Learning from the nurses and the paramedics: the experience of a Kenyan medical officer intern-a call for research

In the Kenyan medical educations system, one has to go through one year of internship after graduating from medical school in order to be licensed to practise medicine. This internship period is laden with work to the extent of overwhelming and stressing the medical officer interns. Irrespective of what competence interns come with into the field there is still a lot they have to learn from the nurses and the paramedics. Most of the learning takes place during the acute care settings when the intern is on call and is from the nurses. The paramedics most helpful to the intern are the theater assistants who teach interns how to use the various surgical instruments and sometimes direct during minor operations.