Psychiatrist Crisis Assessment and Home Team Outpatient Adults New Zealand AR-132

I have a CAHT vacancy to fill that perhaps could be of interest to you?

Location: Hamilton, North Island, city of 150,000 and home to Waikato University
Commitment: At least one year with the potential to stay longer if you wish
Climate: Mild
Cost of living: Lower than Auckland or Wellington
Quality of life: Very good with lots of places to hike and walk. Raglan, an alternative beachside community is 45 minutes away offering excellent surfing.
Schools: Good
Compensation: Up to NZ$300,000 for Senior Medical Officers including pay for on-call, matching superannuation and other allowances. (This is a lot of money for New Zealand.)
Paid Vacation per Annum: Six Weeks
Paid Public Holidays: 11
Paid sick days: 30
CME: NZ$16,000 and 10 paid days. Enough to return home to see family and friends?
Relocation: Up to NZ$15,000

The following is from an expat US Psychiatrist who recently returned to the States after completing her 12 months doing this exact, same job. Initially, she and her husband were only thinking of doing six months but they are pleased to have stayed for one year. They couldn’t believe how fast the year went exploring many different parts of both the North and South Islands.

Larry: “Tell me a little about the position you recently left in Hamilton.”

Doctor: “As you know I worked in CAHT where you have to be available for emergencies. Usually follow-up is done by nurses once patients return home. I was given one hour to spend with each patient to help me determine whether or not a patient is admitted or can be sent home. It is possible to provide some psychotherapy sessions during the one hour’s sessions. I was thoroughly spoilt by New Zealand and am now reluctant to go back to 15 minutes’ patient checks in the States.”

Larry: “Did you ever go to patients’ homes or only meet with them at the outpatient clinic in the hospital that was near ED?”

Doctor: “Yes, I did sometimes but not as often as the home based ACT team.

Larry: “What was a typical day like?”

Doctor: “A typical day starts with a multi-disciplinary team meeting which is like a morning report where we review new calls we got the night before and assign them to clinicians. (Note: Not everyone needs to see a psychiatrist).

Doctor:  “We are then scheduled to see patients and you always have a clinician accompanying you. As a consultant one of your main responsibilities is to be available for involuntary commitments which they call sectioning and the paperwork associated with it. You also see patients that nurses want you to see for medical treatment. In CAHT everyone is seen first to decide if they need hospitalization or can be treated as an outpatient. Once you decide then you can follow them up to six weeks. (Note: You don’t have to see them every week and only if the need arises.) Once you start them on meds then nurses will follow them and if they are doing well then nurses will refer them back to their GP or community mental health-based team. If they are not responding to treatment then you may need to see them once or twice more.

Doctor:  “So the day is pretty open and on average you may see three patients a day though occasionally I have seen up to six. The patients are scheduled for an hour each time so you have plenty of time to talk with the patients which was what I loved.

“You start your day by 8:30am and finish it by 4:30pm. Unless you are on-call your day is done. So they try not to schedule any patients after 4pm. Calls are unpredictable. Unfortunately, most of my calls were hectic. However, if you had a bad day you have the option of coming in late or not come in at all.

“ If your Psychiatrists have any questions I am happy to talk with them.”

Does this sound like something you would like to explore with me?
Your CV in Word format will get my attention.