Orientation: The environmental health graduates are required to complete community service before they could be registered as independent practitioners by the Health Professions Council of South Africa. Community service programme serves as the mechanism to recruit healthcare professionals who will improve the provision of equitable and quality healthcare. Research purpose: The study aimed to explore, identify and describe the factors that had an influence on the effective selection, placement and utilisation of environmental health graduates as well as an evaluation of the effectiveness of community service. Research approach/design and method: A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted using self-administered questionnaires. The study included 24 environmental health practitioners who completed their community service and 10 environmental health practitioners responsible for coordinating community service in the municipal, provincial and national spheres of government in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa during 2013–2016. Purposive sample was drawn from each population. T-test and chi-square test were used to determine the statistical significant differences. The open-ended question responses from the structured questionnaire were qualitatively analysed by an independent coder. Main findings: The findings revealed major problems regarding the effective implementation of community service that included decreasing number of community service posts, inadequate material resources, lack of induction, inconsistent supervision, and a lack of evaluation of the community service. Contribution: The study findings suggest important inequalities that should deserve urgent attention. Study concludes by presenting recommendations for the improvement of the community service in the environmental health.

中文翻译：

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环境卫生社区服务：应对人力资源挑战

方向：环境卫生专业的毕业生必须完成社区服务，然后才能由南非卫生专业委员会注册为独立从业人员。社区服务计划是一种机制，可招募医疗专业人员，以改善公平，优质的医疗服务。研究目的：该研究旨在探索，识别和描述影响环境卫生专业毕业生的有效选择，安置和利用以及对社区服务有效性进行评估的因素。研究方法/设计和方法：使用自我管理的问卷进行定量的横断面研究。该研究包括2013-2016年南非东开普省的24位完成社区服务的环境卫生从业人员和10位负责协调市政，省和国家政府领域的社区服务的环境卫生从业人员。从每个人群中抽取目标样本。使用T检验和卡方检验确定统计学显着性差异。来自结构化问卷的开放式问题回答由独立的编码员进行定性分析。主要调查结果：调查结果揭示了有效实施社区服务的主要问题，包括社区服务职位数量减少，物质资源不足，缺乏上岗指导，监督不一致，并且缺乏对社区服务的评估。贡献：研究发现表明重要的不平等现象应引起紧急注意。研究结束时提出了改善环境卫生中社区服务的建议。