In theatre in Cairns
Operating at Cairns Base Hospital, with Dr Rachel Price, Shoulder Fellow, and Dr Sarah Brereton.
Regular operating lists in Cairns mean patients in far north Queensland can have specialist shoulder surgery closer to home, and the registrars and fellows based there get the training that builds local capacity over time.
Shoulder surgery outside the capital cities
Cairns Base Hospital is the main referral hospital for far north Queensland, covering a large area with a dispersed population. Subspecialty surgery of all kinds tends to concentrate in capital city hospitals, where there are enough cases to keep a specialist unit busy and enough colleagues to share the work. The consequence for patients in regional areas is travel, time away from work and family, and in some cases a decision not to proceed at all.
Visiting operating lists are one way of narrowing that gap. The surgery is performed locally, follow up can be arranged locally, and the patient does not have to relocate for it. Individual results vary.
What a fellow does on an operating list
A shoulder fellow is a surgeon who has completed specialist orthopaedic training and is undertaking further training concentrated on the shoulder. On an operating list a fellow assists, then performs parts of an operation, then performs whole operations with the supervising surgeon present, depending on the case and the stage they have reached. The arrangement exists because technique is learned by doing it under supervision rather than by watching it.
Operating with the local registrars has an effect that outlasts any single list. A registrar who has assisted in a reasonable number of shoulder cases carries that into their own practice wherever they eventually work, and some of them will work in regional Queensland.
Related information
See our other Cairns posts, including performing a reverse total shoulder replacement at Cairns Base Hospital, and our shoulder surgery, shoulder fellowship and accommodation pages.