According to Dr Andrew Olesnicky hospital emergency departments are like snowflakes – all different.
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As the Director of Emergency Services at Broken Hill Base Hospital, Olesnicky believes his ED is possibly the most unique in Australia.
Outback ER, a new 8-part series, focuses on what sets the Broken Hill ED apart including how different a life-threatening crisis can be in one of the most isolated locations in the country.
Taking in the Broken Hill Base Hospital, The Royal Flying Doctors Service and the NSW Ambulance service, the series showcases what happens in emergency situations without the resources of a big hospital.
“While we treat cowboys we don’t want to be cowboys."
- Andrew Olensicky
“Our ED is small. We don’t have huge staff numbers so wouldn’t be able to move to a big disaster easily. We are away from 24/7 specialist care so if a patient needs a higher level of specialist care they need to be shipped out to Adelaide,” Olensicky says.
Professionally speaking working out here gives many opportunities and you need to lend your hand to many more things than you normally would in a city ED. You learn things differently and there is a bit more practicality around patient centred care and patient management.”
A boyish looking 38-year-old, Olensicky originates from Adelaide where he studied medicine at Flinders University. He first worked in Broken Hill as one of the towns many itinerant workers – a self-described fly in fly out medical maverick. After taking on the hospital’s directorship he made Broken Hill his permanent base four years ago.
“In Broken Hill you get sunshine 330 days a year. It’s dry and I hate humidity,” Olensicky says.
The perks of town are something he hopes more medical practitioners come to recognise.
“Our biggest challenge is recruiting good, permanent staff. We get doctors and nurses who will say they can do a year or two but the hardest thing is to convince family to come also,” he says.
The hospital has just taken on a fresh group of interns on two-year contracts including a doctor who was born-and-bred in the Hill who is moving back after a couple of years away, Olensicky enthuses.
With any luck the series may help shine a light on what the town and hospital have to offer to attract future medical staff.
“From a corporate point of view it would good for people to see there is a little place called Broken Hill where they have a bit of fun, and they might think I could work there for a year or so.”
The sunny climate aside, Broken Hill’s ED offers unusual and challenging situations for young medical workers.
“The most unusual or memorable case I have been involved in was a bloke who fell down a mineshaft and had to have his leg amputated as a result of that,” Olensicky says.
Injuries seen at the ED tend to be environment specific with many kids coming in with farm and rodeo wounds. The staff grapple with snakebites, farm accidents, heart attacks and each admission brings a need for ingenuity.
The series highlights the diverse population of Broken Hill and introduces Australia to some local characters such as Michael. A real-life cowboy, Michael is no stranger to hospitals and procedures with a string of mustering accidents to his name including breaking his back twice.
In this case he’s been stomped by a bull which could lead to losing his leg. True to form the patient’s major concern is missing his mate’s birthday leaving him with a decision – stay in hospital for observation, or ignore doctor’s advice and go to the party?
The desert landscape breeds a population of no nonsense locals who live hard and play harder with some refusing to transfer to a city hospital for treatment.
“We do things here that GP’s wouldn’t do in the city but we still must make a decision as to when to move someone to a city hospital.
“While we treat cowboys we don’t want to be cowboys,” Olensicky says.
Screentime Production Company filmed the series over four months in 10-day intervals in the ED.
Overall the intimate crew of three - a cameraman, sound recordist and field director – were able to film without getting in the way of the action.
“It’s a small department so when the proverbial hits the fan it gets cramped, but we quickly realised they were part of our team and once we accepted that this is what we signed up for we all made allowances for each other.”
While working in Broken Hill can be a bit nerve wracking it does produce some great moments.
“Every now and then you get to be a hero, save someone’s life, and that’s a really good feeling,” he says.
Outback ER premieres Thursday 12 February at 8pm on ABC.