Formation of an Anesthesiology Residency Mentoring Program Using a Mentee-Driven Approach

Abstract

Mentorship is crucial to career development and advancement in academic medicine with valuable benefits to residents realized during training and beyond. The primary aims of this program are to train faculty members to provide quality mentorship to every resident in our department and to reduce gender and racial disparities in access to mentorship. We piloted a new mentorship program that combines mentor self-nomination, mentor training with mentee-driven mentor selection. This report details the program design and early observations. (A&A Practice. 2021;15:e01474.) GLOSSARYCA = clinical anesthesiology; COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019; MCA = Mentor Competency Assessment; MentorME = mentors in medical education; SD = standard deviation; URM = underrepresented minority in medicine CHALLENGES TO MENTORSHIPCommon barriers to mentorship expressed by faculty include lack of interest, protected time to mentor, formal training in how to successfully mentor, and lack of financial compensation for mentorship. 5 Mentees identify academic interests, professional focus, gender, race/ethnicity of mentors as important variables when seeking a mentor. 5,6 We sought to address these factors in the creation of this mentorship program. MENTORS IN MEDICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM GOALSThe primary aims of this program are to train proficient faculty mentors and to reduce gender and racial disparities in access to quality mentorship for every anesthesiology resident in our department. Specific goals are to promote the personal and professional development of each resident, to model the value of mentorship to residents and faculty and to provide a strong foundational framework that promotes the development of current mentees into future mentors.