MANIFEST Issue Brief 5: Mentorship Contributes to Quality Improvement in Maternal and Newborn Care, Health Worker Motivation
Future Health Systems
In Uganda, as the case with many LMICs, health care providers at primary health care level have little access to experienced clinicians and specialists to call upon for consultation, review of cases, solving problems and reinforcing clinical diagnosis and decision making. This threatens the quality of care they provide for their clients especially in the absence of scheduled continuous medical education. Increased delivery under skilled care requires that health worker skills are continually sharpened in a variety of ways.
Mentorship is deliberate pairing of a more skilled or experienced person with a lesser skilled or inexperienced one, with the agreed-upon goal of having the less experienced person to grow and develop specific competencies. Here, the more experienced (Mentor) guides the less experienced (Mentee) in the development of specific professional knowledge and skills which will promote personal and professional development of the mentee. This Brief is based on lessons learned from mentors and mentees following a one year mentorship exercise in three districts in Eastern Uganda.