Orientation to Hei Hei Health Centre
Welcome to Hei Hei Health Centre.
This document is intended as a brief guide to where to find what you need and orientation to the ebb and flow of the practice.Please take the time to familiarise yourself with the staff you will meet whilst working here - photos and bios are found on this site under the Staff link.A brief note on the practice itself:
Our enrolled population has a very large number of Maori and Pacific peoples.
If you are new to New Zealand be aware that the Maori and Pacific populations have many more chronic diseases in general and die on average about 10 years younger than Europeans. If you are not familiar with Rheumatic fever it would be worth reminding yourself as this third world disease is alive and well in NZ. The incidence in the South Island is much lower than in many of the low socio-economic status areas in the North Island but you will see it here. We encourage the use of Rapid Strep Tests to check that sore throats are NOT streptococcal. These are available in the practice at no charge to patients.
⦁ Prices: As we serve a high needs demographic and have a relatively high Maori population in the area (20%) we provide a number of services free of charge.
⦁ Doctor's consults are free for pregnant women. (If a midwife is needed refer patients to findyourmidwife.co.nz ). This includes non-pregnancy related issues. Please let reception know whether the matter is related to pregnancy as it does affect our funding decisions.
⦁ Nurses consults are provided free for smoking cessation. All nurse services are free for children under 18.
⦁ Second opinions: If in doubt, second opinions are provided free of charge. Just ask the patient to book with Rob for a second opinion - advise the patient it will be free and annotate this in the notes.
⦁ Generally if someone has come in for the same problem for the 3rd time in a 7-10 day period we don't charge. The receptionists are pretty good at flagging these issues when you start. Sometimes patients get the idea that every third consult is free - that is not the case! It is just if they need a lot of care for the same thing. We use SIA or ECAP funding for this.
⦁ If you are performing any minor surgery or are giving IV medicines etc, please let reception know so that billing can be appropriately sorted.
⦁ We try hard to ensure that consultations are coded using the classification tab and measurements in screening. We largely use the standard systems in MTEVO but we have added - ALC (alcohol in std drinks) O (O2 sats) Pulse. Full information about where to put information can be found on our data standards sheet
⦁ Please be aware of the importance of coding smoking and CVD risk using the SCREENING tab. This has to be done as it is one of the ministry of health targets for improving primary health care. So please document smoking status and brief cessation advise with ALL patients. #scs for smoking cvdrsk for CVD. We recommend using MIMS tables or rounding the BestPractice CVDQuick to the nearest 5% above the reported level.
⦁ Referrals if non urgent should be made through medtech using ERMS. If necessary you can find this via the toolbar 'Dynamic Integrations'-'ERMS Online'
⦁ Acute demand: If you have a patient who is unwell enough to consider referral to the hospital but you think you can manage them from the community. Acute Demand pays us well to manage these patients, but only if you complete an appropriate ERMS/Acute Demand referral form AND let reception know. Most acute ECG, bloods and observation can be covered. We also do IV therapy for migraine and dehydration.
⦁ Specimen collection: is at 11:00, 15:00 and again at 17:00. If you need something sent urgently you have just have to ask one of our reception staff to arrange it - a taxi courier is available.
⦁ Urgent results: If you are working a half day please hand over any urgent or important test results that you are expecting. Please read the brief policy on results especially as regards emergency results.
⦁ THE DUTY TRAY: It is mandatory to check the duty tray at the end of every session. The duty tray is where we place urgent jobs and we will generally assign one clinican per day to be the duty person. If somehow a non-urgent job has ended up in the duty tray, please place it in the tray of the most appropriate clinician.
⦁ S-drive: (windows-E) there are a number of useful clinical resources which can be found in the S-drive under 'Clinical Resources' For example: epworth sleepiness score, Kessler-10, good sleep habits etc. Some of these are also available on Healthpathways.
⦁ Clinical Emergencies: you will find all the equipment you need in the treatment room - Defibrillator, ECG, resus drugs are in the resus box but other emergency drugs are kept in the locked cupboard.
⦁ Non Clinical Emergencies: In the event of a fire please escort whomever you may be consulting with at the time and leave the building via the nearest safe exit. The receptionist is responsible for checking all the rooms are evacuated.
⦁ Health pathways is a helpful online guide written by the local specialists out lining management of basic conditions and the criteria for referrals. Utilites/healthpathways on MT32
⦁ Controlled drugs: In the unlikely event that you need a CD triplicate pad, please ask at reception for a script and one will be provided for you. We scan ALL CD scripts before they are given to the patient so please ensure they are given to reception as the patient leaves.
Health and safety - please ensure that you familiarise yourself with our Health and Safety Policy and our Fire Action policy as this is a statutory requirement.
The Results Policy and Recall Policy are essential reading if you are covering more than 1 or 2 sessions.
Please ensure that you are shown the following areas in the practice:
- Medication storage area.
- Treatment and resuscitation area.
- Emergency assistance alarms.
- Location of Fire Extinguishers.
- Comfort areas for staff.
We hope you enjoy your time at Hei Hei Health Centre. Please let us know if there is anything you need or if you think we might do something better - we are always trying to improve our service.Full details of our practice policies are available on the practice website in this Behind The Scenes section.