Experiences of medical students and faculty regarding the use of long case as a formative assessment method at a tertiary care teaching hospital in a low resource setting: a qualitative study.

INTRODUCTION: The long case is used to assess medical students' proficiency in performing clinical tasks. As a formative assessment, the purpose is to offer feedback on performance, aiming to enhance and expedite clinical learning. The long case stands out as one of the primary formative assessment methods for clinical clerkship in low-resource settings but has received little attention in the literature. OBJECTIVE: To explore the experiences of medical students and faculty regarding the use of the Long Case Study as a formative assessment method at a tertiary care teaching hospital in a low-resource setting. METHODOLOGY: A qualitative study design was used. The study was conducted at Makerere University, a low-resource setting. The study participants were third- and fifth-year medical students as well as lecturers. Purposive sampling was utilized to recruit participants. Data collection comprised six Focus Group Discussions with students and five Key Informant Interviews with lecturers. The qualitative data were analyzed by inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Three themes emerged from the study: ward placement, case presentation, and case assessment and feedback. The findings revealed that students conduct their long cases at patients' bedside within specific wards/units assigned for the entire clerkship. Effective supervision, feedback, and marks were highlighted as crucial practices that positively impact the learning process. However, challenges such as insufficient orientation to the long case, the super-specialization of the hospital wards, pressure to hunt for marks, and inadequate feedback practices were identified. CONCLUSION: The long case offers students exposure to real patients in a clinical setting. However, in tertiary care teaching hospitals, it's crucial to ensure proper design and implementation of this practice to enable students' exposure to a variety of cases. Adequate and effective supervision and feedback create valuable opportunities for each learner to present cases and receive corrections.

Perceptions and experiences of undergraduate medical students regarding social accountability: a cross-sectional study at a Subsaharan African medical school.

BACKGROUND: Medical schools are called to be socially accountable by medical education and healthcare system stakeholders. Social accountability is a feature of excellent medical education. Medical students are essential to the development of socially accountable medical schools. Therefore, understanding the perceptions and experiences of medical students regarding social accountability is critical for efforts to improve social accountability practices and outcomes. METHODS: This cross-sectional online questionnaire-based survey used Google Forms and involved medical students in their fourth and fifth years of study at the Makerere University School of Medicine. The survey was conducted between September 2022 and October 2023. We used a study questionnaire and a validated toolkit designed by students as part of The Training for Health Equity Collaborative to gauge a school's progress towards social accountability in medical schools to collect data on demographics, perceptions and experiences and evaluate social accountability. RESULTS: Out of 555 eligible medical students, 426 responded to the online questionnaire. The response rate was 77%. The mean age of the students was 25.24 ± 4.4 years. Almost three fourths of the students were male (71.3%), and slightly less than two thirds were in their fourth year of study (65%). Almost half of the students (48.1%%) evaluated the school as doing well with regard to social accountability. The evaluation items referring to community-based research and positive impact on the community had the highest mean scores. Only 6 (3.6%) students who reported hearing of social accountability had a clear understanding of social accountability. Students receiving career guidance in secondary school was associated with evaluating social accountability in the medical school as strong (p-0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Medical students evaluated the medical school favorably forsocial accountability despite lacking a clear understanding of social accountability. Receiving career guidance in secondary school was significantly associated with a positive evaluation of social accountability.

Experiences of faculty and students regarding a locally developed framework for implementing interprofessional education during international electives in Sub-Saharan Africa.

