Rural medicine and ‘home stay’: a medical student’s experience

  • Reabetswe Ntshabele University of KwaZulu-Natal
  • Rubeshan Perumal University of KwaZulu-Natal
  • Nesri Padayatchi Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)
Keywords: epidemiology, home stay, rural medicine

Abstract

Medical education is evolving from a heavily hierarchical and paternalistic approach to a more developmental and studentcentred paradigm. In addition, there has been a greater focus on decentralised medical education, taking medical students closer to the lowest tiers of the healthcare system and allowing for a more immersive experience within the communities of their patients. This paper presents the experience of an enlightening rural experience, in which the benefits of such a model to medical education are explored. Furthermore, it presents the highly personal and developmental journey that decentralised and, in particular, rural medical training can offer. A new concept of a ‘home-stay’ model has now been introduced as part of the rural medicine experience, where students are hosted by a family within the community in which they work. This is a transformative project in which the most fundamental principles of medical training and the art of medical practice can be honed. The convergence of clinical training, public health enlightenment, and family practice are highlighted.

Full text of the research articles are available online at www.medpharm.tandfonline.com/ojfp

S Afr Fam Pract 2018; DOI 10.1080/20786190.2017.1386867

Author Biographies

Reabetswe Ntshabele, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN); and Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)—MRC TB HIV Pathogenesis Unit, Durban, South Africa

Rubeshan Perumal, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN); and Department of Pulmonology and Critical Care, Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (IALCH); and Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)—MRC TB HIV Pathogenesis Unit, Durban, South Africa

Nesri Padayatchi, Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)

Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)—MRC TB HIV Pathogenesis Unit, Durban, South Africa

Published
2018-11-29
Issue
Vol 60 No 6: November/December 2018
Section
Opinion
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