Dr Purnima (Darshi) Cheruvu1, Dr Natassia Rodrigo1,2,3
1Department of Endocrinology, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, Australia, 2The Kolling Institute, St Leonards, Australia, 3Northern Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia
Biography:
Dr. Darshi Cheruvu is currently working as a first-year endocrinology registrar in a diabetes and menopause role. She is dual training in general medicine and endocrinology and has completed 2 years of general medicine advanced training to date.
Abstract:
The North Shore Local Health District (NSLHD) obtained supplementary funding in September 2024 to establish the Menopause Hub, to provide clinical care for complex patients experiencing severe and/or prolonged symptoms of menopause. Delivery of care is through a multidisciplinary approach with medical input from endocrine, rheumatology and gynaecology physicians, nursing staff and allied health input from physiotherapy, dietician and social work specialists.
This aim of this audit is to collect operational data, such as the primary reason for patient referral, time from referral to appointment and time of treatment before discharge back to general practitioner. Data will be collected on medical service delivery, including treatments prescribed for symptom management and management of comorbidities including cardiovascular disease, osteopenia and osteoporosis, thrombo-embolic disease, malignancy and migraine. Patients' symptoms will be assessed using Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MENQOL) scores before and after appointments within the menopause hub. Survey data on patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) will be collected.
Data will be analysed to see whether our primary aims of improving patient experience of care, population health and reducing per capita health care costs are achieved. Suggestions for improvement of the service will be made based on gaps identified.