BACKGROUND: Given that there are hardly any comprehensive frameworks to guide institutions on approaches to use as they implement interprofessional education and collaborative practice during international electives, we developed and piloted a framework to address this gap. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to explore the experiences of faculty and students regarding the use of the developed interprofessional education and collaborative practice framework during international electives. METHODS: This was an exploratory qualitative study. The study participants included faculty and students from four health training universities in Africa who participated in the pilot of international electives guided by the framework developed. Deductive thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The codes were categorized as per the major themes. RESULTS: The major themes regarding the framework included (1) The Strengths, (2) Weaknesses, (3) Opportunities, and (4) Threats. All participants perceived the framework as useful and appropriate to enable the acquisition of interprofessional education and collaborative practice skills objectives set. The framework's duration of the elective was seen as a weakness with the need for an increment in the duration. The opportunities the framework presented included: acting as a starting point to structure and implement interprofessional education across various training institutions in Africa, advancing research, and networking opportunities to share the best practices. The main threat included siloed training where the current training curriculum of the students does not have opportunities that allow the students to study with, from, and about each other. CONCLUSIONS: The framework developed to guide the implementation of interprofessional education and collaborative practice during international electives is feasible and enabled students to achieve the interprofessional education and collaborative practice objectives set while appreciating the transcultural similarities and differences in another country.

Interprofessional education during international electives: Perceptions of health professions students from selected institutions in Africa.

Although international electives provide important opportunities for the development of interprofessional education and collaboration practice skills, there is limited literature that describes students' perceptions in various training institutions in Africa. This study aimed to address this gap by establishing the student's perceptions of interprofessional education during international electives from four African health professional training universities. This was a cross-sectional quantitative study. Data were collected online using the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale from 135 student participants. Linear regression and multilinear regression were used to establish relationships between socio-demographic characteristics and the student's perception of interprofessional education during international electives. There was a high overall positive perception (76 SD± 8.1) among the student participants of interprofessional education during international electives. Almost all the students (88.9% n = 120) thought interprofessional education during international electives would help them become better team workers during future practice and enhance their communication skills. There were high mean scores regarding positive perceptions of teamwork and collaboration (39.5 SD± 4.9), positive professional identity 17.6 (SD± 2.6), and understanding roles and responsibilities (7.4 SD± 2.0). There is a generally positive perception of interprofessional education during international electives among health professions students from various African university institutions.

Utilizing students' experiences and opinions of feedback during problem based learning tutorials to develop a facilitator feedback guide: an exploratory qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Feedback delivery within a Problem Based Learning tutorial is a key activity for facilitators in order to enhance student learning. The purpose of this study was to explore students' experiences of feedback delivery in a PBL tutorial and use this information to design a feasible facilitator feedback delivery guide. METHODS: It was an exploratory qualitative study in which individual interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with students who had an experience of the tutorial process. Data were collected through audio recording and writing of field notes. Thematic analysis was employed to generate the reported themes. RESULTS: Students suggested that facilitators need to give comprehensive feedback on their knowledge construction process as well as feedback on other generic skills outside the knowledge domain such as their communication skills within the tutorial, their participation and team work as well as their interpersonal skills and self-evaluation abilities. From the findings, a structured facilitator feedback delivery guide was developed. CONCLUSION: In this study, we propose a structured feedback delivery guide for PBL facilitators that captures not only knowledge, but also other generic competencies. The guide is feasible in a wide range of contexts where PBL is institutionalized.

The intricate relationship between a medical school and a teaching hospital: A case study in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between medical schools and teaching hospitals is full of opportunities but also challenges even though they have complementary goals that could enhance each other. Although medical schools and teaching hospitals may face some similar challenges around the world, there could be context-specific observations that differ in resource-rich versus resource-limited settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that are perceived to have influenced the relationship between a medical school and a teaching hospital in Uganda, a resource-limited setting. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study in which key informant individual interviews were conducted with senior administrators and senior staff members of the Mulago Hospital and Makerere University Medical School. The interviews explored factors perceived to have favoured the working relationship between the two institutions, challenges faced and likely future opportunities. Both quantitative and qualitative data were generated. Thematic analysis was used with the qualitative data. RESULTS: Respondents reported a strained relationship between the two institutions, with unfavourable factors far outweighing the favourable factors influencing the relationship. Key negative reported factors included having different administrative set-ups, limited opportunities to share funds and to forge research collaborations, unexploited potential of sharing human resources to address staff shortages, as well as a lack of a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions. DISCUSSION: This study identifies barriers in the existing relationship between a teaching hospital and medical college in a resource-poor country. It proposes a collaborative model, rather than competitive model, for the two institutions that may work in both resource-limited and resource-rich settings.

