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GPH News Spring 2013

FEATURE STORY GPHnews 7 EC Director appointed new Chair of Qld Clinical Senate How to do a liver transplant Dr Kellee Slater is a hepato-biliary and general surgeon at Greenslopes Private Hospital, whose debut book How to Do a Liver Transplant was published by New South Books this August. The book is an eye-opening series of stories from Dr Slater’s surgical career, particularly in liver transplant surgery. Over the course of the memoir, Dr Slater recounts the most memorable experiences of her career, both inside and outside the operating room. She interacts with patients, their families and her colleagues, with outcomes that are triumphant, devastating and moving by turn. Dr Slater’s book is available for purchase now from bookshops and online. You can read more about How to Do a Liver Transplant from the book’s blurb: “When everything is in place and both teams are ready, someone cries out ‘Cross-clamp!’ Then it is on for young and old as the clock is ticking. Up to this point, it has been a careful and considered surgery. Now it is all about speed. We move like Edward Scissorhands, chop, chop, chop. This is the trickiest part – to move fast without cutting something you shouldn’t. Welcome to the adrenaline-charged world of transplant surgery. Top Australian surgeon Dr Kellee Slater invites us inside the operating theatre with her dedicated team as she performs life-or-death surgery on a newborn baby, brings a dying liver back to life with a staple gun in each hand, and undertakes the confronting task of removing donor organs. How to Do a Liver Transplant is an enthralling and often blackly funny glimpse over the shoulder of a gifted surgeon.” Earlier this year Greenslopes Emergency Director Dr David Rosengren was appointed as the new Chair of the Queensland Clinical Senate. The Senate is tasked with deliberating key strategic issues around the delivery of quality health services in Queensland. Reporting directly to the Minister for Health and the Director General of the Department of Health, the Clinical Senate provides clear and strong clinician input to the health system in Queensland. The Clinical Senate brings together clinicians from medical, nursing and allied health professions. The 74 person membership of the full Senate meets three times each year and includes representation across public and private hospitals as well as primary health care. Dr Glen Wood, a full time private urologist based here at Greenslopes Private Hospital, is also a member of the Senate Executive. When the Clinical Senate met in April this year, one of the key themes deliberated was the introduction of mandatory Advance Care Planning for people being admitted into Residential Aged Care. The recommendations from that meeting were fully endorsed by the Queensland Minister for Health and the Senate is taking responsibility for providing clinician leadership around implementation. The work being undertaken in Queensland has captured the attention of Senates in other states and has been adopted as a priority area for the National Lead Clinician Group which reports directly to the Commonwealth health Minister. The next meeting of the Queensland Clinical Senate in October will focus on “Developing the Principles for Prioritising and Measuring Education and Training in the Health System”. Reporting directly to the Minister for Health and the Director General of the Department of Health, the Clinical Senate provides clear and strong clinician input to the health system in Queensland. Above: Dr David Rosengren Right: Dr Glen Wood


GPH News Spring 2013
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