Mentorship experiences during registrar training: reflections of Black African specialists in the Western Cape

ABSTRACT

In order to meet the significant staffing challenges to health care provision in South Africa, the need to support the training and retention of Black medical specialists has been identified. This small qualitative study aimed to explore experiences of mentorship among a group of Black medical specialists in hopes of understanding the value and potential challenges that these relationships raise. Ten Black medical specialists were interviewed about their experiences of being mentored during their registrar training. The interview data was analysed using discourse analysis, and the results comprise of three main themes, namely: Difficulty accessing mentorship, a lack of Black and/or female role models and finally, experiences of feeling excluded from soft networks. The experiences explored in this study indicate the need for open dialogue within the mentorship dyad regarding certain taken-for-granted assumptions surrounding race, so as to aid the provision of more effective and satisfying mentorship outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Mentorship
• race
• medical specialists
• professional competence

Notes

1. A non-profit organisation consisting of Black medical professionals which has branches in the Western Cape and Gauteng. The group formed to offer support to Black doctors who are interested in engaging in research.

2. The designation given to a medical specialist in a public hospital (Breier and Wildschut 2006).

3. Bongani Mayosi is Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town. He is also a chief specialist at Groote Schuur Hospital and president of the South African Heart Association.