Stakeholder views on continuing professional development for doctors working in public primary care facilities in central Uganda: a qualitative study.

Introduction: the primary care workforce in the public sector of Uganda is under the district health system. The doctors in this workforce provide leadership and frontline promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative care. Their numbers are still low and therefore need effective support through continuing professional development (CPD). Part of the support is influenced by stakeholders whose views on CPD in the district health system are important. This study therefore explored the stakeholders' views on the CPD of doctors working in the district health system in central Uganda. Methods: a qualitative exploratory study was done, and data was collected using an interview guide through in-depth interviews among ten purposively selected CPD stakeholders influencing different aspects of CPD activities of doctors working in public general hospitals and health center IVs. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and manually analyzed using deductive thematic analysis. Results: five themes were categorized into; CPD practices, facilitators, benefits, challenges, and suggestions. Each of the themes had subthemes; CPD practices; training, mentorship and apprenticeship, support supervision, and quality improvement projects. Facilitators; internet services, grants, health facility managers, facility-based CPD providers, and regional CPD guidelines. Benefits; motivation, knowledge, teamwork, and renewal of practicing licenses. Challenges; workload, allowances, access, documentation, mindset, quality, structure of public health system, and sustainability. Suggestions; training needs analysis, collaboration, monitoring, e-CPD platforms, CPD resource centers, and individual CPD responsibility. Conclusion: the stakeholders' views are an indication that effective CPD is a collaborative effort from both the primary care doctors and those in the leadership of the health care system.

Development of a mentorship framework guide to promote the acquisition of interprofessional education and collaborative practice competencies during undergraduate training: a mini-Delphi cross-sectional study.

Background: The current global burden of disease which includes emerging and re-emerging diseases calls for interprofessional partnerships and team work to work collaboratively to solve community health problems. Inter-professional collaboration needs to start with training whereby learners are mentored in inter-professional teams and collaborative care. Many guidelines do exist in teaching and learning but faculty often do not have guidelines on how to mentor learners to acquire the needed inter-professional competencies. This study aimed at developing a mentorship guide for faculty to enable them to ably mentor learners in the acquisition of interprofessional competencies. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study involving both students and faculty mentors. Questionnaires were distributed to undergraduate students and the mentors at Makerere University College of Health Sciences and Busitema University Faculty of Health Sciences. Data from the participants was used alongside literature to develop the interprofessional education mentorship guide for faculty mentors. The guide was validated by a panel of experts. Results: From this study, students reported limited knowledge of the IPE core competencies and the faculty mentors corroborated this finding. Mentors did not directly give any feedback specifically targeting the IPE core competencies, though some of them unknowingly talked about some of the IPE competencies. The key challenges identified from students and faculty included limited training IPE and IPE core competencies and lack of guidelines for faculty mentors which they can follow to mentors students adequately across all the expected IPE competencies. Conclusion: There was limited mentorship in IPE competencies. Findings from this study alongside literature and expert validation, a framework guide for mentors in relation to IPE competencies has been proposed.

Family medicine rotation in Botswana: experiences of fifth-year medical students in decentralized rural training sites.

Introduction: globally, medical students have been exposed to decentralized training in rural settings. The experiences of these students regarding this kind of training have been reported in various settings. However, such students´ experiences have rarely been reported from sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this study was to explore fifth-year medical students´ experiences of a Family Medicine Rotation (FMR) at the University of Botswana and their recommendations for improvement. Methods: an exploratory qualitative study using a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was done to collect data from the fifth-year medical students who underwent family medicine rotation at the University of Botswana. Participants´ responses were audio-recorded and later transcribed. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data collected. Results: the overall experience of the medical students during FMR was positive. Negative experiences included issues with accommodation, logistic support onsite, inconsistency of learning activities between teaching sites, as well as limited supervision attributed to staff shortage. Emerging themes from the data included: diverse FMR rotations experiences, inconsistency of activities and different learnings between FMR training sites, challenges, and barriers to learning during FMR, enablers to learning during FMR, and recommendations for improvement. Conclusion: FMR was regarded as a positive experience by fifth years for medical students. However, improvement was needed especially with the inconsistency of learning activities between sites. Accommodation, logistic support, and recruitment of more staff were also needed for the improvement of medical students´ FMR experience.

