The Impact of Formal Mentorship Programs on Mentorship Experience Among Radiation Oncology Residents From the Northeast

To determine (1) the prevalence of mentoring relationships for U.S. medical school junior faculty; (2) the quality of these mentoring relationships; (3) any variation by gender or race; and (4) the relationship between mentoring and junior faculty members' perceptions of institutional professional support; research-, teaching-, and clinical-skills development; allocation of time to professional activities; and career satisfaction. In 1995 a 177-item survey was mailed to 3,013 full-time faculty at 24 randomly selected U.S. medical schools stratified on an area of medical specialization, graduation cohort, and gender. Mentoring was defined as "dynamic reciprocal relationship between an advanced career incumbent (the mentor) and a junior faculty member (the protégé) aimed at fostering the development of the junior person/protégé." Because mentoring is most crucial for junior faculty, the study focused on mentoring relationships within the previous three years ("recent mentoring") for faculty who were not full professors. Chisquare tests, analysis of variance, and principal-components analysis were used to analyze the data. In all, 1,808 (60%) of the 3,013 faculty surveyed, of whom 72% were junior faculty, returned completed questionaires. Fifty-four percent of the junior faculty had had a recent mentoring relationship. There was no significant difference between the men and the women faculty or between majority and minority faculty in the prevalence and quality of the mentoring relationships. The faculty with mentors rated their research preparation and research skills higher than did the faculty without mentors. Most of the women faculty (80%) and the minority faculty (86%) who had had mentors reported that it was not important to have a mentor of the same gender or minority group. Mentoring relationships are prevalent in academic medicine and should be promoted to support the career growth of junior faculty.

The concept of mentoring is believed to be influential in an effective medical and surgical educational environment. Several authors have discussed the issue of mentorship and its challenges, yet no one has studied the prevalence of mentoring among orthopaedic residency programs and its perceived value from the orthopaedic residents' perspective. Between January 1, 2008, and February 1, 2008, a survey created by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons was distributed by mail and e-mail to 3655 orthopaedic residents to obtain their opinion of the value of and their experience with mentorship. Five hundred and six (14%) of the surveyed residents responded. Nearly half of the responding residents either had a mentor or were involved in a mentoring program. Nearly all ranked the value of mentorship as very high and anticipated substantial help from their mentor in their career, research, and education. Only 44% were satisfied with their mentoring environment, and only 17% were highly satisfied. The residents were most satisfied with mentoring when there was a formal program in place. Ninety-six percent of the respondents thought that mentors were either critical or beneficial to their training. Residents who had selected their own mentor were more satisfied with their mentor than were those who had their mentor assigned. Residents with mentors, residents in mentoring programs, and residents who selected their own mentors had higher satisfaction with their mentoring environment than did those with no formal mentoring program. Residency programs should consider establishing formal mentorship programs and encourage residents to select their own mentors.

To conduct a nationwide survey to evaluate the current status of resident mentorship in radiation oncology.