Mentorship in Surgical Training: Current Status and A Needs Assessment for Future Mentoring Programs in Surgery

Abstract

AimsMentoring has been used extensively in the business world to enhance performance and maximise potential. Despite this, there is currently a paucity of literature describing mentoring for surgical trainees. This study examined the current extent of mentoring and investigated future needs to support this.MethodsAn electronic, 47-item, self-administered questionnaire survey was distributed via national and regional surgical mailing lists and websites through the Association of Surgeons in Training and Specialty Associations in the UK and Republic of Ireland.ResultsOverall, 565 fully completed responses were received from trainees in all specialties, grades and training regions. A total of 48.7 % of respondents reported that they have a surgical mentor, with no significant gender difference (p = 0.65). Of respondents, 52.5 % considered their educational supervisor and 45.5 % their current consultant as mentors. Modal duration of mentoring relationships was 1–2 years (24.4 %). A total of 90.2 % of mentors were in the same specialty, 60.7 % in the same hospital, and 88.7 % in the same training region. Mentors covered clinical and professional matters (99.3 %) versus pastoral and non-clinical matters (41.1 %). Mentoring was commonly face to face or via email and not documented (64.7 %). Of the 51.3 % without a mentor, 89.7 % would like a clinical mentor and 51.0 % a pastoral mentor (p < 0.001). Priority mentoring areas included career progression (94.9 %), research (75.2 %), clinical skills (66.9 %) and clinical confidence (58.4 %). A total of 94.3 % would be willing to act as a peer mentor. Only 8.7 % had received mentoring training; 83 % wish to undertake this.ConclusionsLess than half of surgical trainees identified a mentor. The majority want mentoring on professional topics during their training and would additionally be willing to peer-mentor colleagues, although few have received training for this. Despite an identified need, there is currently no structure for organising this and little national provision for mentoring.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00268-014-2774-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…El papel del profesor en la práctica del EM durante la educación en cirugía El desempeño futuro de un profesional en una especialidad quirúrgica está determinado en gran medida por el papel del profesor, facilitando y perfeccionando la adquisición de las competencias quirúrgicas y psicológicas en los estudiantes, entre otros aspectos, resultando en una mejor relación interpersonal con el paciente y sus colegas y una mayor satisfacción con el trabajo (26).…”

Eliminating Mentors in Favor of Collaborators: Review and Challenge of Current Mentorship Literature

“…Furthermore, only 9% of mentors report receiving any training (1), and the majority of mentorship is reported as informal and ill-structured (42).…”

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“…Collaborative mentorship involves small groups of peers who meet regularly, plan career, and provide feedback to one another (10). Formal mentorship programs, mentor matching (2,3,8,9,19,33) Mentor accessibility (time, distance, location, etc) a (1,5,34) Initiated by mentees (3,11,16,32) Mentor played active role (e.g. role model, career advice and advancement, work-life balance, etc) (5,14,34,39,43) Mentor prestige…”

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“…We therefore qualify that surgery is a very stressful career with long working hours that could deprive a person of sleep and social life, hence logically speaking, even someone who is good-natured can snap in the heat of the stress. However, a good mentor-mentee relationship within the surgical discipline can translate into higher job satisfaction, and one is motivated to persevere on in spite of the high stress levels (Sinclair et al, 2014).…”