Perceptions and Experiences of Undergraduate Medical Students Regarding Social Accountability: a Cross-sectional Study at a Subsaharan African Medical School.

Background: Medical schools are called to be socially accountable as a feature of excellent medical education. Medical students are essential to the development of socially accountable medical schools. Therefore, understanding the perceptions and experiences of medical students regarding social accountability is critical for efforts to improve social accountability practices and outcomes. Methods: This cross-sectional online questionnaire-based survey used Google Forms and involved medical students in their fourth and fifth years of study at the Makerere University School of Medicine. The survey was conducted between September 2022 and October 2023. We used a study questionnaire and the Students' toolkit for social accountability in medical schools to collect data on demographics, perceptions and experiences and evaluate social accountability. Results: A total of 426 medical students responded to the online questionnaire. The mean age of the students was 25.24 ± 4.4 years. Most of the students were male (71.3%), and most were in their fourth year of study (65%). Most of the students (43.66%) evaluated the school as having a good level of social accountability. The evaluation items referring to community-based research and positive impact on the community had the highest mean scores. Only 6 (3.64%) students provided an accurate definition of social accountability. Students receiving career guidance in secondary school was associated with evaluating social accountability in the medical school as strong (p-0.003). Conclusions: Medical students evaluated the medical school favorably in terms of social accountability. Receiving career guidance in secondary school was significantly associated with a positive evaluation of social accountability.

Diagnostic accuracy of chest ultrasound scan in the diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis.

Chest Ultrasound Scan (CUS) has been utilized in place of CXR in the diagnosis of adult pneumonia with similar or higher sensitivity and specificity to CXR. However, there is a paucity of data on the use of CUS for the diagnosis of childhood TB. This study aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of CUS for childhood TB. This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Uganda. Eighty children up to 14 years of age with presumptive TB were enrolled. They all had CUS and CXR performed and interpreted independently by radiologists. The radiologist who performed the CXR was blinded to the CUS findings, and vice versa. Radiologists noted whether TB was likely or unlikely. A two-by-two table was developed to compare the absolute number of children as either TB likely or TB unlikely on CXR or CUS. This was used to calculate the sensitivity and specificity of CUS when screening for TB in children, with a correction to accommodate the use of CXR as a reference test. The sensitivity of CUS was 64% (95% CI 48.5%-77.3%), while its specificity was 42.7% (95% CI 25.5%-60.8%). Both the CUS and CXR found 29 children with a likelihood of TB, and 27 children unlikely to have TB. CUS met the sensitivity target set by the WHO TPP for Triage, and it had a sensitivity and specificity comparable to that of CXR.

Using the modified Delphi technique to develop a framework for interprofessional education during international electives in health professions training institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: International electives provide a learning platform where interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) skills can be cultivated. However, hardly any frameworks to guide the implementation of interprofessional education (IPE) during international electives, especially in the context of low-income settings have been published. To address this gap, this study used the modified Delphi approach to develop an IPE framework guide for international electives to be used by health professions training institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: A rapid literature review and a study among students and faculty in four African health professional training institutions were done to inform the process. This was followed by the modified Delphi technique that used three Delphi rounds with a panel of eight experts to build consensus on the final framework for IPE during international electives. The level of consensus was set at ≥70% on each of the statements in all rounds. Results: Out of the 52 statements in round 1 (n = 37, 71%) reached consensus while (n = 15, 29%) of the statements did not reach consensus and were discussed in round 2. Round 2 led to 42 statements to be utilized for round 3. In round 3, all statements (42) reached a consensus and an IPE framework to guide the implementation of international electives was developed. The framework consists of three sections. Section one highlights the various IPECP competencies to be gained by learners in the areas of teamwork, interprofessional communication, roles and responsibilities of interprofessional collaborative practice, values and ethics of interprofessional collaboration, and reflection and evaluation of oneself and the team. Section two gives guidance on the structuring of the IPE international electives in health professional training institutions. This includes subsections on operational/institutional needs, acculturation considerations, teaching strategies, assessment strategies, mode of delivery, and public health considerations. Section three consists of the various practical guides and approaches that health professional training institutions could use according to what works best in their setting. Conclusion: The modified Delphi technique was an adequate approach to aid the development of an IPE framework to guide implementation during international electives in various health professional training institutions.

