Housemanship in Nigeria.
Why Housemanship?
After 6 years in medical school, medical students cross that great bridge to be called doctors, which is no mean feat. However, before they are fully unleashed, they have to go through 1 year of “apprenticeship or #internship“, This period is one used to learn the ropes of the trade so to speak, and more importantly to produce safe doctors that won’t kill people.
How housemanship is done in Nigeria
A typical housejob year in #Nigeria takes the new doctor through 4 rotations each lasting about 3 months. The specialties rotated are Paediatrics (children), Obstetrics and Gynecology (Pregnant women and women’s reproductive issues), Surgery, and Internal Medicine (normal medicine). The idea is for house officers to train under a consultant in that field. The consultant teaches them and guides them towards being safe doctors. However, it is not only the consultants that do this or else they will be overwhelmed; they are assisted by registrars. A registrar is a post NYSC doctor training to specialise in a particular field.
Just like other apprenticeships, the consultant and registrars give hands on training to the young doctors. They teach them how to prescribe drugs, set iv lines and take blood samples and perform other minor procedures. The house officers follow them on rounds where the consultants dictate notes to them to implement for patient management.
At the end of 3 months you’re at the mercy of the consultant to be signed out of that unit. If not, you get an extension. No one wants to repeat a stressful unit, no one wants to have an extension, so it is to your own good you’re in the good books of your consultant or registrar.
Of course while giving you orders and seeing your eagerness to please, the consultants/registrars might throw in a few requests that erm may not seem work related
The following tweets are a few
What has been your experience in doing internship, whether you’re a doctor or not, how did your boss treat you? Were you sent on errands outside official duty?
Is the story the same in other countries?
Do you think there’s anything wrong with it?