I'm an intern, what courses should I do?

Career Guidance Postgrad Education
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If you are an intern then you want to work on improving your clinical management and confidence, especially in emergencies. That’s were advanced life short support courses are really beneficial.

Not only do they massively grow your skills in managing emergencies and prepare you for commserve, but many jobs post-commserve require you to have completed certain of these, so you can’t really go wrong with starting now already.

Short courses are usually 1-2 day courses held in-person. They typically involve learning theoretical as well as clinical skills, which is why they are done in-person. They also usually expire within 2-4 years, depending on the course, so you will need to either do them every few years or do the refresher courses before they expire (see below).

Short Courses

Some examples of courses typically done by most doctors include:

  • BLS (Basic Life Support).

    • This is usually included in medical school, but it expires after 2 years.
    • A completed BLS certificate is required to qualify for the courses below.
    • If possible, try to do your BLS Refresher course before it expires as it’s cheaper and easier than doing the course again from scratch.

  • ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support).

    • This is very helpful in most settings as it teaches you a lot about cardiorespiratory resuscitation and some commonly faced emergencies.
    • Many jobs will require you to have an up-to-date ACLS certificate.
    • These usually expire after 3 years so try to do your ACLS Refresher before that happens.
    • At a later stage you might also consider doing the ACLS EP (Experienced Provider) course if you work in a field that frequently deals with emergency patients (e.g., emergency medicine).

  • PALS (Paediatric Advanced Life Support) or APLS (Advanced Paediatric Life Support)

    • What’s the difference? The APLS course is offered by some universities while the PALS is an AHA course offered by various course providers.
    • Although this is a required certificate if you wish to work in any paediatric post, it is an immensely helpful course for any doctor to do to make sure you can handle the most commonly faced paediatric emergencies, whether in the GP or casualty setting.
    • The course expires after 3 years so try to do your PALS Refresher course before that happens.
    • To do the APLS course you can email cindy.maree@uct.ac.za.

  • ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support).

    • This is a pretty comprehensive and slightly harder course to complete due to the volume of work covered.
    • It’s a requirement for most emergency department jobs.
    • Since it’s often easier to get work in an emergency department post-commserve, it would be a great idea to do the ATLS course during internship/commserve.
    • Unfortunately there is only one provider offering the ATLS course in South Africa at the moment, meaning that the waiting list can sometimes be over a year. So be proactive and book the course during internship at the latest.

  • EMATT (Emergency Medicine Approach To Trauma).

    • Due to the long waiting list, this course has become a great alternative if you need it for a job. Some posts might still require you to do the ATLS, but many are happy to accept doctors who have completed the EMATT.

  • EMOVA (Evidence-based Management of Oxygenation, Ventilation and Airway Management).

    • This is a great course to do if you are considering a career that involves anaesthetics or high care/ICU.
    • Remember to do the EMOVA Refresher course before it expires.

  • NERS (Neonatal Emergency Resuscitation and Stabilisation) course.

    • This is a very helpful course to do if you will be working with neonates, whether in the labour ward/theatre, emergency department, neonatal high care or neonatal ICU.

  • AMLS (Advanced Medical Life Support).

    • If you think you will end up working in emergency medicine (which is pretty likely for many doctors post-commserve), then this would be a very helpful course as it focuses on commonly presenting medical emergencies.

Some other helpful courses to do in internship

  • ePOCUS course (Emergency Point Of Care US).

    • Although this is not your typical short course, this is a great course to do to prepare you for commserve and any future post in emergency medicine.

  • ECG course

    • As a doctor you need to be able to interpret ECGs, whether in the hospital, clinic or GP setting.

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Check out the link below for more courses:
Short Courses