Abstract
BackgroundRecruiting and retaining healthcare professionals (HCPs) for rural areas is challenging throughout the world. Although rural origin HCPs have been identified as being the most likely to work in rural areas, only a small number of rural-origin South African scholars are trained as HCPs each year and many do not return to work in rural areas.AimThe aim of this article was to present the experiences of rural-origin HCPs who returned to work in a rural area after graduation.SettingUmthombo Youth Development Foundation has been running an innovating rurally-based scholarship scheme since 1999. By December 2013, 184 students supported by the scheme had graduated and all had returned to work in a rural area for a period of time.MethodsThis was a qualitative study using a life history methodology to explore the educational experience of six rural-origin HCPs working in rural areas.ResultsThe four themes that emerged from the data were: (1) contribution to service delivery; (2) professional development (3) the challenges and frustrations of working in rural hospitals; and (4) the impact of working as an HCP.ConclusionRural-origin HCPs are willing to return and work in rural areas. However, context and content factors need to be addressed if a work-back scholarship scheme is to be a long-term strategy for the recruitment and retention of HCPs.
Highlights
Without sufficient numbers of well-trained professional staff, key health outcomes will never be realised.[1]
A variety of healthcare professionals (HCPs) from different disciplines were included in this study in order to ensure that the voices of several members of the healthcare team were heard, many of whom play a significant role in service delivery in rural areas.[19]
Http://www.phcfm.org participants after the aims of the study were explained to them. These UYDF SS graduates were chosen to participate in this study because they have continued to work in rural areas
Summary
Without sufficient numbers of well-trained professional staff, key health outcomes will never be realised.[1] Many rural areas in South Africa have a high burden of infectious diseases, high under-five mortality and reduced life expectancy at birth. Deprivation index in South Africa in 2008 were all rural.[2] There are major inequalities between staffing levels at hospitals in rural and urban areas which contribute to poor health outcomes.[2,3] These disparities remain, despite the commitment of the National Department of Health to ‘Health for All’[4] and the prioritisation of recruitment of healthcare professionals (HCPs) for rural areas.[5] Maternal, child and infant mortality rates increase as the number of healthcare workers (HCWs) decreases, whilst increasing the number of HCWs has been shown to improve health outcomes in underserved areas.[6]. Rural origin HCPs have been identified as being the most likely to work in rural areas, only a small number of rural-origin South African scholars are trained as HCPs each year and many do not return to work in rural areas
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