work

Snazzle- the school mascot/7 month joey



in her pouch, trying to give me a lick. By the way, when going into the pouch she goes head first and then moves around so only her head sticks out- typical "Roo" behavior according to the guy raising her.




this pic shows how close the mountains/tablelands are to the coral sea. Forgot to post it yesterday.

Spent a day with the second year med students precepting a small group session on how to go a lower extremity motor and sensor exam. Also discussed a project with someone at the medical school. Found out some differences in Australia and US medical school systems listed below. So we know how med school and residency works in the US. I think I already addressed med school in Australia- either they are similar to the US or they go straight from high school to med school and have a 5 year program. Med schools here are similar to the UK model- e.g. you have a med school which might send medical students to several hospitals. As a result they also have a "clinical school" on the hospital site. They do report to the medical school, but the relationship is quite different than UHB and Downstate.

Residency in Australia is different. First you apply for internship and resident medical officer (junior RMO). These are broad years with both medical, surgical and emergency terms. During your pgy-2 (rmo) year you apply for your specialty and to be a registrar which can be another 3 years for general practice, peds or emergency medicine. Surgery is longer. The residency years are in hospitals are are run on a state/territory level. You can apply to multiple states- e.g. NSW and Queensland. The individual colleges (e.g. emergency medicine, peds, etc) have more say in the registrar years. Even though registrars teach med students, they only report to the hospital and do not have anything to do with the medical school.

And met the med's school unofficial mascot- one of the employees there volunteers at a rescue for Australian wildlife. They also allow petting at this place (these animals will not be released). So a mother kangaroo (already stays in captivity) got pneumonia. Often mother roos will kick a joey out if it is sick (due to energy requirements). So this joey was 1 month old- they saved it and raised it in an artifical pouch. It is now seven months. Since it will always stay in this reserve habitat and be surrounded by homo sapiens he allows it to be touched and fed by other humans- assuming you are calm. See pics.

For further info: this is a young female Red Kangaroo. Male red's get really large- as tall as 6ft and 120kg. females are smaller and also have some grey fur. Got a chance to touch the tendon on the rear legs, its really tightly stretched which allows for their hopping. Other kangaroos are the eastern grey, western grey and the tree.

FNQ- GBR, Rainforest

cape tribulation: where rain forest meets the coral sea....

crush

parrotfish- i think
saltwater croc 2 wks old: maybe 12 inches in length
stringray beach: notice how close the coral comes to the beach. (coral sea near the cape)
3-4 METER croc....this one pulled a cattle in slightly downstream


So this past weekend was amazing. What did I do- let me show you some pictures- went to GBR- amazing experience- Didn't see a nemo, but did see a Crush. next day went to rain forest. This is the only place on earth with 2 completely different types of world heritage sites next to each other. One- GBR. The other: Daintree. What is interesting is how close the mountains are to the coast (i took a bad picture from the air to show this). You can also see it in the Cape trib picture.

This forest is the same since millions of years ago. It stretches from mossman gorge all the way to cape tribulation. BTW: the cape is names as such because that is where Capt Cook's (no relation to Hook) ship got a whole in it and had to be repaired in 1770. So he named the cape: tribulation and all the mountains have depressing names (dismay, etc). But the scenery is amazing. The only thing I couldn't fit in was a long exploration of the Tablelands: they have alot of wildlife there (kangaroos, playtpus etc). So far I have only seen them in partial enclosures: slightly annoying. its hard to go out on a true safari to see them without a car and $$, but I will try! There is one tour to southern new south wales I might try to fight in- we'll see.

Back at work on this Tuesday but there was not much work to be had and I left at 11a- to update this blog, etc. beaches are 90 min each way and the city is 60min from where I am. So just chilling today. Tomorrow will be busy- meeting with 2nd year med students for clinical skills and then a meeting for a project. Thursday somewhat similar: also a PBL with 2nd years. But this weekend is Melbourne :)

Check out the pictures below:

Far North Queensland

Arrived in FNQ (as it is abbreviated here). Amazing scenery- the Tablelands (hills) almost reach the ocean. On arrival was a great view of that. After an 90 minute drive I arrived in Port DOuglas- a small community north of Cairns. Most people stay in Cairns, but then have to travel to Port Douglas to see the rain forrest. POrt Douglas has both reef (great barrier reef) and rain forrest.

Today I went to four mile beach in POrt Douglas (on the Coral Sea) at 2pm when I arrived for 2 hours. Currenty there are stinger nets for the box jelly, but the water was clear as it could be. So the swimming area is quite small (esp for a 4 mi beach). But the water was 29 degrees- thats celcius for those who couldn't figure it out. It works out to be 85 degrees F. It was warmer than the air! Tommorow I head out to the GBR, followed by a Daintree/Cape Tribulation rainforest tour on Sunday. It finishes with a hot air ballon on Monday and travel back to Sydney. Will post pictures when I get back.

