Qualitative Study of Mentorship for Women and Minorities in Surgery

Abstract

BACKGROUND Despite the growth of mentorship opportunities for women in surgery, women remain largely underrepresented in the surgical field. Mentorship is an effective strategy to increase female entry and retention within surgical careers. There is limited literature evaluating mentorship for women in surgery across different career levels and racial backgrounds. STUDY DESIGN In-depth interviews were conducted with female fourth-year medical students applying for a surgical residency, female surgical residents, and female surgical faculty from a single academic institution. RESULTS A total of 35 women in surgery, including 14 faculty, 11 residents, and 10 fourth-year medical students were interviewed. Twenty (57%) self-identified as White, 7 (20%) as Asian, 6 (17.1%) as Black, and 2 (5.7%) as Other. Key themes included: (1) access to mentorship, (2) characteristics valued in a mentor, (3) role of gender identity when choosing a mentor, (4) role of racial identity when choosing a mentor, and (5) importance of early mentorship for women and underrepresented minorities in medicine (URiM). Mentorship was important for early career development. Mentors who were approachable, invested in their mentees, and were available and honest were most valued. Shared gender and racial identity were appreciated most by younger and URiM mentees, respectively. Respondents from each career level acknowledged the importance of early mentorship for women and URiM in surgery to facilitate increased diversity in the surgical field. CONCLUSION Mentorship plays a pivotal role in early career development for women in the surgical field. Access to mentors with shared gender and racial compositions can provide a unique level of support for female and URiM mentees. Expanded and earlier mentorship access for women and minority students can increase diversity in the surgical field.

Increasing Diversity in Residency Training Programs

“…Mentors should be approachable, honest, and available. A study of women in surgery that included URM students, residents, and faculty stressed the importance of early mentorship to facilitate increased diversity in their field [ 25 ]. Shared gender and racial identity were also appreciated by URM mentees.…”

Implementing pathways to anesthesiology: Promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and success

“…Early and direct access to invested mentors can elevate individuals in their careers and help achieve a more representative number of URiM anesthesiologists, particularly in leadership positions. [109][110][111][112][113] Pairing junior URiM team members with qualified mentors and sponsors can facilitate incoming anesthesiologists to build a foundation to succeed in their careers, through informal advice or direct linkage to grants, appointments, networking, and other career development opportunities. There is still a deficit at many institutions of available URiM mentors for URiM mentees, and there will likely continue to be a deficit until workforce equity is achieved.…”

Mentorship and early career mentorship

“…Women and underrepresented minority populations in surgery are less likely to have mentors, mainly due to the paucity of people belonging to underrepresented minorities who are organized to serve as mentors [21][22][23] . However, this group of surgeons might benefit the most from having same-gender and sameethnicity mentors to gain a sense of inclusion and advance their careers.…”

“…However, this group of surgeons might benefit the most from having same-gender and sameethnicity mentors to gain a sense of inclusion and advance their careers. Therefore, the lack of mentorship might be a major problem limiting the diversity of healthcare workforce [23] .…”