Impact of the learning environment on career intentions of paediatric interns

Abstract

Paediatric interns from diverse sociocultural and educational backgrounds had similar career intentions. Most interns were keen to work with children in SA's public sector. However, learning experiences during internship significantly influence these intentions and have the potential to drive young doctors away from SA, its public health service and paediatric care. Ensuring that training and support of interns are optimised is essential if SA is to align its healthcare needs with the aspirations of its future healthcare workers.

Developing A Validated Instrument To Assess Paediatric Interns In South Africa

“…Interns in SA are expected to be highly skilled and resilient from early on in their careers, including when caring for children (2,5,6). Growing concerns over patient safety and litigation increase stress over this period for both SA interns and their clinician supervisors (6,7,8). The 24 month period of internship, consists of various specialities including a compulsory Paediatric rotation and this period offers the last formal opportunity to assess the competence of medical practitioners before their entry into independent practice.…”

“…Assessment practices during the internship period have a strong clinical focus and do not reflect the competency-based framework of other training programmes offered in SA's HEIs. The focus of assessment during the internship phase is predominantly based on assessing the interns' ability to master several procedural clinical skills while most other competencies are not being as closely monitored (8). The use of non-validated assessment instruments and the lack of formative holistic assessment strategies during SA's internship period have also been a cause for concern (8).…”

“…There is a paucity of research on the use of EPAs while assessing newly graduated health professionals, in high disease-burdened and resource-limited health contexts (16,17). A holistic approach to assessment that is framed within a competency-based system is currently further lacking in the internship period in SA (2,8). There is thus a need for a locally developed, clearly defined, assessment instrument that is responsive to the specific needs of this high disease burdened context.…”