Understanding and barriers to formation Professional Identity among current and recent graduates of nurses and midwifery in two universities in a low resource setting: A qualitative study.

Introduction: Professional identity (PI) in nursing is a sense of oneself and one's relationship with others that is influenced by characteristics, norms, and values of the nursing discipline, resulting in an individual thinking, acting, and feeling like a nurse. Therefore, transformative educational approaches that include professional judgement, reasoning, critical self-evaluation and a sense of accountability are required to foster professional identity. We explored the understanding and barriers to professional identity formation among recent graduates and nursing students in Uganda. Methods: A qualitative research design was used to collect data from student Nurses and Midwives from Makerere University, Mbarara University and recent graduates attending their internship training at Mulago National and Mbarara Regional Referral hospitals. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: The participants who reported understanding of PI in nursing and midwifery mentioned that these are principles, characteristics and values, competencies, ethics and code of conduct, sense of belonging and professionalism that define the nursing profession and practice. Barriers to the formation of PI were provided under two themes education and health service delivery. Regarding education (nursing educators not working in clinical settings and inadequate clinical mentoring). Under health service delivery:(high workload, lack of interprofessional collaboration, many different professional groups, no clear scope of practice for the different professional careers, Low esteem among nurses and midwives, media and lack of policy implementation). Conclusion and recommendation: Participants were knowledgeable about professional identity in nursing/midwifery. They faced several challenges and barriers in professional identity formation during their training and internship. We recommend a need to streamline the scope of practice and enhance clinical mentorship and engagement of Leadership in Nursing in developing PI among students.

Observer agreement in single computerized tomography use for diagnosing paediatric head and neck malignancies at Uganda Cancer Institute.

BACKGROUND: In the Ugandan setting, investigation for PHNM with CT uses a protocol with both unenhanced and contrast enhanced procedures hence doubling the ionizing radiation exposure. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of single CT procedures in diagnosing PHNM. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study using CT images from patients, aged fifteen years and below, investigated for head and neck malignancies at the Uganda Cancer Institute. Three radiologists, observers A, B and C, with 12, 5 and 2 years of experience, respectively, participated in the study. They independently reported contrast enhanced images (protocol A), unenhanced images (protocol B), then both unenhanced and contrast enhanced images (protocol C) in 2 months intervals. Inter- and intra- observer agreement was determined using Gwen's Agreement coefficient. RESULTS: Seventy-three CT scans of 36 boys and 37 girls, with a median age of 9 (3-13) years, were used. Intra-and inter-observer agreement on primary tumour location ranged from substantial to almost perfect with the highest intra-observer agreement observed when protocols A and C were compared. Inter-observer agreement for tumour calcifications was substantial for protocol A. Observers A and C demonstrated an almost perfect intra-observer agreement when protocols A and C were compared. There was a substantial inter-observer agreement on diagnosis for all protocols. CONCLUSIONS: In our setting and examining a limited number of CT images, we demonstrated that contrast-enhanced CT scans provide sufficient information with no evidence of additional value of unenhanced images. Using contrast-enhanced images alone reduced the radiation exposure significantly.

Assessment of Preparedness for Remote Teaching and Learning to Transform Health Professions Education in Sub-Saharan Africa in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study With a Case Study Approach.

