DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE

Introduction and Department Facilities and Manpower :
The Department of Medicine runs comprehensive services for both in-and-outpatients covering both general medicine and subspecialty services. There are four general medical teams running in-patient care with a capacity of 156 beds. Admissions come from Accident and Emergency and Outpatient Departments with average rate of 15-20 per day with a bed occupancy of more than 100% leading to admission to surgical wards.

The subspecialty services include: (1) Endocrinology (2) Gastroenterology (3) Haematology/Oncology (4) Infectious Diseases (5) Nephrology (6)Neurology (7) Pulmonary & Allergy (8) Rheumatology. They offer out and in-patient consultation services in addition to specialized investigational and therapeutic modalities like: endoscopy and other gastroenterology diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, bronchoscopy and pulmonary lab, neurophysiology, chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant unit.and dialysis. There is a busy 11 beds medical intensive care unit where specialized treatment is offered to critically ill patients. The department gets full support in patients investigations from the Departments of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology and Radiology.

The Department has active programme for Residents training and continuous medical education. This includes State of the Art Lectures by department consultants and visitors from other departments and abroad, House Staff Clinical Case presentations and topic discussions. This is in addition to tutorials, journal clubs, clinical teaching rounds and morning report. More than 26 residents are enrolled in the 4-year Arab Board Residency programme of the Department.

The Department has efficient supportive staff : there are technologists and technicians in the dialysis unit and subspecialty laboratories and procedure units. There are specialized nurses in certain subspecialties and a competent medical and general secretarial staff.

Research is also developing with a number of the department staff members being involved in different projects. Papers are regularly published in regional and international journals.

Achievements :

Since its establishment the Department has expanded progressively in its manpower and the services its provides.

General Medicine : This provides care for the in-patients admitted via the busy A&E department or the out-patient department. The number of beds has increased progressively reaching 156.

Endocrinology : Expanded the service with daily diabetic clinics. Also Endocrinology/Diabetes clinics have been established in the Women’s Hospital to facilitate seeing obstetrics and gynaecology patients. Dietetics, Diabetic Education and Podiatric services have been established.

Gastroenterology : The Endoscopy Unit has been moved to a bigger new site in the second floor. More than 20 endoscopies are done every day. New procedures were also introduced like colonoscopy and ERCP. Also endoscopic therapeutic procedures are now being carried out. Breath tests for Helicobacter and Motility studies have been introduced.

Haematology/Oncology : A day care for Chemotherapy was established in the old out – patient building. A Bone Marrow Transplant Unit has been established and the treatment has been available for the last two years.

Infectious Diseases : The section has expanded with a full TB unit with in-and-out patient service. The section is also fully involved with the Infection Control Committee to help in prevention and control of infection in the hospital.

Nephrology : The nephrology service has grown progressively. The number of haemodialysis patients has increased from only a few patients to 220. Continuous Ambulatory Peritonial Dialysis is also carried out. Newer techniques like haemofiltration and plasmaporesis have also been introduced for critically ill patients in the ICUs. Renal transplantation is now performed successfully but the number is small because of shortage of donors. The establishment of a new Renal/Dialysis unit with 12 dialysis stations in Al-Wakra will be completed in a few months.

Neurology : The Neurophysiology unit offers specialized studies like electroencephalography and electromyography. Further development with the addition of newer techniques like brain mapping has taken place.

Pulmonary & Allergy : In addition to the Allergy, Chest out-patients and the Bronchosocpy unit, a full Allergy & Pulmonary Function lab has been established performing all lung function tests.

Rheumatology : The service has expanded with daily rheumatology clinics to cope with the increasing load. Bone Densometry Scan has been recently established in Rumailah Hospital.

NUMBER OF PATIENTS SEEN IN OPD