Recently an ABC News story http://abcnews.go.com * noted: “First-day jitters come with any new job but when the work involves pushing needles into strangers’ bellies, stitching up gaping wounds or even delivering babies, that debut can be especially nerve-wracking — for everyone involved.Brand-new doctors often launch right into patient care within weeks of graduating from medical school. To make sure their skills are up to snuff, many medical schools and hospitals run crash courses in the basics for these new interns.”
“It’s called boot camp at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and its adjoining Feinberg medical school, a program involving two to three days of intense practice before letting the newbies loose on patients. Young doctors are tested on a variety of skills, from the proper technique for handling newborns during childbirth — make sure the head comes out slowly — to delivering bad news — use empathy, eye contact and listen to the patient.More than 90 percent pass the first time. The rest are tested again until they do.”
“We have great residents who come from all over the country, but we have no reliable way of knowing that these interns possess these skills….We just don’t want to subject patients to newly minted residents” with uncertain expertise.”
“One of the toughest — and most praised — sessions was a test in handling end-of-life discussions, using actors trained to portray dying patients. First, the new doctors watched rapt as (an) ethics expert y demonstrated with an actor posing as single father with advanced cancer, worried sick about what would happen to his 12-year-old son.”
* to read the ABC News article “No Practicing on Patients: New Docs Get Boot Camp” by Lindsey Tanner, highlight and click on open hyperlink http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/practicing-patients-docs-boot-camp-24447297
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Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H., is Clinical Professor, Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Adjunct Professor, Baruch College ( C.U.N.Y.), Rutgers School of Public Health, and Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration.
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