Consultations
Surgery Consultation
Spinal surgery consultations
Dr Licina consults with patients at the SpinePlus clinic on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and provides opinions about management of their spinal problems. After the check-in process, patients are first seen by the practice nurse or clinical assistant. Dr Licina reviews all the information including any scans, and then performs a clinical assessment and examination.
On many occasions, further scans or injections are performed immediately after the consultation. This means that the consultation process can take a number of hours, but in many cases, further visits are not required. Some consultations are conducted by telehealth if appropriate.
The efficiency of the consultation process is optimised by the booking system, which allows for detailed planning prior to the consultation itself. Patients’ conditions are triaged in order to identify which conditions are most urgent, and what tests may be required prior to or after the consultation.
Patients can complete the triage process over the phone or online by answering a series of questions. The highly trained and experienced administration team in consultation with the clinicians use this information to make an appropriate appointment and organise any necessary tests.
On some occasions, the triage process indicates that surgery is unlikely to be required and that the condition would be better managed by another specialist in the team that works closely with Dr Licina. This allows a more timely appointment and, should a surgical opinion be required, a consultation with Dr Licina can be provided within a short period of time.
