Rwandan family medicine residents expanding their training into South Africa: the use of South-South medical electives in enhancing learning experiences

• DOI: 10.1186/s12909-015-0405-3
• Publication Date: 2015-07-31T14:52:56Z
• Authors: Maaike Flinkenflögel; Gboyega Ogunbanjo; Vincent Kalumire ...; Jan De Maeseneer
• Keywords: Medical education; Adult; Male; Models, Educational; Students, Medical; Attitude of Health Personnel; Global health; International Educational Exchange; STUDENTS; 02 engineering and technology; Family medicine training; GLOBAL HEALTH; Education; Interviews as Topic; South Africa; Learning outcomes; Medicine and Health Sciences; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; Humans; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; Ethics; Medicine(all); 4. Education; OBJECTIVES; Rwanda; Internship and Residency; Global electives; EDUCATION; Problem-Based Learning; Middle Aged; 3. Good health; International medical electives; Community Medicine; Education, Medical, Graduate; Africa; SCHOOL; CLINICAL ELECTIVES; Family Practice; South-South; Research Article; Program Evaluation

International medical electives are well-accepted in medical education, with the flow of students generally being North-South. In this article we explore the learning outcomes of Rwandan family medicine residents who completed their final year elective in South Africa. We compare the learning outcomes of this South-South elective to those of North-South electives from the literature.In-depth interviews were conducted with Rwandan postgraduate family medicine residents who completed a 4-week elective in South Africa during their final year of training. The interviews were thematically analysed in an inductive way.The residents reported important learning outcomes in four overarching domains namely: medical, organisational, educational, and personal.The learning outcomes of the residents in this South-South elective had substantial similarities to findings in literature on learning outcomes of students from the North undertaking electives in the Southern hemisphere. Electives are a useful learning tool, both for Northern students, and students from universities in the South. A reciprocity-framework is needed to increase mutual benefits for Southern universities when students from the North come for electives. We suggest further research on the possibility of supporting South-South electives by Northern colleagues.