated to our practice for 12 months, and would also be immersed in the clinical life of the practice for the duration.
Doctors are supported by professional and experienced administrative staff and equipment at all times. Currently we have 8 Receptionists, an Office Manager and Practice Manager in addition to the 3 Practice Nurses and Mental Health Nurse.
Some
practice
staff
Front: Team Leader
Sarah McInerney
Left to right: Office Manager Jenny Ryan,
Receptionist Kathryn Rowett
and Practice Manager Sandra Merkx