Emergency medicine

The Canberra Hospital is a tertiary teaching hospital for the ACT and southern NSW region. Our Emergency Department (ED) provides quality emergency care 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

The Canberra Hospital is a tertiary teaching hospital for the ACT and southern NSW region. Our Emergency Department (ED) provides quality emergency care 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Education is highly valued by the ED, with 3 to 4 hours of paid, protected registrar teaching time every week, shared between Canberra Hospital and North Canberra Hospital. We implement innovative teaching activities, including outdoor adventure teaching sessions, simulation and ultrasound workshops and a specific in-house interactive education website.

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) trainees can complete all aspects of their provisional and advanced training based at Canberra Hospital, with opportunities for rotations at North Canberra Hospital in the ACT and Wagga Wagga Rural Referral Hospital in NSW. Rotations are available in Retrieval, NICU, Paediatrics, ICU, anaesthetics and medicine.

Registrars are allowed non-clinical time to develop their skills in audit, administration and education. Specific individualised examination support is available for all formal ACEM exams, with Canberra Hospital registrars having a strong track record of success.

We value our registrars and encourage development of special interests. Mentoring is available with senior staff in developing country emergency medicine, retrieval, trauma, research, mental health and ultrasound.

The ED has recently undergone a major upgrade and now has 29 beds including a 3-bed resuscitation area, and a 26-bed acute observation ward, which incorporates a dedicated 6 bed paediatrics unit.  It is staffed by a dynamic and enthusiastic team of consultants, registrars and junior doctors who work alongside nursing and allied health staff.

Page last updated on: 3 Jul 2023