Mentorship and pursuit of academic medicine careers: a mixed methods study of residents from diverse backgrounds

Outcomes of Global Public Health Training Program for US Minority Students: A Case Report

The numbers and success of minority students in science and the health fields remain relatively low. This study presents the outcomes of a research training program as an illustrative case study. The Short-Term Training Program for Minority Students (STPMS) recruits underrepresented minority undergraduate and graduate students for immersion in research training. A total of 69 students participated in the STPMS between 1995 and 2012, and 59 of these completed our survey to determine the perceived impact of the program on the students' motivations and professional development. Results indicated that motivations to participate in the STPMS were commonly related to long-term professional development, such as obtaining mentoring and guidance in career decision making, rather than gaining specific research skills or for economic reasons. Students reported that participation in short-term research training had the most significant effect on improving their attitudes toward biomedical research and promoted positive attitudes toward future careers in health research. A total of 85% of the program's alumni have since completed or are currently working toward a degree in higher education, and 79% are currently working in science research and health care fields. Overall, the short-term training program improved students' attitudes toward research and health science careers. Mentoring and career guidance were important in promoting academic development in students.

Recruiting Faculty Leaders at U.S. Medical Schools: A Process Without Improvement?

Recruiting faculty leaders to work in colleges of medicine is a ubiquitous, time-consuming, costly activity. Little quantitative information is available about contemporary leadership recruiting processes and outcomes. In this article, the authors examine current recruiting methods and outcomes in colleges of medicine and compare academic search approaches with the approaches often employed in intellectual-capital-rich industries.In 2015, the authors surveyed chairs of internal medicine at U.S. medical schools regarding their recruiting practices and outcomes-specifically their selection methods, the duration of searches, the recruitment of women and minorities underrepresented in medicine (URM), and their satisfaction with search outcomes.The authors found that department chairs were extensively engaged in numerous searches for leaders. The recruitment process most commonly required 7 to 12 months from initiation to signed contract. Interestingly, longer searches (19+ months) were much more frequently associated with a recruitment outcome that chairs viewed as unsatisfactory or very unsatisfactory. Most leadership searches produced very few women and URM finalists. The biggest perceived hurdles to successful recruitment were the need to relocate the candidate and family and the shortage of good candidates.The process of recruiting leaders in academic medicine has changed little in more than 25 years. Process improvement is important and should entail carefully structured search processes, including both an overhaul of search committees and further emphasis on leadership development within the college of medicine. The authors propose specific steps to enhance recruitment of members of URM groups and women to leadership positions in academic medicine.

Mentoring relationships between senior physicians and junior doctors and/or medical students: A thematic review

INTRODUCTION

Mentoring relationships are pivotal to the outcome of the mentoring process. This thematic review seeks to study the key aspects of mentoring relationships between senior physicians and junior doctors and/or medical students to inform efforts to improve mentoring programs.

METHODS

Literature search was performed on publications across PubMed, ERIC, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, OVID and ScienceDirect databases between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2015 by three independent reviewers. The BEME guide and STORIES statement were used to develop a narrative from the articles selected.

RESULTS

Thematic analysis of 49 articles reveals five semantic themes of initiation process, developmental process, evaluation process, sustaining mentoring relationship, and obstacles to effective mentoring. The evolving and relational-dependent nature of mentoring pivots upon the compatibility of mentors and mentees and the quality of their interactions, which in turn depend on mentoring environments and awareness of mentor-, mentee-, organizational-related factors and changes in context and goals.

CONCLUSIONS

Embrace of a consistent mentoring approach to ensure effective oversight of the mentoring process must be balanced with sufficient flexibility to ensure a mentee-centered approach. Efforts must be made to optimize the key aspects of mentoring relationships in order to ensure successful mentoring processes and outcomes.

Attracting Diverse Talent to Academia

Women and underrepresented racial/ethnic minority faculty (URM) are critical to developing inclusive learning environments. Career counselors can benefit from understanding the factors influencing women’s and URMs’ interest in academic careers, as this population remains markedly underrepresented in academic medicine. A mixed methods study was conducted among medical students and residents yielding 643 survey and 121 focus group participants. Participants were diverse by gender and race/ethnicity. Themes included (a) factors influencing career interest, (b) influential others, (c) timing of career interest, and (d) career expectations. Findings show differences among women, URM, and dominant-identity groups. Implications include how career development programs and institutional diversity policies and practices should consider developing and offering activities that support (a) mentoring—especially for women trainees, (b) learning how to align academia and community engagement and scholarship—especially for URM trainees, and (c) senior leadership development support for women and URM trainees.

Introducing Trainees to Medical Education Activities and Opportunities for Educational Scholarship

INTRODUCTION

The growth of medical schools, faculty attrition, and reports of student disinterest in academia all stress the need to cultivate the next generation of academic physicians. Because medical educators serve as the largest segment of faculty, heightening diverse students' awareness of opportunities to engage in various educational roles and scholarship may help them consider future academic positions.