BACKGROUND: The current COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all aspects of society worldwide. To combat the pandemic, measures such as face mask-wearing, hand-washing and -sanitizing, movement restrictions, and social distancing have been introduced. These measures have significantly disrupted education, particularly health professions education, which depends on student-patient contact for the development of clinical competence. The wide-ranging consequences of the pandemic are immense, and health professions education institutions in sub-Saharan Africa have not been spared. OBJECTIVE: This paper describes a protocol for assessing the preparedness of selected health professions education institutions in sub-Saharan Africa for remote teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A mixed-methods design with a case study approach will be used. The awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement model of change was selected as the conceptual framework to guide the study. Eight higher education institutions in 6 sub-Saharan countries have participated in this study. Data will be collected through electronic surveys from among whole populations of academic staff, students, and administrators in undergraduate medicine and nursing programs. Qualitative and quantitative data from each institution will be analyzed as a case study, which will yield an inventory of similar cases grouped for comparison. Quantitative data will be analyzed for each institution and then compared to determine associations among variables and differences among programs, institutions, or countries. RESULTS: Our findings will provide information to higher education institutions, particularly those offering health professions education programs, in Africa regarding the preparedness for remote teaching and learning to influence efforts related to web-based teaching and learning, which is envisaged to become the new normal in the future. CONCLUSIONS: This study has not received any funding, and any costs involved were borne by individual consortium members at the various institutions. Ethics approval from the institutional review board was obtained at various times across the participating sites, which were free to commence data collection as soon as approval was obtained. Data collection was scheduled to begin on October 1, 2020, and end on February 28, 2021. As of this submission, data collection has been completed, and a total of 1099 participants have been enrolled. Data analysis has not yet commenced. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/28905.

Perceptions of radiography students toward problem-based learning almost two decades after its introduction at Makerere University, Uganda.

INTRODUCTION: Problem-based learning (PBL) has been reported to be a valuable student-centred learning approach across the globe. In PBL students first encounter a problem, which triggers discussion, followed by student-centred inquiry. Makerere University College of Health Sciences has been using PBL for radiography students since 2002. Over the years, the learning landscape may have changed, including the significant disruption of learning by the coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic. The study aimed at exploring the perceptions of undergraduate radiography students about the PBL curriculum at Makerere University almost two decades after its introduction. METHODS: This exploratory qualitative study involved 18 radiography students sampled purposively, from whom data were gathered using focus group discussions. Thematic analysis was subsequently used. RESULTS: Three key themes emerged from the data: (1) quality of teaching, (2) curriculum efficiency, and (3) curriculum expectations and rating. All students were generally positive about the curriculum. Most agreed that the curriculum was efficient to a greater extent and had met their expectations and desired objectives. Students, however, faced challenges; for example, with limited learning resources during the learning process. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the significant role of PBL in enhancing student's problem-solving, critical thinking, literature search, and, most of all, their practical skills. Prioritization of teaching based on practical relevance and learning objectives is of great importance. The radiography students believed that their curriculum program was generally beneficial to them; however, it was affected by limited resources and limited availability of teaching personnel, which needs to be addressed.

An audit of registered radiology equipment resources in Uganda.

INTRODUCTION: the third Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) relates to Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and provision of quality essential health services. The Government of Uganda has operationalized this through the National Health Policy which stresses the importance of availability of functioning medical equipment in health facilities. There have been efforts by the Ministry of Health and Atomic Energy Council in Uganda to compile an inventory of imaging equipment in the country, however, this information has not been widely published. The purpose of this study was to conduct an audit of registered radiology equipment in Uganda and establish their functional status. METHODS: a cross-sectional descriptive study that involved a desktop review of the equipment registry at the Uganda Atomic Energy Council was conducted. Data was collected on a number of variables including type of equipment, location, functional status, modality and density per million people. RESULTS: the audit revealed 625 pieces of equipment spread over 354 health facilities. The majority (397) were plain X-ray machines followed by dental X-ray machines at 120. There were only 3 Radiotherapy machines. Most were recorded as being functional with only 0.1% of the equipment non-functional. Most of the equipment was in the central region which has the third highest population density. The majority of the equipment belonged to private health facilities. CONCLUSION: Uganda lags behind the WHO recommended ratio of equipment versus the population (20 per million population). Most of the equipment is the plain X-ray machine with a few more advanced technologies in both public and private health facilities.

