| |
History
The University of Melbourne created its first clinical Department
of Surgery located at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in 1955. Professor
Maurice Ewing was appointed to the inaugural Chair of Surgery (James
Stewart Professor) in that year and started a small department of
approximately three academic staff with the theoretical responsibility
for academic surgery in all the teaching hospitals of Melbourne. The
creation of the Monash Medical School in 1961 led to Monash Chairs
of Surgery being established at the Alfred Hospital and Prince Henry’s
Hospital, and separate Chairs of Surgery and academic departments
of the University of Melbourne were established at St Vincent’s
Hospital in 1957 and the Austin Hospital in 1964.
Professor Maurice Ewing retired at the end of 1977 and was succeeded
by Professor Gordon Clunie as the James Stewart Professor and Head of
Department, commencing in September 1978. A unit of the Department was
created at the Western Hospital in 1992, and Professor Robert Thomas
was appointed as Professor of Surgery at the Western Hospital.
Professor Gordon Clunie was appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine,
Dentistry and Health Sciences at the end of 1995, and during 1996 Professor
Robert Thomas was appointed as the Head of the Department of Surgery,
pending the appointment of the James Stewart Professor of Surgery. Professor
Andrew Kaye commenced his appointment as the James Stewart Professor
of Surgery and Head of the Department of Surgery at the Royal Melbourne
Hospital/Western Hospital on 20 January 1997.
Departmental Structure
The Department of Surgery is located on the 5th and 6th floors of the
Clinical Sciences Building at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and on the
6th floor of the adjacent Medical Research Building. At the Western
Hospital the Department has an allocation of 800 square metres on the
1st floor of the main block of the hospital.
There are two research institutes officially associated with the Department
of Surgery at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, and members of these institutes
have appointments with the University of Melbourne through the Department
of Surgery. The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (Melbourne Tumour
Biology Branch) was established within the Department of Surgery in
1980 and the Brockhoff Plastic Surgery Research Unit was established
officially in 1994, although members of the Plastic Surgery Unit at
The Royal Melbourne Hospital had undertaken research in the Department
for many years.
The Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research (Melbourne Tumour Biology Branch)
is co-located with the rest of the Department of Surgery on 3.5 floors
of the Medical Research Building. Plastic Surgery research is undertaken
in the Brockhoff Plastic Surgery Research Unit at 766 Elizabeth Street,
diagonally opposite The Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Up until the end of 1996 the Department had functioned with semi-autonomous
laboratories including Molecular Genetics, Transplant Immunology, Cardiovascular
and Neuroscience, as well as the Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research
and with the Brockhoff Plastic Surgery Research Unit. Following the
appointment of the present James Stewart Professor there has been a
re-evaluation and change in emphasis of the research direction, with
the development of a focus on tumour biology and a particular emphasis
on tumours of the central nervous system. This has resulted in a restructuring
of the laboratories, which commenced in 1997.
The Department has close links with the clinical staff of The Royal
Melbourne Hospital and the Western Hospital with many Senior Associates
and Associates. A major change in the clinical organisation has been
the move towards greater integration of the Department with The Royal
Melbourne Hospital and Western Hospital. The initial structure of
the clinical service delivery was for the Department to run a
General Surgical
Unit at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, using mostly its own staff.
With the reorganisation of the surgical units in the mid 1980s
the Department
deliberately became integrated into other surgical units at The Royal
Melbourne Hospital.
All clinical members of the Department are fully integrated into
hospital activities and occupy many leadership roles within the
hospital and
network services.
Teaching
The Department has less direct involvement in the organisation of
the teaching program than the non-clinical departments of the University.
This is because of the Clinical School structure whereby each hospital
or group of hospitals has a Clinical School with a Clinical Dean
who is responsible for the overall structure of the teaching program
in
Medicine and Surgery. The Department works very closely in conjunction
with the Clinical Dean
The members of the Department are heavily involved in clinical teaching
for 3rd year students in their Introductory Term of 9 weeks of single
afternoon tutorials in the hospitals, the intensive 3 week Introductory
Course for 4th year students and the four terms of clinical teaching
of 4th year students. Final year students are assigned two to a unit
and act as student interns and again the members of the Department
play a very significant role in their overall supervision and
training. Many
members of the Department take part in the examinations both for 4th
year and final year students. All members of the Department give tutorials
and lectures and lecture/demonstrations to final year students in
their relevant specialty and are involved with designing the teaching
program
in final year.
Individual members of the Department give lectures to preclinical
students. This trend has been increasing and most members of the
Department now
give some lectures to 2nd or 3rd year students. The Department is also
responsible for teaching and examination of Surgery in the Dental Course.
A part-time Senior Lecturer coordinates this.
Until 1997 the Department had not been involved in running an independent
BSc Honours Course. From 1998
the Department has been running a BSc Hons program, joining with the
already successful program run by the Department of Medicine at The
Royal Melbourne Hospital which was commenced in 1993.
Master of Medicine
This course is meant primarily for overseas students. It is a 2 year
course, being either by research and thesis or a combination of lecture
and tutorial program with clinical attachment.
Postgraduate Medical Teaching
All the clinically trained staff of the Department take part in the
coursework and clinical tutorial programs for trainees undertaking the
FRACS examination.
The Department of Surgery at The Royal Melbourne Hospital organises
the Surgical Audit meetings for The Royal Melbourne Hospital and runs
a monthly audit program whereby all surgical departments formally present
their audit for the year. The Department also runs the monthly Surgical
Forums at which each Department at the hospital presents. Professor
Kaye is Chairman of the Section of Surgery at The Royal Melbourne Hospital
which is responsible for standards, education and training in surgery
at the hospital.
Members of the Department run a weekly tutorial program for general
surgery trainees, and a monthly journal club is organised by departmental
members in neurosurgery and general surgery.
Continuing Medical Education
Clinical staff regularly take part in continuing medical education
courses organised by the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health
Sciences
designed for general practitioners and other medical practitioners and
allied health personnel. The staff also participate regularly in The
Royal Melbourne Hospital Medical Update courses for general practitioners.
As described in the previous section the Department is responsible for
organising and running the monthly Surgical Forums for The Royal Melbourne
Hospital, the Quality Assurance program in Surgery for The Royal Melbourne
Hospital and the Surgical Audit program for The Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Members of the staff participate in postgraduate teaching programs both
locally and nationally in each of their relevant specialties. Professor
Kaye is Editor in Chief of the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, the
official Journal
of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia, the Australian Association
of Neurologists, the Australian and New Zealand Society of Neuropathology
and the Swiss Society of Neurosurgery.
Evaluation of graduate supervision, policies and practices
The Department, in conjunction with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer
Research, has a PhD Committee which assesses and acts as a support
group for
PhD students.
The individuals on the committee are independent of the supervisor
and provide a mechanism to help resolve problems that might arise
between
the student and the supervisor.
The Department has established an Education Committee, to oversee
undergraduate and postgraduate research programs within the Department.
|
