The Role of the Mentor in Retaining Junior Pharmacy Faculty Members

Abstract

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) has identified faculty retention as a top concern since 76 colleges of pharmacy reported a total of 406 vacant and/or lost positions in the 2004-2005 academic year. Since today's junior faculty members are tomorrow's leaders in pharmacy education, retention of quality faculty members is critical to our future. Mentoring is one effective method of retaining faculty members and decreasing workplace stress, especially in the area of scholarship. However, in the last decade, the disproportionate increase of junior faculty members to the number of senior faculty members employed has resulted in a major limitation of the dyad (mentor and protégé) mentoring process. One effective method of overcoming this limitation is the use of the triad mentoring model (organization, mentor, and protégé). Colleges of pharmacy that consider adopting this triad model will likely promote an environment that nurtures relationships, resulting in job satisfaction, and thereby leading to retention of junior faculty members.

Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating a Formal Pharmacist Mentorship Program

“…The identified benefits were consistent with those reported in other published studies of mentoring, including increased job satisfaction, increased confidence, and successful transition to new position. 1,[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Challenges with scheduling and documentation were identified. These challenges had been anticipated, as the Pharmacist Mentorship Program was an added responsibility of the participants, on top of their clinical work.…”

“…Available reports on pharmacy mentorship have focused on mentoring for pharmacy faculty members or mentorship in a research setting. [10][11][12] A recent article described a mentorship program created for pharmacists in primary care that emphasized the benefits of mentorship in helping pharmacists to integrate into a new environment. 13 St Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton is a 650-bed academic teaching hospital affiliated with McMaster University.…”

Canadian Educational Approaches for the Advancement of Pharmacy Practice

“…Finally, Fuller and colleagues suggested that in order to maintain faculty retention, developing nurturing relationships with senior faculty members to promote protégé educators is vital, demonstrating that mentoring is not only useful to pharmacy students, but also to new pharmacy faculty members, who are expected to be the future educational leaders of the profession. 84 …”

Essential Elements for a Pharmacy Practice Mentoring Program

“…Later, mentees can seek out mentors who share their vocational and psychosocial interests. 2 Formal mentoring programs and informal mentoring that occur between colleagues are not mutually exclusive.…”

“…The role of faculty mentoring in academia is an integral component in retaining junior faculty members, reducing workload stress, and encouraging long-term growth and success. 2 Whether formal or informal, mentoring is a method of cultivating and building new leaders in an institution; it is a process that benefits mentees, mentors, and ultimately the academic institution. Mentors may become more engaged in their work and see this as a unique opportunity to impact another faculty member's career and growth.…”