How is Internship Supervision Provided?

In all medical facilities, as an intern, you will be assigned a professional from the hospital who will guide you and decide which examinations and treatments you may perform on patients under their supervision. This includes tasks such as administering medication, wound care, measuring vital signs, giving vaccinations, and other assistance activities. This professional will provide you with professional feedback.

Interns and volunteers with professional qualifications and work experience also cannot practice independently, as this requires approval from the Tanzanian Health Authority. Obtaining this approval is a lengthy process that is only worthwhile for longer stays of at least one year. Even if you have professional qualifications, you will be under the supervision of a licensed professional in Tanzania, who will take responsibility for you and decide what you can perform independently.

What Should I Bring?

Participants should bring their own work clothes (white, green, or blue scrubs and closed shoes of any color). It is also advisable to bring your own hand sanitizer and stethoscope. Those working in the operating room area should bring green or blue clothing, a face mask, and hair coverings.

For a clinical rotation, elective or internship at Mawenzi Regional Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital, you should be studying a relevant subject, be in a relevant vocational training program, or have completed one.

For a pre-medical, pre-nursing or pre-midwifery internship at Pasua Health Centre, Faraji Hospital, Kilima Hospital, and the dispensaries, it is not required that you are already enrolled at medical school.

Volunteers in all facilities need qualifications in the healthcare field.

Flexible, year-round. Arrival should be scheduled for a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday between 4 a.m. and 11 p.m. (flight’s scheduled arrival time). The placement will then start on the agreed weekday.

• Antonia - Midwifery Student in Tanzania
• Report by Line, Mariane, Karoline, Sanna and Anja - nursing interns from Norway
• Medical Systems

Internship Report by Vibe

I was a medical elective at Mawenzi Hospital in Moshi for 4 weeks in the summer of 2014. I was amazed to learn how the hospital staff is able to manage their patients with so little equipment and so few resources. Visiting Tanzania has been an eye opener, both professionally and culturally.

I am a medical student and I worked along with both the doctors, nurses, native medical students and laboratory staff. I am happy to pass on some of the experiences and observations from my stay to encourage other medical students who are considering being a medical elective in a developing country.

In my opinion it cannot be overstated that before you go, you must be honest with yourself when considering how you can actually help the staff. I will not recommend medical students who have not had any experience with clinical work to go yet. It is when you demonstrate to them that you have both interest and basic knowledge, that they will trust you with independent jobs and supervise you while learning new procedures. But if you are quiet and do not contribute to the conversations, no one will ask you for help. This may be tough and I am not trying to deter anyone, but you need to consider that if the doctor will be spending a lot of time explaining this and that to you, his/her time will be taken away from the patients. So go there and volunteer, if YOU have something to offer THEM.

Please do not think of a foreign developing country as your “medical playground”. It is fine to ask the doctor if he or she will teach you some procedure, but DO NOT go and give it a try without asking permission. The patients have a right to turn away, but they won’t do that, because they trust you to know what you are doing since you’re both white and have medical education. It is a big advantage to have studied the most common diseases from home (e.g. tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria), so you can actively participate in the management and treatment of these types of patients.

Finally, do consider the various situations you might be in, while volunteering at a hospital. Are you able to handle casualty? Are you able to work around hungry, poor and sick children? If not, you should at least be aware that these situations are a part of the everyday life in a community hospital in a developing country and you should work out a strategy of how you will handle these situations.

Personally, I will not recommend people under the age of 18 to travel to Tanzania by themselves. I know some youngsters are very mature at the age of 17 or before, but you need to remember; you have only yourself to rely on, and not much of the culture is comparable to Western community or lifestyle. Surely the Moshi coordinators are there to help you (and they are coordinators of golden standard ;-)), but they are not there to take care of you. YOU are responsible for your own health and safety. Do not ever be careless with security. ALWAYS be home by sundown or share a cab with other volunteers (they are ridiculously cheap anyway). Independence should not be confused with loneliness, because social life in Moshi is incredible and you with have lots of fun and time to relax with the other volunteers.

Travel to Tanzania with an open mind – just talk to the people you meet, they are often very interested in your views on Tanzania, your experiences, how your country is different from theirs and so on. Do not go to Moshi if you will be spending half the time on the social media anyway. And try not to be late, even though it seems everyone else are…. ;-)

To sum up; with appropriate consideration, patience and independence, you will definitely find yourself embracing the warmth of the Tanzanian people and enjoying the African way of life. And memories will stay with you all the way back to Europe. World unite! helped me set the perfect frame for combining volunteering and travel, thank you very much, I will surely recommend your organization to other students in the area of healthcare.

Kind regards,
Vibe Nielsen, Denmark