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Paediatric Surgery training in South Africa: Trainees’ perspectives

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Abstract

Purpose

There is very little documented evidence regarding the training of paediatric surgeons in South Africa since its inception as a formal speciality in 2007. This study aims to assess South African paediatric surgical trainees’ perspectives regarding their training.

Methods

A prospective study was conducted via an emailed electronic survey. The sample population included all current paediatric surgical trainees in South Africa. The questionnaire covered the trainees’ demographics, exposure to different aspects of paediatric surgery, extent of after-hours clinical service, self-reported surgical competency and consultant supervision.

Results

Forty one (95%) out of 43 trainees responded to the survey with 29 (71%) being female. Reported training deficits included lack of exposure to burn care in 12 trainees (30%), no urology exposure in 8 (20%), no paediatric trauma or minimally invasive surgery exposure in 6 (15%). Eighteen trainees (44%) reportedly worked more than 65 h per week with clinical responsibilities being the biggest hindrance to attending academic teaching. Trainees were more comfortable performing open procedures compared to laparoscopic but most respondents felt adequately supervised.

Conclusion

There exists a significant heterogeneity amongst the different training institutions with protected academic time and exposure to burns, urology and minimally invasive surgery remaining major obstacles in training.

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Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatric Surgery, Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, University of Cape Town, 6th floor of the Institute of Child Health (ICH) Building, Klipfontein Road, Rondebosch, Cape Town, 7700, South Africa

    Uzair Jooma, Alp Numanoglu & Sharon Cox

Authors
  1. Uzair Jooma
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  2. Alp Numanoglu
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  3. Sharon Cox
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Uzair Jooma.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

The questionnaire and methodology for this study was approved by the Human Research Ethics committee of the University of Cape Town (HREC744/2019).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Jooma, U., Numanoglu, A. & Cox, S. Paediatric Surgery training in South Africa: Trainees’ perspectives. Pediatr Surg Int 36, 1489–1494 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-020-04744-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-020-04744-7

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