UK - Yemen Surgical & Trauma Care Mentorship Scheme

Twenty early career surgeons and surgical residents were recruited from the following Yemeni hospitals:

• Al-Thawrah Modern General Hospital, Sana'a
• Al-Thawra Hospital, Ibb City
• Al-Thawra Hospital, Taiz City
• Al-Gomhoria Teaching Hospital, Aden City

Matching

Mentees and mentors were matched according to mentees' objectives and by surgical specialty with cohort covering general, trauma, orthopaedics, urology, paediatric, plastics and hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery.

Prior to being matched, the participants attended induction workshops to support their objective-setting, expectations and mentorship journey.

Mentorship duration and contact

Once matched, the mentoring relationship aimed to run for up to12 months.

During this time, the mentor and mentee were required to meet a minimum of 10 times (‘contact sessions’), which include an ‘introduction’ contact session and a ‘concluding/ review’ contact session.

Mentors and mentees were required to document their mentorship journey and provide feedback on the scheme.

Recognition

All participating mentees and mentors will receive a certificate of participation from the College and YSS.

Through this pilot, RCS England and YSS were seeking to:

(a) Improve and widen access to high quality, affordable surgical care in Yemen through the provision and support of training, mentoring and research with and for Yemeni surgical residents and those in their early surgical careers.

(b) Strengthen the relationship between RCS England and YSS, and by extension, wider UK-Yemeni relations in the area of health improvement and access, particularly in conflict and fragile state settings.

(c) Establish an international mentorship scheme, which is recognised and accredited by RCS England and the YSS.

YSS were also seeking to:

(d) Establish a professional relationship with RCS England to support broader aims of institutional development, professional exchange and the services that YSS is able to make available to its members.

(e) Pilot and evaluate mentorship as a means of addressing the surgical workforce training challenges, which some Yemeni hospitals and regions are experiencing due to the ongoing conflict in the country and region.

RCS England was aiming to:

(f) Build on the College’s work and current guidance on mentorship and develop a model, which specifically addresses mentorship within an international development/global health context, and humanitarian environment/conflict setting.

(g) Provide UK surgeons with an opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise to improve surgery and surgical services in resource-limited settings, particularly low- and middle-income countries, fragile and conflict-affected countries through remote mentorship.

(h) Document and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of remote mentorship as a sustainable strategy for capacity development in humanitarian surgery and as part of the College’s Humanitarian Surgery Initiative (HSI).

Mentees participating in this pilot were able to:

(a) Access to advice, mentoring and guidance from leading UK consultant surgeons and senior surgical trainees/ registrars.

(b) having mentoring experience recognised by the College and YSS.

Mentors participating in this pilot had an opportunity to:

(c) Develop their mentoring skills and experience.

(d) Gain exposure to another health system with particular challenges due to its conflict setting.

(e) Share their knowledge and experience, which leads to supporting surgical colleagues in resource-limited settings, without having to travel overseas.

(f) Have their mentoring experience and skills recognised by the College.

Research study: “What factors influence mentoring delivered within the context of institutional partnerships between UK and Low- and Middle-Income Country (LMIC) health institutions?”

RCS England and YSS supported a PhD research study undertaken by Oxford Brooks University, which aims to support future global health partnerships and capacity development initiatives by providing:

• Guidance to projects that may be considering or are implementing remote/ virtual mentoring as an intervention or capacity development tool.
• A framework to guide and inform mentors and mentees.

The UK-Yemeni Surgical and Trauma Care Mentorship Scheme participated in this study and contributed to the data collection efforts that took place over a period of 18 months, as mentoring relationships evolved. Mentors and mentees were invited to complete a short online survey and some individual mentors and mentees were interviewed.

The results of the study will be published as a PhD thesis and its findings will inform the future development of the scheme.

Mai Seida

Global Programmes Officer
The Royal College of Surgeons of England
humanitarian@rcseng.ac.uk

Dr Mohamed Al-Shehari

Secretary-General, Yemeni Society of Surgeons
Country Advisor for Yemen
The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Dr Raoof Saleh

Country Advisor for Yemen
Humanitarian Surgery Innovation Fellow
The Royal College of Surgeons of England