SURGICAL NURSING UNIT

Home: The Surgical Nursing Unit is one of the largest nursing units, currently housing patients of General Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Institute. It comprises of 3 surgical wards, 5 orthopaedic & rehabilitation wards, a rehabilitation institute, one SICU, one SHDU, one Ortho HDU, 9 operating rooms and a Daycare facility. The Department has a total of 500 beds and 11 Operating room tables. The team consists of 10 nursing faculty who are also Nurse managers, 15 Charge Nurses, 4 Tutors and 424 Staff nurses.

The unit house patients who undergo Gastrointestinal Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Colorectal surgery, Head and Neck Surgery, Hepatobiliary Surgery, and Orthopaedic Surgery. Paul Brand block has been dedicated exclusively to Orthopaedic services and consists of three wards, one HDU, 9 operating rooms and 2 Daycare operating rooms. The Rehabilitation Institute specializes in caring for patients with rehabilitative needs. It has two wards that accommodate 100 patients and has a multi-disciplinary team to care for those patients. Faculty teach and supervise staff nurses who render nursing care and also cater to student learning by
offering a varied gamut of surgical and orthopaedic clinical experience.

Services: The Surgical nursing department provides nursing care for all general surgical and orthopaedic patients, and we also provide various Clinical Nurse Specialist services in the outpatient department and wards. The various services offered are Ostomy services (initiated in 2002), Breast Care services (initiated in 2010) and Head & Neck speciality services (initiated in 2012) which include nurse run clinics in OPD. The nurse-based anaesthetist-supervised Acute Pain Services is being initiated since 2013. Vascular Nurse Services was initiated in 2014 and patients admitted within the surgical department are provided specialized care. Family Nurse Educator was initiated in 2014 to counselling family members of critically ill patients. Hepatopancreaticbilliary (HPB) nurse services were initiated in 2017 and Upper Gastrointestinal (GI) nurse was initiated in 2017 providing competent care for patients in the out-patient and in-patient department. Currently, the Abdominal Wall Repair Nurse Specialist is on a trial basis.

Important days celebrated by the department
Head and Neck day is celebrated in the month of July. As a part of the celebration, various programmes are organised such as rallies, and school health programs to create awareness on the prevention of oral cancers for the public and school children and cancer survivors meet also planned to discuss their improvement and issues faced by them.

The ‘Rehab Mela’ which is a reunion of rehabilitated patients was organised every year. At that time, rehabilitated patients are assessed and provided health education, and psychosocial and spiritual counselling. Sports and cultural activities are organised for these patients.

Training: Post Diploma in Critical Care Nursing is offered by our department which is a one-year course, certified by Indian Nursing Council. This course enables nurses to acquire Critical Care knowledge and skills that equip the nurses to provide nursing care to patients who the Critically ill.

Post Diploma in Orthopedics and Rehabilitation Nursing is offered by our department which is a one-year course, certified by Indian Nursing Council. This course enables nurses to acquire knowledge and skills in orthopaedics and Rehabilitation and equips the nurses to provide nursing care for the patients

List of Surgical Nursing faculty:
Dr. Premila Lee, M.Sc(N), Ph.D. Professor & Head of Medical-Surgical Nursing.
Dr Sheela Durai, M.Sc(N), PhD. Professor & Head of the Unit.
Ms. Ida Nirmal, M.Sc(N). Professor. ( On Study leave )
Ms. Priscilla Sam, M.Sc(N). Professor.
Dr Asha Solomon, M.Sc(N). Professor
Ms. Hepsi Raju, M.Sc(N) . Assistant Professor.
Ms. Angel Raja Kumari R, M.Sc(N). Assistant Professor
Ms Jothi Priya, M.Sc(N). MSc Tutor
Ms Rini Wils, M.Sc(N). MSc Tutor.
Ms. Suganya, M.Sc(N). MSc Tutor.
Ms Anu Bharathi, B.Sc(N). Tutor.
Ms. Benita Christina, B.Sc(N). Tutor.

Contact Us:
Name of the HOD: Dr Premila Lee, Professor & HOD of Medical-Surgical Nursing
Department, College of Nursing, CMC, Vellore.
Name of the HOU: Dr Sheela Durai
Department Address: Surgical Nursing Unit, College Of Nursing, Christian Medical College, Vellore
email: surgicalnursingcmcvellore@gmail.com
Contact number: 0416 2287038 (CON), 0416 2285272 (Rehab)

Rehabilitation Nursing

The Rehabilitation Institute specializes in caring for patients with rehabilitative needs. It has two wards that accommodate 83 patients and has facilities such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, prosthetic & orthotic services, gait analysis and supportive services of social workers, psychologists and chaplains.
The faculty of the Rehabilitation Institute assume pivotal roles in training nurses to render comprehensive nursing care, patient education and caregiver teaching. Patient and family education, training and involvement in care help a disabled person plan and perform activities according to their abilities.

Faculty offer their expertise to students from CMC and other centres as well. They are involved in planning and conducting regular in-service education for staff and patients. Nursing faculty play an important role in the interdisciplinary team approach of care given to patients with disabilities.

The faculty actively participate in the ‘Rehab Mela’ which is a reunion of rehabilitated patients, conducted every year. They involve in assessment, health education, specific nursing interventions, psychosocial/spiritual nurturing, sports and cultural activities.