Background: In South Africa, to become an ophthalmologist, one must successfully complete a 4-year postgraduate training programme as a registrar. This training has been offered at different institutions around the country for many years without ever being scrutinised.Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the training methods and platforms, overall satisfaction levels, problems and solutions pertaining to postgraduate ophthalmology training as identified by ophthalmology registrars.Setting: The study was conducted in all the institutions across South Africa offering ophthalmology postgraduate training.Methods: This was an educational evaluation study. The data collection instrument used was a questionnaire created using SurveyMonkey.com and sent via email to all ophthalmology registrars, including supernumerary candidates. Ethical approval was granted by the university’s Biomedical Research Ethics Committee.Results: There was a 48% response rate to the survey. Registrars were satisfied that they had received adequate teaching and support, although there was room for improvement. The common problems that impacted the quality of training, as cited by the registrars, were staff shortages, large patient numbers as well as old and broken-down infrastructure or equipment. Despite 86% of the registrars spending at least 5–10 h a week in theatre, 13.3% indicated that they had no supervision during that time. Access to teaching materials (journals, library and Internet) was not available to 34% of the respondents.Conclusion: Registrars were generally satisfied with their training, but major problems that negatively affect their time as trainees were highlighted. Cooperation between registrars, universities, heads of departments and the department of health will be important to remedy this situation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.