METHODS

We implemented a workshop utilizing didactics and a small-group case discussion to help students learn how to (1) define educational scholarship and portfolios, (2) recognize the value of educational scholarship, and (3) identify how to get started with educational scholarship.

RESULTS

One hundred and fifty-six learners participated in the workshop at 11 regional conferences. Of learners from conferences 1-6, 100% (69/69) responded to the statement "The workshop INCREASED my confidence in achieving the following - Performing educational scholarship." Among these learners, 39 (56.5%) strongly agreed and 20 (29.0%) agreed with this statement. Of learners from conferences 7-11, 98.9% (86/87) responded to the question "How much confidence do you have in your ability to succeed along a clinician-educator track and publish your education-related work?" Using a paired-samples t test, a statistically significant increase in learner confidence was noted (p < .01) before and after the workshop.

DISCUSSION

Diverse learners appreciated a heightened awareness of educational roles and scholarship, which may help them gain confidence, interest, and experience in becoming future medical educators.

The Influence of an Academic Pharmacy Mentorship Program on Mentees' Commitment to Pursue an Academic Career

The objective of this study was to determine the influence of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Walmart Scholars Program on mentees' attitudes towards and decision to pursue a career in academia. Upon completion of the AACP Walmart Scholars Program, wherein mentor-mentee pairs attend the AACP Annual Meeting to learn about academic pharmacy careers, mentees wrote essays evaluating the program. Their views on academic pharmacy careers were analyzed for themes in the evaluations. Of the mentees who addressed the impact of the program on their perspectives on a career in academic pharmacy, over half stated the program positively influenced pursuit of such a career. This reinforces the importance of mentorship for those interested in or new to academic pharmacy.

Mentorship in Radiology

Mentoring is an extremely important component of academic medicine, including radiology, yet it is not specifically emphasized in radiology training, and many academic radiology departments in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere do not have formal mentoring programs for medical students, residents, fellows, or junior faculty. The purpose of this article is to overview the current status of mentorship in radiology, to discuss the importance of mentorship at multiple levels and its potential benefits in particular, as well as how to conduct a successful mentor-mentee relationship. The literature on mentorship in radiology and in academic medicine in general is reviewed.

Early-Stage Investigators and Institutional Interface: Importance of Organization in the Mentoring Culture of Today's Universities

Mentors have an active role in teaching mentees to scan their academic environments for the resources to advance their research careers, to assess the gaps between what's available and needed to succeed, and to develop strategies to fill these gaps. Yet achieving instrumentality is a necessary, but insufficient condition by which to accomplish the desired endpoints. Mentors and mentees must recognize that the organizations to which they belong are cultural in nature: characterized by vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, beliefs, and habits. Understanding the collective behaviors and assumptions of peers and leaders in terms of the shared perceptions, thoughts, and feelings of organizational membership is essential to success. Institutions, in turn, must examine the extent to which they offer action possibilities: opportunities that promote the developmental trajectories of early stage investigators-in-training. Lack of awareness of the possible dissonance of this reality adversely affects many young faculty members.

Navigating Opportunities, Learning and Potential Threats: Mentee Perspectives on Mentoring in HIV Research

Increasing the diversity of the HIV research workforce remains a priority for research and funding organizations in the US. Mentorship is a vital component for early-career investigators, especially for underrepresented racial/ethnic and sexual minority HIV investigators. These investigators face unique social and structural challenges to developing and fostering mentorship relationships, as well as building a solid foundation for a successful career in HIV research. This article provides a perspective from four Black early-career investigators, supplemented with comments from 15 underrepresented investigators in the US, as they reflect on their needs, challenges, contributions, and successes in finding the right mentor and mentorship environment, balancing the opportunities for, and "threats" to success, as well as providing mentorship to other underrepresented and aspiring HIV investigators. Mentorship programs must address these needs and challenges while building on the strengths of underrepresented HIV investigators in order to improve recruitment, retention and ultimately the pipeline of these researchers.

Balancing Two Cultures: American Indian/Alaska Native Medical Students' Perceptions of Academic Medicine Careers

American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) remain underrepresented in the academic medicine workforce and little is known about cultivating AI/AN medical students' interest in academic medicine careers. Five structured focus groups were conducted including 20 medical students and 18 physicians. The discussion guide explored factors influencing AI/AN trainees' academic medicine career interest and recommended approaches to increase their pursuit of academia. Consensual qualitative research was employed to analyze transcripts. Our research revealed six facilitating factors, nine dissuading factors, and five recommendations towards cultivating AI/AN pursuit of academia. Facilitators included the opportunity to teach, serving as a role model/mentor, enhancing the AI/AN medical education pipeline, opportunities to influence institution, collegiality, and financial stability. Dissuading factors included limited information on academic career paths, politics, lack of credit for teaching and community service, isolation, self-doubt, lower salary, lack of positions in rural areas, lack of focus on clinical care for AI/AN communities, and research obligations. Recommendations included heighten career awareness, recognize the challenges in balancing AI/AN and academic cultures, collaborate with IHS on faculty recruitment strategies, identify concordant role models/mentors, and identify loan forgiveness programs. Similar to other diverse medical students', raising awareness of academic career opportunities especially regarding teaching and community scholarship, access to concordant role models/mentors, and supportive institutional climates can also foster AI/AN medical students' pursuit of academia. Unique strategies for AI/AN trainees include learning how to balance AI/AN and academic cultures, collaborating with IHS on faculty recruitment strategies, and increasing faculty opportunities in rural areas.

