Assessing performance of resident doctors in training in northwestern Nigeria

Background: Residency training is a postgraduate medical education where graduate doctors are mentored toward becoming independent specialists. In Nigeria currently, the Medical Residency Training Act (MRTA) 2017 guides residency training under the regulation of three postgraduate medical colleges: the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN), West African College of Surgeons (WACS), and West African College of Physicians (WACP). For the respective colleges, resident doctors are expected to attempt Part One and Part Two fellowship examinations after completing their junior and senior residency training, respectively, within stipulated durations. Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess resident doctors' performance in training and predictive factors. Methodology: Electronic questionnaires was distributed to respondents through their contacts or emails. Data was collected within a period of one month, from July 10 to August 6, 2020. Data was analyzed using mean, standard deviation, simple tables as well as t-test and Chi-square test. The level of significance was set at 0.05 for decision purposes. Results: A total of 120 participants were involved in the study. The mean age of respondents was 38.0 ± 3.8 years, with a majority of 88 (83.3%) males and 107 (89.2%) married. On the first attempt, 48 (65.8%), 37 (60.6%), and 15 (57.7%) respondents were successful in NPMCN, WACS, and WACP Part One fellowship examinations, respectively. There was no significant difference in the success in Part One between the three postgraduate medical colleges. There was significant difference in the duration between the first attempt and success in Part One examinations for the three colleges, respectively (NPMCN – P = 0.001, WACS – P < 0.001, WACP – P = 0.036). Conclusion: There was a comparable success in Part One fellowship examination between the three postgraduate medical colleges, with over half of respondents recording success in their first attempt. However, there were significant delays between the first attempt and success in Part One examination for the three postgraduate medical colleges