Royal Adelaide Hospital is a 650 bed tertiary referral hospital located in the centre of Adelaide , the capital city of South Australia . It is the major teaching hospital for the University of Adelaide School of Medicine and offers postgraduate training in most specialties of adult medicine and nursing.

The new Emergency Department was opened in May 2003. At the time of opening it is the largest and most advanced ED in Australia , with 46 patient cubicles, and 4 separate resuscitation areas.

The Emergency Department has approximately 55,000 patient attendances per year with an admission rate of 35%. The casemix is varied with a high proportion of high acuity patients, but does not include paediatrics or obstetrics.

Emergency Physicians are actively involved in the RAH Retrieval Service which predominantly serves South Australia and the Northern Territory, and is involved in interstate and international retrievals on occasions.

Royal Adelaide Hospital is the largest trauma centre for the State of South Australia seeing over 1,500 major trauma cases annually. It is supported by these on-site specialist units:

The Burns, Spinal and Hyperbaric units are the sole referral units for SA and the NT

Special interests of the Department include Ultrasound within the ED, Collaborative work with the other Government agencies on recreational drug use in the inner city environment, and Disaster Medicine.

There are strong links with the nearby Women's and Children's Hospital, with Consultant and Registrar rotation through that institution's Emergency Department.

Current medical staffing levels are high, with eleven consultants, senior registrar and eleven registrars. There are a large number of RMO staff, both basic trainees and general rotation with a limited number of Interns.

As the only professorial ED in SA there is a strong academic focus and an active research programme.

Education is tailored to all levels of medical staff with an emphasis on preparation for both parts of the FACEM examination (see Academic Programme). The Department is accredited for advanced training by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine for two years (see Emergency Medicine specialty training).

Please select from the drop down menu at top of page to view specific areas of the Emergency Department at the Royal Adelaide Hospital .

Obituary - Dr Marie Kuhn