Medical Elective in the Pacific Islands

Getting here was wonderfully easy. The flight out of Suva wasn't cancelled last-minute (unlike some others on the same day!) and I had the slightly unusual  experience of sharing a table for coffee with the man who turned out to be my pilot at the only cafe in the aiprort. We came in very early- nearly an hour before we were scheduled- but luckily the guy who owns my hostel noticed and was still there to pick me up from the airport. The place I'm staying is really nice, and convient for both the hospital and the centre of town, but the biggest downside is that I'm the only one here at the moment. I'd sort of thought that travelling solo wouldn't be too much of an issue because I'd meet other people at my accomodation etc. but there's no one else arriving till the 6th, so I'm going to have to get very used to my own company! After getting unpacked, the owner, Will, took me into one of the popular bars where a lot of expats go, for a couple of d...

So that's it- Fiji hospital work is over with an x-ray meeting, handover, and some intern teaching on managing severe acute malnutirition (SAM). Sign off went much more smoothly than expected, probably mainly because Dr Ily couldn't actually be bothered to try and hunt down the interns for comments, and we've said our goodbyes and thank yous to all the doctors we spent time with. After one last lunch in town the girls headed down the bus-stop to catch a coach up to Nadi (where they're flying out) and I finally braved the walk uphill from town to home. Ironically, it was a much easier climb than I'd expected, and actually a very pleasant walk- it's a shame that'll be the last time I do it! So now I'm sitting alone in the apartment for the first time, killing time until my flight to Tonga tomorrow. It feels very strange not to have them around after being in pretty much constant contact for the last month, and I can't quite decide what to do with m...

It's that moment when your heart sinks into your boots, and you hear the words: "Leave your form with me, and I'll ask around for feedback."  Now, it's not like we haven't been going in or anything- Mazza and I have both been in most days for the last four weeks. It's just that the interns I was with for most of that time are no longer in the department, and I can count my interactions with the registrars on the fingers of one hand, so this was not the response I was hoping for when presenting my form for a signature to confirm I'd been attending for the last four weeks here in Fiji.  Sign-offs are my own personal nightmare- I loathe them in a way no-one else seems to, and have spent many a sleepless night trying to plan exactly how I'm going to cram in all the signatures required for a placement. So when it comes to elective, despite being fully aware that there will be some students who got signed off on their first day and never set foot in ...

Time is flying by now, and I'm desparately trying to get my head around heading to Tonga in a few days and what I need to have done before then! Today we made one last trip into Suva town to pick up some sunblock and few bits of food to last us till we leave (we may also have treated ourselves to some cake while we were there). I also needed to exchange some FJD to Tongan Pa'anga (still not sure how you pronounce that) so I headed to the currency booth in the centre of the mall.  It was an unusual experience to say the least- not only did I have to provide my passport and proof of my flight out of Fiji, I also had to show them proof of my address here, and my occupation (luckily I'd brought my student ID!). It was way more intense a grilling than I'd experienced trying to change money anywhere else, and when I asked the woman at the counter, she said it was to try and counteract money laundering. I'm not sure if that's a big problem in Fiji, but it was a lot o...

There's only one week left here at the CWMH, so I thought I'd take the chance to reflect on the medical side of my elective, and how this last week has gone. Certainly, moving over to the neonatal side of things, I feel like I've been able to get a lot more stuck in and involved than I did on my ward weeks. I've been sharing a ward round with one of the interns (sure, most of the babies are healthy and just need to stay for the mandatory 12/24hrs that are required here, but I still get to examine and write up and feel generally useful), going with her to labour and c-section calls in case any resus is needed (luckily none has been so far!) and even managing a few succesful bloods on the neonates. That's not to say things have always been straightforward since swaping sides though- take this morning! Straight after handover I headed to the ward like always, and waited two hours, but no intern showed up. The nurses had no clue where they were, the registrar had n...

We left the last day of the weekend free to check out the nearby 'Garden of the Sleeping Giant', and to have a wander around Nadi, as we hadn't yet see any of the centre of town. Unfortunately, we all now agree that this was a poor decision. Garden of the Sleeping Giant To be fair, the gardens weren't a mistake- they were lovely. There's a fairly short trail you can walk around, a walkway full of orchids, and a decently sized hill you can climb, which gives you a brilliant view of the area. It was a hot day, so by the time we reached the top, we were surprisingly tired and sweaty! At the top! Luckily as part of your admission you get a nice cool glass of fruit juice at the end, and we spent some time relaxing there, trying to arrange a new taxi back after our previous driver abandoned us and refused to come back (the staff said we'd probably agreed on too cheap a rate for the journey out-oops?!). Views from the top When we finally got ...

After an incredibly tough three day week, we enjoyed two days this weekend at the Malamala beach club.  After loving Leleuvia so much, we really wanted to do another island stay this weekend, but no matter where we looked, the price of transfers to and from the island accomodation (even the most remote ones!) were just too expensive for us to justify. Luckily for us, I was my usual genius self and managed to solve the problem using a brochure I'd picked up at the airport a few weeks ago for Malamala beach club. When you love it enough to go twice in two days Malamala is based on a small island about half an hour from Denaurau (the heavily manicured tourist haven in Nadi), but unlike the other islands nearby, it doesn't allow any overnight guests. Your ferry transfers are included in your admission fee, and even better, if you return again within a week, it's only around £20 each, including the boat out! We'd booked a cheap hotel in Nadi to stay at overnight, fr...