UWS

So quick overview of what I worked on the last 2 days. yesterday worked on a description for the tox/disaster group to be used in a focus group. Then went to campbelltown public hospital for a couple hours to see if its different. NG tubes for dehydration if fail po challenge- its part of the guidelines.

Registrars are the same as residents, though their training is different. One- attendings are on call, but not always in the hospital. Two everyone does a similar intern year. Three- basic training is the same as residency. Advanced training is similar to fellowship. But even if you just want to do general peds you would still do a form of advanced training. An example would be peds: intern year, 2 years basic, 3 years advance. total post grad time 5-6 years.

Med schools have 2 different types here- one is similar to the U.S. (undergrad, then med school). The other style is similar how UWS is. They apply to med school from secondary school and enter at the age of 18. They have a total of 5 years of med school. Interestingly, because girls are more mature than boys at 17, they have to predict if they will mature more or not.

Today, wrote a nice description of why hydrocarbons are additive (ASTDR)- at a request from NSW health.

Tommorow onto Port Douglas for some reef, beach, rainforest, and perhaps a hot air balloon!

day in Syndey and start at university

the entrance to Port jackson aka Sydney harbor (north and south heads)


me at Mrs macquarie's chair

So yesterday spent the day in Sydney- I started by going up via Bus (it was raining) to Manly. the surf was strong- did not see any do not swim due to shark signs, but did see a shark net. On the way took some nice pictures of the harbor. Also got some history from the driver- apparently the Aborigines and English didn't like each other- who would've thought. One point on the northern side of the harbor and Benalon (not sure if spelled correct- this is where the opera house sits) are named for aborigines.

Next went to the aquarium- see below for a picture of a platypus. It might look like some people's relatives. In the afternoon my tour of Sydney continued. Mrs Macquarie's chair/point has a great picture opportunity of both the opera house and bridge combined. Its named for the wife of the 5th governor. She apparently like watching the ships. The chair is just some carved rock. I also went to Bondi and Kings Cross- the coca cola sign is protected landmark. Many things need to go back to- the garderns, hyde park, a couple great museums and the zoo.

Today started work- everyone has been great so far and really nice. Met 2 working groups- air pollution and tox/disaster and finished the day by a great restaurant in Glebe (oysters rocked).

Sydney

So day 2 in sydney had some up/downs- one down: it poured in the am- and my umbrella broke- but that was the worst. Today started Sunday at 9am with a tour of the opera house. apparently, clubs in sydney stay open till 6a that plus rain allowed me to have a personal opera house tour. took some great pictures of the house- both inside and out.

Then explored the Rocks and Macquarie street- the oldest and first settled area of Sydney. It rained a bit, but learned some cool facts about those convicts- Bligh (of bounty fame was here as a governor). Macquarie was a governor in the early 1800s that built alot of the first infrastructure- I got a picture of the barracks, but hope to get more pictures of those old building (they are by the botanic garden) at another time.

After that it was time for Bridge climb- expensive, and was I glad it stopped raining. The wind was bad enough- the worst part is from the pylon to the main arch. the walk up the arch is not that bad. After that ate some great food at a fish place at circular quay- barimundi anyone? And topped it all off by watching the youtube orchestra. And for the 2nd time ever, the opera house had projections on the side as the music played.

Blue Mountains pt deux

here are the pictures I promised in the last post. the first one has the 3 sisters via echo point- I oped to see that today, but was unable to wit the storm and mist- there is an interesting legend about the 3 sisters. Years ago the local shaman's 3 daughters were being chased by a yeti like animal. To save them he turned them to stone. The animal then came after him so he turned himself into the fastest bird. But when the animal left, the bird could not find his magic bone/wand. As a result he stayed a bird, and his daughters stayed as stone. The second is from scenic world where you can bush walk part of the rain forest (this part also mined coal in the 1800-1950s). Even with the mist, the trees provided some gorgeous pictures.

Blue Mountains

Day one I spent recovering from jet lag. but did get some pictures of the queen victoria building.

So I attempted to go to the blue mountains- to give everyone stateside an idea its about 60 miles northwest of Sydney. The easiest way to get there is to join a day tour 24 hours in advance. So that is what I did. Only problem with a tour group- no weather guarantee. And guess what- the weather hit bad- it rained almost all day. There was one point in the am, when it seemed to let up and there were some peaks of blue sky, but alas it didn't make a prolonged appearance. So the negative was I went to a temperate rain forest hoping to see some great scenery, but did not get to see it. I did see some nice, mist covered trees. for comparison, there is a link and my pictures.

http://www.explorerworld.info/2011/02/blue-mountains-sydney.html

Also went to Leura, a quaint Blue mountains artsy village and Feathersdale Wildlife preserve (on the way back). That was interesting. The later is a rescue preserve- they take in only australian animals that can no longer survive in the wild.

sydney arrival

Store in terminal 5 of LAX- the delta terminal. was hoping to find a cool welcome to LA sign, but clearly they either don't exist or you have to go to baggage claim- I had 3 hours to kill so I started a blog. Truly I must be bored.

boarding pass

Boarding passes in JFK-waiting for my flight to LAX.