The Role

You will be joining a dedicated team of 14 Emergency Physicians from New Zealand, the UK, the US, Canada, and South Africa, as well as 3 clinical nurse specialists and 2 nurse practitioners. We are responsible for supervising 18 resident medical officers (a mix of registrars and senior house officers) as well as 6th year medical students from the University of Otago. We are accredited for 1 year advanced training by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, and have a highly successful teaching program for both Part I and Part II ACEM examinations. Each week we have protected teaching time, including time in our simulation centre, for registrars, house officers, and students.

 The Palmerston North Hospital ED sees approximately 48,000 presentations per annum, with an admission rate of around 30%. Paediatric presentations comprise about 25% of our total patient volume. We are an Australasian Level 4 ED and regional trauma centre, and see a higher than average trauma workload due to agricultural injuries from the many farms in the area as well as road accidents from the several state highways transecting the region. We have a trauma team that operates 24/7 and, working closely with our surgical, critical care, and anaesthetic colleagues, we have recently updated and refined our trauma and disaster protocols. We have access to all acute services on-site with the exception of neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and plastic surgery; patients requiring these services are transferred to Wellington Hospital or Hutt Hospital. 

The Hospital

Palmerston North Hospital is a 350 bed secondary hospital on the lower North Island, servicing a total catchment population of approximately 200,000 people, of which approximately 90,000 live in the city. We serve a geographically large area that includes isolated rural townships in the Manawatu, Tararua, and Horowhenua regions, as well as the New Zealand Defence Force facilities Linton Military Camp and Ohakea Airforce Base. Our catchment area has a higher than average population of Māori and Pacific people, and we are committed to achieving equity in health care for them.

The Area

Palmerston North itself is a vibrant, multicultural city that is home to outstanding primary, secondary, and tertiary schools, including Massey University. There are excellent restaurants and shops, and ample local opportunities for outdoor activities including mountain biking, tramping, fishing, hunting, and camping. We are also an easy drive to the Tasman Sea, Hawkes Bay, Mount Taranaki, Mount Ruapehu, and Lake Taupō