QEH internships ‘in demand’

The doctors’ internship programme at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) is in high demand. But Acting Director of Medical Services Dr Clyde Cave said it remains limited to 36 entrants.

Dr Cave, who is the Internship Coordinator, was speaking today at the Intern of The Year Awards Ceremony held in the QEH boardroom.

He told those present, the media and one recipient who joined live from Canada that the QEH cannot run the risk of watering down the programme to accommodate larger numbers.

“The internship is in demand as we produce more medical graduates. Both from the University of the West Indies and other places there is a bigger demand. You can only expand a programme like an internship so much without diluting it. It does meet a criteria – in standards, number of supervising mentors and doctors, and number of patients for experience,” he said.

Dr Cave said the hospital focuses on competence and skill when training the interns.

“We are limited at a cohort of 36 interns, regardless of how many have graduated from whatever medical school. We are a teaching hospital of the University of the West Indies and our interns who have trained here with us, the graduates, it is like welcoming them home,” he said.

“Yes, it is a juggle. Oftentimes the demand is due to factors beyond our control; what we are very pleased about is that once we accept people into our programme we do all that we can to make sure that they reach the level of competency and skill so that they can be registered by the Medical Council of Barbados. On a day like today, we like to highlight quality and excellence as exemplified by our outstanding interns here.”

When questioned about the impact of COVID-19 on the programme, Dr Cave said the pandemic added to the challenges the interns would normally face.

“The interns are our first point of contact, our consistent point of contact…. If patients remember one doctor in the hospital it is usually the intern. They [interns] have been asked to assume a very, very strenuous role and to do it at a time when extra demands were made,” he said.

“It is no small measure due to them, the healthcare workers and the entire response of the hospital [that] at a time when our country was most vulnerable we have so far managed to keep the hospital as a COVID-free zone. Yes, COVID did pose challenges and it continues to pose challenges.”

Intern of the Year is Dr Ninon Forter Chee-A-Tow while the outstanding interns are Dr Keimee Lopez, Dr Devon Thorpe, Dr Rebecca Whitehead, and Dr Regina Young.

Dr Chee-A-Tow said she was honoured to receive such an accolade.

“It is an incredible honour and a humbling experience to receive this acknowledgment today. I want to take this moment to share this with all of my fellow interns that I have walked alongside through this last year. This is the end of this chapter guys, but it’s by no means the end of our novel,” she said.

Dr Chee-A-Tow reflected on her time as an intern and the importance of a good bedside manner.

“Internship was a whirlwind of emotions. It was a combination of learning, camaraderie; it was a blend of long nights, mentorship and a few tears along the way. More so, I believe it is the value and respect that we have learnt to place on human life. It’s fragility, it is the knowledge that persons from all walks of life look to us at their most vulnerable times for assistance. It’s knowledge that with kindness, compassion and even just a small smile and a ‘hello’, we can help our patients through some of these toughest times,” she said. (IMC)