Perceptions of resources available for postgraduate family medicine training at a South African university

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Perceptions of resources available for postgraduate family medicine training at a South African university
 
Creator Erumeda, Neetha J. Jenkins, Louis S. George, Ann Z.
 
Subject Family medicine; medical education; primary health care Clinical trainers; decentralised training; family physicians; family medicine; postgraduate training; registrars; resources; faculty support
Description Background: Clinical training is one of the roles of family physicians (FPs) in decentralised postgraduate training. Effective training requires skilled trainers and sufficient resources. Little is known about the resources available for decentralised clinical training in district health systems in low- to middle-income countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.Aim: To explore FPs’ and registrars’ perceptions of the available resources in a decentralised postgraduate family medicine (FM) training programme.Setting: Five decentralised training sites affiliated with the University of the Witwatersrand across two provinces in South Africa.Methods: This qualitative study forms part of a broader project evaluating a FM registrar training programme using the logic model. Semistructured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 11 FPs and 11 registrars. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically.Results: Three themes were identified: ‘Impact of resource constraints’, ‘Family physicians’ skills and knowledge could be further improved’ and ‘Family physicians need additional support to optimise their training role’. The additional resources needed include more FPs, equipment, infrastructure and funding. Knowledge and skills of FPs were reported variable and needed further improvement. Additional support was required from peers, the district management and the university.Conclusion: Well-resourced decentralised training environments with sufficient skilled trainers and adequate resources are needed to positively influence FP training and supervision, especially in middle-income countries like South Africa.Contribution: Clinical trainers need adequate resources and support from peers, district management and the university for effective decentralised clinical training.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor National Research Foundation of South Africa
Date 2022-12-20
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Quantitative study
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v14i1.3746
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 14, No 1 (2022); 12 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3746/5947 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3746/5948 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3746/5949 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3746/5950
 
Coverage Gauteng; North West; South Africa March- August 2020 Family Physicians and Registrars
Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Neetha J. Erumeda, Louis S. Jenkins, Ann Z. George https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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