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Table 1 Data Charting - Summary of selected studies addressing the research question

From: A scoping review of mentorship of health personnel to improve the quality of health care in low and middle-income countries

Author

Country of study

Study Aim

Study Design

Population (Mentor/Mentee)

Intervention

Program duration

Frequency of contact

Outcome Measures

Key Findings

Anatole et al. (2013) [8]

Rwanda

Interim evaluation of a nursing mentorship program

Observational checklists completed by mentors, retrospective review of patient records

Rwandan Nurses/Rwandan Nurses

Mentoring and Enhanced Supervision at Health Centres (MESH), ‘Side by side’ mentorship.

Mentors received extra training and were integrated into the hospital team

Ongoing

2–3 days/month

Number & accuracy of Integrated Management of Childhood Illness patient assessments

‘Side by side’ mentorship improved the quality of care outcomes, and is feasible and cost effective.

Scale up was recommended.

Significant increase in complete and accurate patient assessments.

Beckett et al. (2015) [22]

Afghanistan

To evaluate a mentorship intervention by exploring mentee experience.

To improve pre-deployment training of mentors

Cross-sectional survey of mentees

Canadian military physicians & surgeons/Afghan physicians, nurses and health personnel

‘Team to team’ using CANMEDS mentoring techniques

12 months

Not reported

Mentees perceptions of training, feedback, communication & availability of mentors

Most mentees found mentorship a positive experience. Mentees criticised mentors for failing to consider features of a low-resource setting.

Finley et al. (2008) [23]

Jordan

To describe a capacity building program incorporating mentorship to develop, implement and evaluate a paediatric pain management program.

Interviews, focus groups, field observation, retrospective review of patient records

Canadian Clinical Nurse Specialists & Anaesthetist/Jordanian Nurses and Oncologists

‘Team to team mentorship’

Implementing a paediatric pain management service involving mentorship

24 months

3 visits through-out the program

Documented pain assessments, Administration of opioid analgesia;

Increased analgesia administration following the program.

Mentorship was considered an important factor in the effectiveness of an intervention involving a High-Income Country – Low Income Country partnership.

Magge et al. (2015) [24]

Rwanda

To measure the change in the quality of care following the addition of a mentorship intervention to didactic training

Pre-post intervention study

MOH Nurse/Health Centre Nurses

‘Side by side’ model including clinical coaching through case observation, case based and didactic teaching, feedback of performance data and QI facilitation.

Ongoing

‘regular visits’

Adherence to Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) Assessment Index

Number of children seen

Significant improvement in IMCI assessment, classification and treatment, improvement in percentage of children given correct treatment, improved IMCI coverage (proportion of children seen).

Workneh et al. (2012) [21]

Botswana

To examine the quality of care pre and post introduction of mentoring program

Retrospective patient chart review

Botswana experienced medical officers & nurses/Botswana medical officers & nurses

‘Side by side’ mentoring during patient care

Ongoing

1/month

Completion of documentation (viral load count, patient education), pill counts (indicates patients taking medications as prescribed), antiretroviral dosing, lab monitoring.

Improvement in the quality of care post-intervention. Specifically, significant increase in recording of viral load count, correct pill count, correct antiretroviral dosing, patient education documented, correct lab monitoring.