Implementation and outcomes of a pharmacy residency mentorship program

PURPOSE

The implementation and outcomes of a pharmacy residency mentorship program are described.

SUMMARY

The mentorship program at the Detroit Medical Center was formally implemented during the residency orientation period in 2013. Residents had up to two months after the start of the residency to choose a mentor, which we believed was an adequate amount of time to meet all members of the department of pharmacy. One year after implementation of the mentorship program, an anonymous survey was administered to all 16 residents to gather feedback about the mentorship program. Eleven (70%) of the 16 residents completed the survey. A majority agreed that having a mentor was a beneficial aspect of their residency training, often citing their mentor as integral in their career planning and helpful in balancing their personal and professional lives. Further, 91% (n = 10) of the respondents indicated that they planned on remaining in contact with their mentor after their residency. Nearly half of the residents met multiple times per month or weekly. All respondents stated that their mentor was available and accessible when needed. The year after program implementation, all residents were either offered a position for employment or matched to a residency before the completion of the residency. Although the mentors were not assessed with an anonymous survey, there continues to be overwhelming support for the continuation and improvement of the program as part of residency training.

CONCLUSION

Implementation of a mentorship program during residency training was viewed as beneficial for personal and professional development by many of the residents.

Advancing the Latino Physician Workforce-Population Trends, Persistent Challenges, and New Directions

From 1980 to 2010, the shortage of Latino physicians worsened despite the unique benefits that Latino physicians provide, especially in caring for the rapidly growing Latino patient population. The authors describe the expanding Latino population in the United States, discuss some health care issues specific to the Latino population, and briefly evaluate historical and ongoing issues to increase the Latino physician workforce. Developing the Latino physician workforce will require a multifaceted approach including, but not limited to, building the next generation of Latino medical school applicants and matriculants, cultivating more Latino residents, prioritizing Latino inclusion in the academic medicine workforce, expanding curricula and training on Latino health in both undergraduate and graduate medical education, rebuilding and reframing federally sponsored diversity initiatives, and fostering collaboration between Latino professional organizations and academic health centers.

Research dissemination: guiding the novice researcher on the publication path

Dissemination is an important part of translational research. When the results of high-quality studies reach a wide audience of peers, they provide an evidence base that can guide practice and improve patient care and safety. From proposal to publication, the authors provide the novice researcher with advice on ethics, tips on selecting a journal, a summary of manuscript requirements, and a brief outline of the submission process and outcomes. By demystifying these processes and outlining some of the basic requirements, the authors hope to encourage novice researchers to engage in quality research and prepare them for disseminating their results.

Mentoring and Training of Cancer-Related Health Disparities Researchers Committed to Community-Based Participatory Research

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

The National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Community Networks Program Centers (CNPCs) provide community-based participatory research (CBPR)-oriented mentoring and training to prepare early-stage/midcareer investigators and student trainees (trainees) in disparities reduction. This paper describes the academic, mentoring, training, and work-life balance experiences of CNPC-affiliated trainees.

METHODS

We used a collaborative and iterative process to develop a 57-item, web-based questionnaire completed by trainees from the 23 CNPCs between August 2012 and February 2013. Their CNPC mentors completed a 47-item questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were calculated.

RESULTS

The final analytic sample included 189 of 269 individuals (70%) identified as active participants in CNPC research or training/mentoring. Mentors (n=45) were mostly non-Hispanic White (77.8%) and 48.9% were male. Mentors published a median of 6 (interquartile range [IQR], 3-12) first-authored and 15 (IQR, 6-25) senior authored manuscripts, and secured 15 (IQR, 11-29) grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other sources in the previous 5 years. Most trainees (n=144) were female (79.2%), 43.7% were underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities, and 36.8% were first-generation college graduates. Over the previous 5 years, trainees reported a median of 4 (IQR, 1-6) publications as first author and 4 (IQR, 2-8) as co-author; 27.1% reported having one or more NIH R01s. Trainees reported satisfaction with their CNPC mentor (79.1%) and confidence in demonstrating most CBPR competencies.

CONCLUSION

The CNPC training program consists of a scientifically productive pool of mentors and trainees. Trainees reported rates of scholarly productivity comparable to other national training programs and provided insights into relationships with mentors, academic pressures, and professional-personal life balance.