Residency training program: Perceptions of residents

Background: There is a phobia among doctors for the residency training program, since the establishment of the program over 30 years ago. The reason for establishing the program was mainly to provide the much-needed specialists in medicine. Objectives: To ascertain the perception of the residency training program among residents. Materials and Methods: Structured questionnaires were administered to residents at 3 training institutions in Nigeria. Results: One hundred nineteen (85.5%) questionnaires were returned out of 140. The ages of respondents ranged from 27 to 42 years, the median age being 30 years. There were 110 males and 9 females. One hundred six (89.1%) were junior residents. Ninety (75.6%) were sponsored by the training institutions. Seventy-four (62.25%) felt their consultants were contributing just 50% or less to their training. Sixty-two (52.2%) of the respondents had attended a revision course, conference or seminar within the last 6 months. Majority of the residents would want better remuneration, up-front payment of examination and revision fees, more teaching by the consultants and less emphasis on the provision of services as ways of improving the program. Conclusion: Majority of the residents are sponsored by the training institutions.