Cardiology | Te Tai Tokerau (Northland)

Public Service, Cardiology

Description

What is Cardiology?
Cardiology is the specialty within medicine that looks at the heart and blood vessels. Your heart consists of four chambers, which are responsible for pumping blood to your lungs and then the rest of your body. The study of the heart includes the heart muscle (the myocardium), the valves within the heart between the chambers, the blood vessels that supply blood (and hence oxygen and nutrients) to the heart muscle, and the electrical system of the heart which is what controls the heart rate.

Referral Expectations

If you have an urgent problem requiring immediate cardiological assessment, you will be referred acutely to on-call physician from the Department of Medicine, where you will initially be seen by the Registrar (trainee specialist), who will decide whether you need to be admitted to the hospital. Investigations will be performed as required, and more senior team members will be involved where necessary.

If the problem is not urgent, your GP will refer you to one of our clinics if they are concerned about your heart and want a specialist opinion. The referral is prioritised depending on urgency.

You may be sent a questionnaire before your clinic visit to assist us with making a diagnosis and determining if any tests need to be done before you see a specialist.

At your clinic appointment, you will be seen by a member of the cardiology team who will ask questions about your illness and examine you to determine or confirm the diagnosis. This process may require several tests (e.g. blood tests, x-rays, scans etc.). Depending on your condition, this could all be done during one clinic visit, otherwise several follow-up appointments may be needed. You may be seen by a Nurse Practitioner (An experienced senior nurse with prescribing capacity) or a registrar or specialist.

Once a diagnosis has been made, the medical staff will discuss treatment with you. They will write to your GP with advice and may or may not arrange for you to attend a follow-up clinic.

Please bring any clinical information that you have that may be helpful for the specialist to your appointment, including: