The RCH Graduate Nurse Program is a 12-month program based in one clinical area, which allows nurses to develop and consolidate knowledge that is necessary to become a skilled and proficient registered nurse.

Banksia

Mental health

Please note that RCH offer a separate Mental Health Graduate Nurse Program. For information on the Banksia unit and the Mental Health GNP please visit their website.

Ambulatory Care (Day Medical and Specialist Clinics)

Day Medical

Day Medical Care (DMC) is a nurse-led unit that provides care, ongoing management and diagnosis of patients up to the age of 18 years.

This are four different areas within DMC:

• Day Medical Unit - provides treatment to patients with chronic medical conditions including haemoglobin and blood disorders, bone and joint disorders, gastroenterological disorders and immune deficiencies. The nurses in DMU also assist medical staff with procedures under sedation.
• Allergy Challenge Area - provides care to allergy patients who require food and drug challenges, allergy skin prick testing and immunotherapy.
• Haemodialysis Unit - provides a service for outpatients requiring chronic haemodialysis and inpatients who require acute haemodialysis on the inpatient wards.
• Apheresis service - provides treatment for patients who require red blood cell exchange, plasma exchange and cell collections.
  

Specialist Clinics

Specialist Clinics is also known as Outpatients. An outpatient is a patient who comes to hospital for treatment but does not stay overnight. The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) is the largest Paediatric Specialist Clinics in Victoria with over 1,000 patients attending every day and more than 350 different clinics available. Please refer to clinics or appointments, for further information.  

Butterfly (Newborn Intensive Care Unit)

The Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a ward that cares for newborn babies who are less than 30 days old or weigh less than 3kg. Babies admitted to Butterfly have a wide range of complex medical and surgical problems. Some require the support of a ventilator for their breathing and many require specialized surgical procedures.

Cockatoo (Surgical and Neuroscience Care)

Cockatoo cares for patients aged from infancy to adolescence. The clinical staff provide comprehensive care to patients with neurological, neurosurgical, metabolic, Endocrine and complex gastroenterology and hepatology conditions.

Critical Care (Emergency Department and Rosella)

Emergency

The ED at the RCH provides urgent medical care to children and adolescents. The Department operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Approximately 90,000 patients, ranging from newborns to teenagers, are seen each year = 250 patients per day on average.

Rosella (Paediatric Intensive Care Unit)

The PICU provides intensive care services to critically ill infants, children and young people for Tasmania, Victoria and southern New South Wales.  RCH is the designated state-wide major trauma centre for paediatrics.

Dolphin (Short Stay Emergency)

Dolphin is located adjacent to the Emergency Department (ED). It cares for children who present to the ED and require care for up to 48 hours. With its streamlined admission and discharge processes, the unit cares for children of all ages, from babies aged six months to adolescents, with a range of acute illnesses. Conditions treated in Dolphin - Medical Short Stay include asthma, bronchiolitis, constipation, croup, eczema, fever, gastroenteritis, urinary tract infection, anaphylaxis (allergic reactions), migraine, snake bite and viral infections.

Kelpie (Adolescent, oncology and rehabilitation care)

Kelpie delivers developmentally-appropriate inpatient care and treatment to children and adolescents between the ages of 2 and 20 with acute and chronic health issues. The ward's multi-disciplinary model of care involves physical care, treatment, emotional support, advocacy and education.

Kelpie has three specialities:

• Adolescent medicine – specialising in the care of patients with eating disorders 12 years of age and over
• Oncology – treating a wide range of childhood cancers including, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Osteosarcoma and Ewing’s Sarcoma in patients six years of age and over
• Rehabilitation – providing rehabilitation to improve the abilities of patients two years of age and over following major injury, illness or medical procedures

Koala (Cardiac Care) 

Koala rovides specialist care for patients with both cardiac and renal conditions. Patients of all ages ranging from newborns through to adolescents receive specialist cardiac treatments including cardiac surgery, medical therapies and electrophysiology. We also care for patients with a range of kidney problems managed both medically and surgically, and with renal replacement therapies of haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and renal transplantation.

Koala are proud to be a National Funded Centre in a variety of areas including:

• Paediatric heart transplantation
• Pulmonary hypertension management
• Hypoplastic left heart syndrome
• Paediatricventricular assist devices (including both Berlin Heart and Heartware)

Kookaburra (Cancer Care)

Kookaburra is part of the RCH Children's Cancer Centre (CCC) – the largest partner in the Victorian Paediatric Integrated Cancer Services (PICS), and the only provider of complex children's cancer care and stem cell transplantation in Victoria. Kookaburra treats all forms of childhood cancer including: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, Osteosarcoma, Neuroblastoma, Rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing’s Sarcoma, all forms of brain cancer and others.

Peri-operative (Theatre, Recovery, Surgical Short Stay, Day Surgery)

Theatre

The peri-operative suite is made up of 14 theatres which are organised in three speciality clusters:

• High turnover – theatre 1-3 which includes the endoscopy theatre, labs and lines, ENT and ophthalmology theatres
• General theatres – theatres 4-9 include burns, urology, general surgery, plastics and orthopaedic theatres 
• Specialist theatres – 10–14 which includes the emergency theatre, cardiac and an intraoperative MRI facility which incorporates the Cardiac Catheter Lab and leurosurgical theatre. In excess of 16,000 procedures are performed yearly with a month average of 1,300 procedures. Our patients range from newborn premature babies to adolescents and we are the only paediatric hospital within Australia that performs heart transplants

Perioperative Recovery

Our recovery unit provides postoperative care to children ranging in age from neonates to adolescents. Our unit caters for admissions that exceed 10,000 annually, with an average of 60–80 patients per day. The unit consists of 21 bays for the immediate postoperative care of patients and is located within our perioperative department on the 3rd floor.

Possum - Short Stay Surgical Care

Possum cares for patients undergoing plastic and maxillofacial, orthopaedics, urology, burns, otolaryngology (ENT) and cardiology procedures. Patients may be admitted for a wide range of surgical procedures including tonsillectomy, simple fracture setting, athroscopy, soft tissue wound repair, cleft lip repair, hernia repair, skin grafting and cardiac catheterisation.

Day Surgery

Day surgery cares for children of all ages requiring elective or emergency operations, who are often admitted, operated on and discharged within the same day. Our unit caters for admissions that exceed 10,000 annually, with an average of 20–40 patients per day. We are located within the perioperative department on the 3rd floor.

Platypus (Surgical Care)

Platypus is the long stay surgical ward caring for patients undergoing general surgery, orthopaedic, plastics and maxillofacial, urology and burns procedures. They are the dedicated burns and trauma unit at the RCH. Caring for patients aged from newborn to teenagers, Platypus treats more than 3000 patients per year.

Sugar glider (Medical Care)

Sugar Glider is a specialist medical unit where a multidisciplinary team cares for children and infants with a diverse range of acute and chronic illnesses.

The unit has four medical specialities:

• General medicine
• Respiratory medicine
• ENT
• Neurodevelopmental disability

Within these disciplines Sugar Glider cares for a variety of clinical conditions such as bronchiolitis, croup and asthma through to chronic conditions such as Cystic Fibrosis. Children who have a tracheostomy are cared for on the unit. Sugar Glider is also home to children who require ongoing ventilatory support such as CPAP, BiPAP and full ventilation via tracheostomy. In conjunction with the department of respiratory medicine sleep studies are conducted on this unit.