Medical students at the University of Amsterdam have to go through a 4-week internship as a nursing assistant, to get a hang of how healthcare is organized, how we as a future healthcare provider are going to do this, which personal qualities/behaviours we have to ditch or learn, and how medication is passed around in nursing homes or hospitals.
Our tasks include helping people eat, washing them, dressing them, and to keep an eye on their wellbeing.
Initially, I thought, "Nursing assistant interns.. For real? We're going to be doctors in 6 years. Our tasks won't include washing them or feeding them. It'll be healing them, or keeping their lives manageable if they have a medical condition..
But okay. It's a mandatory thing in our med school programme. I'll bite my tongue and live through it.
And maybe I'll even learn how to deal with people who suffer from dementia. At least that'll be useful. And maybe they're just trying to win our hearts for Geriatrics."
It's day two of my internship. And I've already learned several things.
A. Patients with dementia can be nasty.
B. The nurses I'll be accompanying can be nasty.
