Having been told the history of QEH by Daniel this morning I got out of the taxi at the main building with some trepidation. Apparently the old hospital had been torn down a few years ago when deemed structurally unsafe only 20 years after being build. Stuck for a new location the government bought out a local private hospital moving into the premises basically overnight. Since then the building has deteriorated as they wait for the new hospital to be built and staff are pushed hard in cramped and busy conditions.

Arriving with 3 guys staying at Lavender Lodge, also from Newcastle, we met the Hospital director, sorted out paper work before being escorted to our departments for the start of an interesting elective.

Accident and Emergency is set in a building apart from the main hospital and luckily was air conditioned (more or less) as the sun had come out as I was shown the way. I was introduced to the head of the department who gave me a welcome brief and introduction to the systems used here. After this I was shown the yellow and red areas (of the 3 tiered system for gauging patient severity) and left to talk with some Malaysian student on elective from Peninsular Malaysia. Both friendly and helpful they showed me around with another new medical student from Melbourne (who is from KK originally) and we had a go at some heart and lung examinations.

The day flew by with serious cases coming in, like a elderly lady needing CPR on and off for over 50 minutes before stabilising, to the more expected-cases of appendicitis, and the infectious-a lady admitted with malaria and a gentleman with suspected TB. The Malaysian students were great at translating histories taken from patients and commands during examinations, but as they tried to get blood out a young lady the language barrier didn't matter when all she needed was a hand to squeeze and a comforting smile.

When I left at 5 the sky had clouded and the temperature dropped slightly so I decided to walk home. Not the best idea! A 35 minutes walking in work shoes, a shirt and skirt along dusty motorways and a realised it was still pretty darn hot and I relished a cold drink when I got home.

Carmen had planned to head to the jungle today as a last trip before her flight out tomorrow evening so it was a welcomed surprise to see her in the dinning area when I went down this evening. With 'nature' not really her thing and possible rain storms forecast she decided to give it a miss so instead we went for dinner again with Richard who had been out visiting the islands earlier today. We found a diner with computers at each table serving everything from Italian to local foods and we enjoyed eating whilst looking up the rules of Octopush and field hockey.

After the success of last night we hit Rainforest Bar again before requesting the band to play some Katie Perry and shooting some pool! A fun night to finish off a good first day at work.