Introduction Trainees underrepresented in medicine (URiM) face additional challenges seeking community in predominantly white academic spaces, as they juggle the effects of institutional, interpersonal, and internalized racism while undergoing medical training. To offer support and a space to share these unique experiences, mentorship for URiM trainees is essential. However, URiM trainees have limited access to mentorship from URiM faculty. To address this gap, we developed a national virtual mentoring program that paired URiM trainees interested in emergency medicine (EM) with experienced mentors. Methods We describe the implementation of a virtual Diversity Mentoring Initiative (DMI) geared toward supporting URiM trainees interested in EM. The program development involved 1) partnering of national EM organizations to obtain funding; (2) identifying a comprehensive platform to facilitate participant communication, artificial intelligence-enabled matching, and ongoing data collection; 3) focusing on targeted recruitment of URiM trainees; and (4) fostering regular leadership meeting cadence to customize the platform and optimize the mentorship experience. Conclusion We found that by using a virtual platform, the DMI enhanced the efficiency of mentor-mentee pairing, tailored matches based on participants’ interests and the bandwidth of mentors, and successfully established cross-institutional connections to support the mentorship needs of URiM trainees.
What to expect from your mentor and how to optimize the mentoring process Mentorship refers to a developmental relationship between a more experienced mentor and a less experienced partner referred to as a protégé or mentee - a person guided and protected by a more prominent person. And no matter if a person is very young in his or her career or has already some experience, there is still the need for a mentor. It is important to have a person who helps to sort out the big stones of challenge from the gravel, as Stephen R. Covey explains in his book “The 7 habits of highly effective people” (1992 Covey Leadership Center, Inc). There are two types of mentoring relationships: formal and informal. In well-designed formal mentoring programs, there are program goals, schedules, training (for mentors and mentees), and evaluation. Mentors inspire their mentee to reach their goal and support them on their way. A study shows that, in institutions that have a formal mentoring program, employees stay in average twice as long as in institutions without mentoring. Mentoring means provision of: resources, opportunities, advice and protection (David L. Sackett, Clin Invest Med 2001, 24:94-100). Ressources: - space to work - productivity enhancing equipment - money to go to courses and participate in meetings Opportunities: - to carry out review of manuscripts and grants - to accompany mentors to meetings of ethics and grant review committees - to accept requests from prominent, reviewed journals to write editorials, comments or essays (together with the mentor) - to become lead author of such papers - to learn how to network properly Advice: - Creativity: a mentor should encourage the mentee to be creative, for example, to use lateral or horizontal thinking, beside vertical thinking (Hauser MJ, Feinberg D. Problem solving revisited. J Psychiatr Nurs Ment Health Serv. 15(10):13-17 Oct 1977) - Fairness: to connect up with other researchers and to be fair! (Aristotle) - Honesty: to be honest about results - Active listening: should focus on the mentee’s development as independent thinkers - Learn to prioritize Protection: - rehearse the presentations in front of the mentor and the team - to recognise and respond appropriately to critical letters from editors and reviewers for publications There are important mentoring programs from different institutions: Articulum fellowship; EULAR: Objectives 2012; EMEUNET. Mentoring and networking always start in the team. Disclosure of Interest None Declared
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