Newcastle to Darwin (via South America)

As some of you may have realised I have moved houses in the last few weeks. After finishing up my training in Newcastle and fitting in a lightning trip to Peru and Ecuador, I am now a resident of Darwin. Yep, talk about doing things by halves…. I now live about a 5 hour plane trip, and 1.5 hours backwards in time, from my home of the last few years in the Hunter.

So why Darwin? As many of you also know, I can be a bit indecisive and my plan for the next few years is still largely unmade. I have exams coming up again in April so I wanted a job for 2012 that provided me some study time, but was also something a little bit different. One of my friends from work happened to show me an ad for the Darwin job when it come out months ago and I have to admit I was instantly intrigued by the talk about humanitarian work and disaster training – something I have always been interested in. A few emails later and the job, surprisingly, was mine. And here I am.

So for the next twelve months I will be working at Royal Darwin Hospital as the Trauma Fellow. I am one of three surgical fellows in the department, along with 12 registrars and approximately a billion residents. The General Surgeons here are true general surgeons and do everything from ortho to urology and vascular to neurosurgery - something that will definitely test me! To date our emergency work seems to be a combination of necrotic toes for amputation and lacerations on every part of the body from machetes or assaults, but there are a decent number of craniotomies done here every year and I am looking forward to getting into a bit of the speciality work. Whilst we have visiting specialists from Adelaide and Brisbane we are definitely the first port of call for pretty much anything.

The department itself is divided into four teams with a new Acute Surgical Team being set up this week. After 6 months of AGSU at the John I thought I would be free of it all – but it seems I am destined to do another few months up here. It has definitely been a frustrating week with lots of teething problems but I think it will be a good thing for the hospital if we can keep it going.

Whilst I am working in General Surgery, I am officially employed by the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre which is located on the 8^th floor of the hospital (ie has the best view).  More info can be found at their website: http://www.nationaltraumacentre.nt.gov.au but basically these guys are the coordinators, trainers and response team for all disasters, both national and international. They were heavily involved in the 2^nd Bali bombings, the Pakistan floods, Ashmore Reef incident and most of the recent problems in East Timor.

The centre is heavily funded and basically pays my entire wage. In return they ask me to do two trauma rounds a week and attend a few meetings every now and then. Pretty good deal. They also give me my own office – which I am super excited about. My desk is in the same room as the two IT guys, who I’ve already charmed into getting me two large monitors so I look extra special and knowledgeable. I am currently debating what awesome pictures to stick up over my desk and have talked the guys into getting a radio in. A large mirrorball is my next task….

The centre also has an UNLOCKED stationary cupboard that I am ENCOURAGED to use (Can this get any better??). Today I was even presented with the stationary supply catalogues so I can order anything I ‘need’. Its like my own private Officeworks! And while its not quite Starbucks the staffroom has TWO coffee machines. For some reason they need to use a minimum amount of coffee each day to keep the machines. I have volunteered my services. My favourite machine is the one around the corner from my office. It talks to me and know exactly how I feel…

I love it already.

The other major bonus of my job is that I get to attend any and every course that the centre runs. For free. A lot of them are centred on disaster management and pre-hospital management of traumas but they range from neonatal resuscitation to information courses on bombs and blast injuries. In May I will be doing the AUSMAT course where I learn how to travel in armed convoys, how to be nice to terrorists, and how to be held up at gunpoint and (hopefully) not be killed. Obviously this is not quite how the content is described (I think they call it “Trip Planning and Hostile Negotations’) but I am getting geared up for ‘Survivor’ mode anyway.

My first teaching course will be in a few weeks with a day trip out to the Tiwi Islands to talk about pre-hospital treatment of trauma. It’s a fly-in, fly-out course but I am really excited about seeing a part of the world I haven’t been to. I guess its one way for me to combine work and travel in some way. I even get my own T-shirt!

So everything is new and exciting at the moment and while I know how bad I am at keeping in touch with people, I am hoping this blog will let me keep you all updated as to what life up here is like. I hope you keep reading…..