Ready or not, here they come: acting interns' experience and perceived competency performing basic medical procedures.
OBJECTIVE
To assess acting interns' (AI's) experience with and perceived level of competency performing 6 basic medical procedures.


METHODS
Fourth-year medical students at the University of Cincinnati (UCCOM) are required to complete 2 AI rotations in Internal Medicine. All AIs in 2003-2004 (n = 150) and 2004-2005 (n = 151) were asked to complete a survey about whether during each of their rotations they had performed and felt competent performing the following procedures: phlebotomy, intravenous (IV) catheter insertion, arterial blood gas (ABG), nasogastric (NG) tube insertion, lumbar puncture (LP), and Foley catheter insertion.


RESULTS
Four hundred sixty-seven of 601 possible surveys (across both years and both rotations) were completed (78% response rate). During both rotations, relatively few students performed the procedures, ranging from 9% for Foley catheter insertion (24/208) to 50% for both ABG and NG tube insertion (130/259). The two procedures most often performed were ABG (range 46-50%) and NG tube insertion (range 42-50%). Feelings of competency varied from 12% (LP) to 82% (Foley catheter). Except for LP, if students performed a procedure at least once, they reported feeling more competent (range 85% for ABG to 96% for Foley catheter insertion). Among the students who performed LP during a rotation, many still did not feel competent performing LPs: 23 (74%) in rotation 1 and 20 (40%) in rotation 2.


CONCLUSIONS
Many fourth-year students at UCCOM do not perform basic procedures during their acting internship rotations. Procedural performance correlates with feelings of competency. Lumbar puncture competency may be too ambitious a goal for medical students.
Coberly
LeAnn
L
Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA. Leann.coberly@uc.edu
Goldenhar
Linda M
LM
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000379:methods; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003625:Data Collection; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000379:methods; D013337:Students, Medical; D013997:Time Factors