Race trouble : experiences of black medical specialist trainees in South Africa
Date
2016-12-03
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BioMed Central
Abstract
ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: This research aimed to identify and explore the experiences of Black registrars in their training in the Western Cape’s academic hospitals in order to identify structures, practices, attitudes and ideologies that may promote or impede the advancement of Black doctors into specialist medicine. This is justified by the requirement
for universities to work towards monitoring and evaluating efforts to create non-discriminatory and inclusive
training environments.
Methods: This study employed qualitative research methods. Ten Black African medical specialists were interviewed
about their training experiences in two university training hospitals in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Interview data was collected using open-ended questions and coded and analysed using thematic and critical
discursive analysis techniques.
Results: Four experiential themes emerged from the interview data, they included: 1) experiences of everyday racism during work hours, 2) the physical and psychological effects of tokenism and an increased need to perform, 3)
institutional racism as a result of inconsistent and unclear methods of promotion and clinical competence building, and 4) an organisational culture that was experienced as having a race and gender bias.
Conclusion: This is a pilot study and there are limits on the generalizability of the data due to the small sample. What
is clear from our participants, though, is the strong experiential component of finding it challenging to be a Black trainee
in a White-dominated profession. We are undertaking further research to explore the issues raised in more detail.
Description
CITATION: Thackwell, N., et al. 2016. Race trouble: experiences of Black medical specialist trainees in South Africa. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 16:31, doi:10.1186/s12914-016-0108-9.
The original publication is available at http://bmcinthealthhumrights.biomedcentral.com
The original publication is available at http://bmcinthealthhumrights.biomedcentral.com
Keywords
Black medical students -- Social conditions -- Western Cape Town (South Africa), Black medical students -- Psychological aspects -- Western Cape Town (South Africa), Medicine -- Study and teaching (Continuing education) -- Social aspects, Medicine -- Study and teaching (Continuing education) -- Western Cape (South Africa)
Citation
Thackwell, N., et al. 2016. Race trouble: experiences of Black medical specialist trainees in South Africa. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 16:31, doi:10.1186/s12914-016-0108-9.