ArticleBMC health services research2021
Engaging future healthcare professionals for rural health services in South Africa: students, graduates and managers perceptions.
Article in BMC health services research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among individuals with mental disorders in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the past 25 years.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Learning in a contextually complex rural clinical placement.Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice · 2026Article
- Scaling surgical care capacity in Nigeria: a narrative review of current practices and innovations in rural surgical workforce development.BMC surgery · 2025Review
- Antibiotic prescription sources and use among under-5 children with fever/cough in sub-Saharan Africa.International health · 2025Article
- A retrospective review of advanced life support interfacility transfers of the public sector emergency medical service in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.The Southern African journal of critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Society · 2025Article
- A policy in stagnation: addressing inequalities in the distribution of emergency obstetric and neonatal care in Ghana.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Article
- Article
- Factors associated with the attraction and retention of family and community medicine and nursing residents in rural settings: a qualitative study.BMC medical education · 2023Article
- Increasing the availability of health workers in rural sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review of rural pipeline programmes.Human resources for health · 2023Article
- Women's empowerment indicators and short- and long-acting contraceptive method use: evidence from DHS from 11 countries.Reproductive health · 2022Article
- Geo-analysis: the distribution of community health workers in relation to the HIV prevalence in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa.BMC health services research · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe shortage of healthcare professionals (HCP) negatively affects health services in rural areas in many parts of the world, as is the case in South Africa. Innovative programs designed to improve the recruitment strategies for health system in a rural area are essential. They need support with a scholarship and mentorship programme for young people from rural areas to study for health science degrees, with the aim that they would take up a post at the hospital in their community, once qualified. This paper reports the perceptions and experiences of the students and graduates sponsored by the foundation, and those of managers from the facilities where the students were ultimately placed, in order to gauge whether such a programme can make a sustainable contribution to address the shortage of health personnel in rural areas and to what extent this is happening.
methodsThe authors used qualitative methods, combining semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus groups and the data were analyzed thematically.
resultsThe results provide information on students interviewed who appreciated the financial and socio-emotional support that they received. On the other hand, graduates value the availability of jobs in their home community on completion of their studies. The managers reported the success of the programme in increasing the number of healthcare personnel at the hospitals, and the increased range of available medical services. Since the graduates are familiar with the language and culture of their patients the managers considered that they are better able to assist them.
conclusionsThe system was well thought-out and achieved its goal of improving health services in an underdeveloped rural area of South Africa. More could be achieved if other government services in the area were simultaneously improved and if the system were replicated elsewhere. The students and graduates from rural areas are involved on sustaining health services in rural areas while rural managers support the programme and make suggestions for improvement and to promote the program in other regions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.