title: South African surgical registrar perceptions of the research project component of training: Hope for the future?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Health Professions Council of South Africa requires that a research project be submitted and passed before registration as a specialist.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe surgical registrars' perceptions of the compulsory research project.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ethics clearance was received before commencing the study. A questionnaire was developed to collect feedback from surgical registrars throughout South Africa (SA). Completed questionnaires underwent descriptive analysis using MS Excel. Fisher's exact test and the χ2 test were used to compare perceptions of the research-experienced and research-naive groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All medical schools in SA were sampled, and 51.5% (124/241) of surgical registrars completed the questionnaire. Challenges facing registrars included insufficient time (109/124), inadequate training in the research process (40/124), inadequate supervision (31/124), inadequate financial resources (25/124) and lack of research continuity (11/124). Of the registrars sampled, 67.7% (84/124) believed research to be a valuable component of training. An overwhelming percentage (93.5%, 116/124) proposed a dedicated research block of time as a potential solution to overcoming the challenges encountered. Further proposals included attending a course in research methodology (79/124), supervision by a faculty member with an MMed or higher postgraduate degree (73/124), and greater research exposure as an undergraduate (56/124). No statistically significant differences were found between the perceptions of the research-experienced and research-naive groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Challenges facing surgical registrars in their efforts to complete their research projects were identified and solutions to these problems proposed. It is heartening that respondents have suggested solutions to the problems they encounter, and view research as an important component of their careers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. niravpatel44@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nirav
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Poobalan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Naidoo
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Loveland
authors.forename: Theshni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Govender
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klopper