Implementation and first experiences with a multimodal mentorship curriculum for medicine-paediatrics residents

• Published in: Annals of medicine (Helsinki) Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 1313 - 1319
• Main Authors: Allan-Blitz, Lao-Tzu, Valtis, Yannis, Sundberg, Michael, Sharma, Niraj, Petersen, Elizabeth, Cuneo, C. Nicholas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 31.12.2022; Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: Child; COVID-19; Curriculum; Humans; junior physicians; Medical Education; medical residency; medicine-paediatrics residents; Mentors; Mentorship curriculum; Pediatrics; peer groups; peer mentorship; SARS-CoV-2; medicine-paediatrics residents; peer groups; Mentorship curriculum; peer mentorship; junior physicians; medical residency
• ISSN: 0785-3890; 1365-2060
• DOI: 10.1080/07853890.2022.2070661

Mentorship increases trainee productivity, promotes career satisfaction and reduces burnout. Beginning in 2016, our Medicine-Paediatrics residency program developed and implemented a longitudinal mentorship curriculum among trainees. We report initial experiences with that program and discuss potential future directions. We implemented and adapted a peer mentorship model and expanded it to include guest lectures and workshops centred around 13 core topics. Our expanded model included five longitudinal components: (1) peer mentorship; (2) virtual check-ins with residency leadership; (3) focussed didactics and workshops; (4) small-group dinners highlighting different career paths; and (5) dedicated faculty who pair residents with mentors based on common interests. We compared annual survey results on resident satisfaction with program mentorship, using chi-square and fisher's exact tests to assess statistically significant differences pre- (2012-2016) and post-intervention (2016-2020). We analysed 112 responses with annual response rate varying between 41.2% and 100%. Overall satisfaction with mentorship improved from 57.6% to 73.4% (p = .53), satisfaction with emotional support improved from 63.1% to 71.6% (p = .21), and satisfaction with career-specific mentorship improved from 48.5% to 59.5% (p = .70). Residents reported consistently high satisfaction with peer mentorship (77.8%-100%). The percent of residents reporting they had identified a career mentor increased from 60.0% in 2017 to 88.9% in 2019, which was sustained at 90.0% in 2020. We report our experience in implementing and adapting a mentorship curriculum for resident physicians in a single training program, including transitioning to a primarily online-based platform at the outset of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Our results showed a trend towards improvement in resident satisfaction with overall and career-specific mentorship, as well as improved emotional support. Future work is needed using more objective outcome markers among a larger and more diverse group of residents. KEY MESSAGES Among resident physicians in a single training program, a mix of mentor-mentee dyads, group-based peer mentoring and a structured curriculum has shown promise in improving resident-reported satisfaction with programmatic mentorship While we attempted to adapt the mentorship curriculum to an online platform with the development of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, reported satisfaction in overall mentorship and emotional support decreased in comparison to the prior year, an important focus for future work.