What basic clinical procedures should be mastered by junior clerkship students? Experience at a single medical school in Tanzania

Figures & data

Table 1 The list of medical procedures that 15 clinicians agreed on

Medical procedure	Level of agreement to be a basic procedure
	Strongly agree, n (%)	Neutral, n (%)	Strongly disagree, n (%)
IV drip insertion	15 (100)	0	0
Venipuncture	15 (100)	0	0
Nasogastric tube	15 (100)	0	0
Foley catheterization	14 (93.3)	1 (6.7)	0
Lumbar puncture	13 (86.7)	2 (13.3)	0
Abdominal paracentesis	13 (86.7)	2 (13.3)	0
Peripheral venous insertion	8 (53.3)	3 (20.0)	4 (26.7)
Throat swabbing	7 (46.7)	7 (46.7)	1 (6.6)
Arterial puncture	7 (46.7)	6 (40.0)	2 (13.3)
ECGa reading	2 (13.3)	9 (60.0)	4 (26.7)
Central venous catheterization	0	5 (33.3)	10 (66.7)

Notes:

a ECG is also referred to as EKG.

Abbreviations: IV, intravenous; ECG, electrocardiogram.

Table 2 Identified level of competency on basic procedures by the end of rotation

Medical procedure	Level of competence student should perform by the end of internal medicine junior rotation (n=15)
	Independently, n (%)	Supervised, n (%)	Observe only, n (%)
Venipuncture	13 (86.7)	2 (13.3)	0
IV drip insertion	10 (66.7)	4 (26.7)	1 (0.07)
Foley catheterization	8 (53.3)	6 (40.0)	1 (0.07)
Nasogastric tube	7 (46.7)	7 (46.7)	1 (0.07)
Lumbar puncture	3 (20.0)	10 (66.7)	2 (13.3)
Abdominal paracentesis	3 (20.0)	10 (66.7)	2 (13.3)
Throat swabbing	3 (20.0)	8 (53.3)	4 (26.7)
Peripheral venous insertion	3 (20.0)	7 (46.7)	5 (33.3)
ECGa reading	2 (13.3)	7 (46.7)	6 (40.0)
Arterial puncture	0	8 (53.3)	7 (46.7)
Central venous catheterization	0	3 (20.0)	12 (80.0)

Note:

a ECG is also referred to as EKG.

Abbreviations: IV, intravenous; ECG, electrocardiogram.

Figure 1 Medical procedures that the 56 students (A) assisted in and (B) performed.

Abbreviation: IV, intravenous.

Figure 2 Medical procedures that 56 students performed/assisted as per departmental requirement.

Abbreviation: IV, intravenous.