Self-Reported Competence and Impact of Research Training among Medical Radiography Graduates from a Developing Country.

INTRODUCTION: Research output from radiographers in developing countries is generally low. This could be attributable to a lack of basic research skills. One way of improving this is research training for undergraduate radiography students. The objective of this study was to assess the self-reported competence of graduate radiographers regarding the research skills obtained during their undergraduate training, as well as the impact of this research training to their work. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was sent to 70 radiography graduates who had received research training. Data from the radiography graduates were collected electronically using self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaire responses were tallied, counted, and analysis was carried out using MS Excel. RESULTS: The response rate of the radiographers was 71.4%. 70% of the radiographers were males, and 30% were females. 70% of the radiographers reported being competent in identifying a research problem, and 80% rated themselves as competent in formulating a research question. 44% reported being competent in appraising relevant literature, and 64% were able to formulate appropriate conclusions and recommendations from their research work. 76% of the radiographers were involved in some research activities in their places of work, and 50% of them expressed willingness to continue engaging in research activities. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the graduate radiographers who participated in this study reported being competent in research skills attained, with over 50% willing to continue engaging in research activities.

Factors that Influence Radiographers' Decisions to Pursue Postgraduate Education: An Exploratory Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: Radiography has continued to expand since the discovery of x-rays with newer technologies and responsibilities for radiographers. Consequently, radiographers need to learn new skills in order to remain relevant in health care. Radiography currently needs a generation of radiographers who can also get engaged in research and advance the profession through evidence-based practices. Achieving this requires radiographers to be trained above the basic qualification, yet there are still few radiographers embarking on postgraduate education. The purpose of this study was to explore factors that influence radiographers' decisions to pursue postgraduate education, as well as explore ways of improving access to such education. METHODS: An exploratory qualitative study was conducted with postgraduate radiography students at Cardiff University. Purposive convenience sampling was used to recruit participants. Data were collected using individual face-to-face interviews, which were then analyzed using thematic analysis and summarized into themes and subthemes. RESULTS: There were nine participants interviewed, providing adequate data saturation. Of the nine, three were female and six were men. Eight of them were basic radiographers, whereas one was a senior radiographer. Radiographers were influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors when deciding to pursue postgraduate radiography education. Key intrinsic factors included desire for personal professional development, desire for new challenges, and search for satisfaction within the profession. Key extrinsic factors included requirements for continuous professional development, availability of funding, and search for improved remuneration. Key suggestions for improving access to postgraduate education were identified. CONCLUSIONS: Both external and internal factors simultaneously influence radiographers' decisions to embark on postgraduate education, and all these factors need to be addressed in order to improve access to such education for radiographers.

A phenomenological study to explore the experiences of Ugandan women that have undergone transvaginal ultrasound.

INTRODUCTION: Transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) is an important examination of the female pelvis that involves the transducer being inserted into the vagina to obtain more detailed images of the pelvic organs. Unfortunately, this examination has received mixed experiences from the women who have undergone it. This study set out to explore the lived experiences of Ugandan women who have undergone TVUS. METHODS: It was a phenomenological exploratory study involving 20 women in Uganda that had previously undergone TVUS. Data were collected using in-depth individual interviews. The responses from the women were audio-recorded and later transcribed. Thematic analysis was used to interpret and make meaning of the data collected. RESULTS: Analysis of data revealed mostly negative experiences of the women who were included in this study. Key words from the participating women that illustrated the negative experiences included: fear, vulnerability, guilt, anxiety and embarrassment. It was also observed that these initial negative experiences are likely to reduce the women's acceptability and compliance to TVUS even when it is needed for better clinical management. Data were categorised into the following three thematic areas: (1) broken communication, (2) anxiety and discomfort and (3) cultural influence. CONCLUSION: Women in this study portrayed negative experiences of undergoing TVUS. Key suggestions like informed consent are recommended to improve compliance of the women to this type of procedure.