Vale Joan Faoagali

Joan Faoagali is remembered by many microbiologists as a Director of Microbiology at Royal Brisbane Hospital from 1985 to 2006 and then Princess Alexandra Hospital from 2006. Born in New Zealand in 1940 as Joan Wilson, Joan married her first husband, Malaki Faoagali in 1964. After graduating with her medical degree from Otago University and then undertaking her junior training in Invercargill, in 1968 her young family travelled to Samoa by ‘banana boat’. Joan soon realised that an unmet need in Samoa was pathology so she returned to New Zealand in 1969 to undertake pathology/microbiology training. By 1974, Joan had been appointed as Director of Microbiology at Christchurch Hospital.

Retailing Tropical Plants in Queensland: A Family History

I am connected to a family nursery business that has been running for four generations. My links go back to the early 1890s when my great grandfather had a nursery at Upper Mt Gravatt. He then shifted to South Brisbane where he moved into floristry. The business, however, was destroyed in the flood of 1893. His daughter, my grandmother, married Tom Perrott who had started in a nursery business with a well known nurseryman in Brisbane called T. H. Woods. They established the shop in George Street. They were also in the florist business and, in 1919, they decided to buy a nursery at Herston, near Ballymore Park and the Royal Brisbane Hospital, which ran until 1963. In the meantime, they had bought another nursery at Enoggera in 1936 (which I now own), and ran the two nurseries simultaneously. At that time, the main part of the business was still floristry and they did quite well in the depression years. The nursery at Enoggera was a 20 acre dairy farm that had been purchased mainly for the purpose of growing flowers for the floral trade. We used to grow rows and rows of different annuals and creepers and anything we could plant to flower, including many camellias which are still there today. A team of women would arrive at 6 o'clock every morning to pick these flowers and prepare them for packaging and transporting to the floral room at Herston.

Evaluating a GP Consultative Psychiatric Service in an Australian Metropolitan Hospital District

Objective: The aim was to develop a psychiatric assessment and advisory service for local general practitioners (GPs). Method: In July 2001, five full-time psychiatrists at Royal Brisbane Hospital each dedicated a 1-h appointment per week in their hospital private practice clinic to assess patients referred by local GPs. The ‘Psych Opinion’ clinic was advertised through the Division of General Practice Newsletter. After 12 months, the referrals to the clinic had been disappointing so two surveys were carried out: one to the GPs who had used the service and the other to those who had not referred. Results: Feedback from the GPs who had used the service showed a high level of satisfaction with the service. The second survey of the GPs who had not referred showed a strong endorsement of the concept but there was poor awareness of the service's existence. Conclusions: This model offers a way for public sector psychiatrists to provide timely assessments to local GPs without additional funding. There is strong support and willingness from the GPs to refer. However, the need to actively market the service both initially and on an ongoing basis is highlighted.

Telepathology

The development of a Queensland-wide videoconferencing network provided an opportunity to develop telepathology. In 1999, weekly videoconferences began with remote laboratories and clinical staff in four peripheral hospitals and the Royal Brisbane Hospital and in 2000 biweekly videoconference pathology grand rounds started across Queensland with up to six sites, from Cairns to the Gold Coast, joining in or presenting. The average number of sites connected was 3.0 in 1998, 3.5 in 1999, 4.4 in 2000 and 4.5 in 2001. Problems included the complexity of the system, timing and need for bookings, coordination of presenters and presentations, and the time needed to organize sessions, set up linkages, advertise sessions and attend the telepathology conference. Successful meetings have been associated with well prepared cases, time for discussion, attendance by all sites, timeliness of cases and responses, and the presence of experts to respond to questions, as well as effective linkages and trouble-free hardware. Future needs include better infrastructure and trained staff to coordinate the linkages and presentations. Telepathology has an important part to play in the provision of cost-effective medical care in Queensland.

The Measurement of a Case Manager's Workload Burden

Objective: The aim of this activity was to develop an appropriate scale to accurately assess the level of clinical load carried by each case manager at the Royal Brisbane Hospital Integrated Mental Health Service. Method: A survey of, and consultation with, case managers over a period of 15 months was used to gather data and modify the monitoring tool for future use in the service. Results and Conclusion: Analysis of the data gathered revealed the level of case managers' work load burden and the depth of need required by clients. Professionally the Clinical Load Monitoring scores have been used in the allocation of additional cases for case management and in the supervision by discipline seniors. Service management has used the Clinical Load Monitoring Scale by dividing individual caseloads into low, medium and heavy service users – with low service users being further investigated for discharge from the service. Heavy service users were assessed for entry into more intensive treatment areas.