Effective faculty preceptoring and mentoring during reorganization of an academic medical center

Abstract

The experience and lessons learned in the design, implementation and initial evaluation of a demonstration faculty-to-faculty mentoring program, during a time of major institutional reorganization, are described. The question addressed was: Can a voluntary mentoring program be established with minimal resources and be effective in the context of major organizational change? Key design elements included two-tiered programs (one year preceptoring and multi-year mentoring), voluntary participation, and selection of senior faculty members by the junior faculty members. A total of 20% of junior faculty and 30% of senior faculty participated. Faculty indicated the program was worth the time invested, had a positive impact on their professional life and increased productivity. There was high satisfaction with the mentoring relationship, especially the psychosocial mentoring functions, and a trend toward increased retention of minority faculty. Within two years, the program was institutionalized into the Office for Faculty Affairs, and faculty approved a mentoring policy. It is concluded that voluntary mentoring programs can have a positive impact on junior and senior faculty satisfaction, reinvigorate the collegial culture, and improve productivity and retention even during a time of reorganization and minimal resources.

Looking for Professor Right: mentee selection of mentors in a formal mentoring program

“…The discomfort felt by mentees in the pilot program pairing process has also been observed in other studies (Zachary 2005, Gardiner 1999, Benson et al 2002. In the Flinders University mentoring program for early career female academics, an end of program survey revealed that a few mentees had an initial "fear of how to approach the partnership.…”

A Systematic Review of Qualitative Research on the Meaning and Characteristics of Mentoring in Academic Medicine

“…The median (range) number of participants in the included studies was 18 (2-71), and all of the studies were conducted in North America. The nature of mentoring was not described in three studies, 24,30,31 four studies explored formal mentoring relationships, 23,26,28,29 , one study explored informal mentoring relationships 27 and one study provided participants with a definition of mentorship but did not describe if this was a formal process. 25 Most of the studies included participants of both genders.…”

“…Quality assessment of the articles (Appendix 4, online) revealed that most studies had clearly stated objectives, but the description of the sample and sampling procedures sometimes lacked detail. 23,24,27,28,31 Study findings were stated with varying levels of detail, and in one report it was difficult to discern the findings of the qualitative analysis. 23 We identified five major themes in relation to mentoring relationships: (1) desired characteristics and actions of the mentor and mentee, (2) initiation of mentoring relationships, (3) structure of mentoring relationships, (4) characteristics of mentoring relationships, and (5) barriers and possible solutions to mentoring.…”

“…[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] The "berry-picking search" yielded 3,431 potentially relevant articles. Four full text articles were retrieved, and one of these met the inclusion criteria.…”

“…The same taxonomy was applied to possible solutions, or ways to improve mentoring, which were suggested in five studies 23,24,28,30,31 (Table 4).…”