New doctors in the house at QEH

Twenty-seven interns who joined the medical team at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) today have been reminded that they will be required to follow the facility’s strict COVID-19 protocols.

Director of Medical Services and co-coordinator of QEH’s internship programme Dr Clyde Cave told Barbados TODAY that for the first time in the history of the teaching hospital, interns will have to be trained while wearing personal protective equipment.

When they arrived this morning, the interns, like other members of the public and staff at the facility, were required to have their temperatures checked and hands sanitized.

Dr Cave noted the difficulty of working always in a mask while remembering to maintain social distancing and regular hand sanitizing, but added he is confident of the doctors’ ability to manage risks.

“They were a part of a student community and they are now part of a professional community. As part of the professional community, you have risks. It is important for them not to take home things that can infect vulnerable people within their households,” he said.

Dr Cave said the majority of the interns studied at the Cave Hill campus but those students who returned home from UWI campuses in Jamaica and Trinidad have completed Government’s quarantine protocol except for two who are still fulfilling the 14-day quarantine.

The QEH internship programme accommodates up to 36 medical graduates in January and July. However, there was a delay this year because the graduating classes finished later than usual. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb