Indicators of early research productivity among primary care fellows

Strategies for developing a successful career in academic medicine

Academic medicine provides physicians an opportunity for long-term career satisfaction and fulfillment. However, despite the potential for great reward, academic careers can be challenging. To better define approaches to successfully navigate academic medicine, the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation sponsored a workshop titled 'Successful Careers in Academic Medicine' during the 2023 Southern Regional Meeting held in New Orleans; the critical elements of which are highlighted in the following summary. Participants discussed the benefits of an academic career, summarized strategies for negotiating a job, listed critical tools for career development, and discussed key concepts about planning and navigating the academic medicine promotion process. The information provides a roadmap for physicians to develop successful careers in academic medicine.

Faculty knowledge, actions, and perceptions of sponsorship: an institutional survey study

BACKGROUND

Women and underrepresented in medicine and the health sciences (URiM) faculty face inequities in advancement. Career sponsorship may be a remedy. Few studies have described sponsorship in academic medicine and none across an institution.

OBJECTIVE

To examine faculty awareness, experiences, and perceptions of sponsorship at a large academic health center.

DESIGN

Anonymous online survey.

PARTICIPANTS

Faculty with a ≥50% appointment.

MAIN MEASURES

The survey contained 31 Likert, multiple-choice, yes/no, and open-ended questions about familiarity with the concept of sponsorship; experience of having or being a sponsor; receipt of specific sponsorship activities; sponsorship impact and satisfaction; mentorship and sponsorship co-occurrence; and perception of inequities. Open-ended questions were analyzed using content analysis.

KEY RESULTS

Thirty-one percent of the surveyed faculty (903/2900) responded of whom 53% (477/903) were women and 10% (95/903) were URiM. Familiarity with sponsorship was higher among assistant (91%, 269/894) and associate (182/894; 64%) professors versus full professors (38%, 329/894); women (67%, 319/488) versus men (62%, 169/488); and URiM (77%, 66/517) versus non-URiM faculty (55%, 451/517). A majority had a personal sponsor (528/691; 76%) during their career and were satisfied with their sponsorship (64%, 532/828). However, when responses from faculty of different professorial ranks were stratified by gender and URiM identity, we observed possible cohort effects. Furthermore, 55% (398/718) of respondents perceived that women received less sponsorship than men and 46% (312/672) that URiM faculty received less than their peers. We identified seven qualitative themes: sponsorship importance, growing awareness and change, institutional biases and deficiencies, groups getting less sponsorship, people with sponsorship power, conflation with mentorship, and potential for negative impact.

CONCLUSIONS

A majority of respondents at a large academic health center reported sponsorship familiarity, receipt, and satisfaction. Yet many perceived persistent institutional biases and the need for systematic change to improve sponsorship transparency, equity, and impact.

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

INTRODUCTION

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.

CURRICULUM STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF IMPLEMENTATION

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).

RESULTS

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.

CONCLUSION

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 MESSAGESAmong 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 mentorshipWhile 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.

Mentoring Medical Students Towards Oncology: Results from a Pilot Multi-institutional Mentorship Programme

The mounting global cancer burden has generated an increasing demand for oncologists to join the workforce. Yet, students report limited oncology exposure in undergraduate medical curricula, while undergraduate oncology mentorships remain underutilised. We established an undergraduate oncology society-led mentorship programme aimed at medical students across several UK universities to increase medical student oncology exposure. We electronically recruited and paired oncologist mentors and medical student mentees and distributed a dedicated questionnaire (pre- and post-mentorship) to compare mentees' self-reported cancer specialty knowledge and oncology career motivation after undertaking a 6-week mentorship. We also determined students' interest across specialties and subspecialties and measured mentor availability via percentage programme uptake. Statistical analysis included univariate inferential tests on SPSS software. Twentynine (23.4%) of 124 oncology specialists agreed to become mentors. The mentorship was completed by 30 students across three medical schools: 16 (53.3%) Barts, 10 (33.3%) Birmingham, and 4 (13.3%) King's; 11 (36.7%) mentored by medical oncologists, 10 (33.3%) by clinical/radiation oncologists, and 9 (30%) by surgical oncologists. The mentorship generated a statically significant increase in students' knowledge of the multidisciplinary team and all oncology-related specialties including academia/research but not interest towards a career in oncology. Undergraduate oncology mentoring is an effective educational, networking and motivational tool for medical students. Student societies are a valuable asset in cultivating medical student oncology interest by connecting students to faculty and increasing mentor accessibility. Further research should focus on developing an optimal mentorship structure and evaluating long-term outcomes of such educational initiatives.

Promoting Cancer Health Equity: A Qualitative Study of Mentee and Mentor Perspectives of a Training Program for Underrepresented Scholars in Cancer Health Disparities

Racial and ethnic minorities, and women, experience stark disparities in cancer risk behaviors and mortality rates, yet often remain underrepresented in scientific research positions. We conducted an exploratory, qualitative study to examine the value of mentored research experience as part of an NCI-funded research training program designed to increase the representation of minority and women scientists in cancer disparities research. Using individual interviews, we explored 16 mentees’ and 7 mentors’ program experiences and perspectives to identify the most effective strategies to build strong mentoring relationships that could ultimately contribute to increased representation in health disparities research. Two expert analysts employed thematic analysis and constant comparison to code, categorize, and summarize the data into themes. Mentees and mentors shared five themes identifying contributions to program success: conditions for building successful mentoring relationships; role of mentor/mentee similarities or differences and their impact on effective collaboration; program elements that fostered developing knowledge, skills, and confidence; program supportive opportunities; and challenges and benefits of in-person vs. virtual program delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings contribute to improving the quality of training programs for historically excluded trainees to advance their cancer disparities research careers and offer a successful model that can guide similar programs.

Training the next generation of aging and cognitive health researchers

Dementia is a growing public health concern, and African Americans and Latinos are disproportionately affected compared to White Americans. Improving cognitive health outcomes and reducing disparities requires a diverse, interdisciplinary workforce. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Healthy Brain Research Network (HBRN) Scholars Program trained racially/ethnically and gender-diverse scholars through mentored, collaborative research. Entry, exit, and alumni surveys and a Scholar Spotlight Series queried motivation, goals, acquired skills, accomplishments, program impact, and scholar perspectives. Scholars (n = 41) were majority female (n = 31, 75.6%), graduate students (n = 23, 56.1%), and racially/ethnically diverse (n = 20, 48.7%). Scholars primarily represented Medicine (n = 19, 46.3%) and Public Health (n = 12, 29.3%). Exiting scholars (n = 25) secured faculty/professional positions (n = 9, 36.0%), awards/funding (n = 12, 48.0%), and publications (n = 8, 32.0%). Alumni (n = 10) secured cognitive health-related positions/fellowships (n = 7, 70.0%). The HBRN Scholars Program is an adaptable model for other thematic networks to prepare scholars in collaborative skills critical for effective research and practice.

Research Productivity of Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Fellowship Programs in the United States

Purpose

To survey orthopaedic sports medicine fellowship program directors to determine the current research productivity of both fellows and faculty in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited orthopaedic sports medicine fellowship programs in the United States.

Methods

An anonymous 18-question survey was distributed via e-mail to all 95 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited orthopaedic sports medicine fellowship program directors in the United States. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. Questions included whether fellows are required to complete a certain number of projects during their fellowship year and whether fellows have protected research time.

Results

Of the programs, 31 (33%) responded to the survey. Twenty-four programs (80%) require fellows to complete 1 to 4 projects. Twenty-one programs (71%) provide 4 to 8 hours of weekly protected research time. Twenty-four programs (77%) publish 1 to 2 manuscripts per fellow during the fellowship. Twenty-two programs (71%) have fellows work on 1 to 2 projects at a time. Annually, 26 programs (84%) give 0 to 5 podium presentations, 24 (80%) present 0 to 5 posters, and 15 (48%) report 0 to 5 publications. Twenty-four programs (77%) have research fellows and/or assistants to help with research. The presence of dedicated research assistants and more than 25 annual fellowship program publications were found to be useful screening data for more than 2 and more than 4 average publications per fellow, respectively.

Conclusions

The research productivity of orthopaedic sports medicine fellowship programs may be an important consideration for applicants. Applicants who desire to be productive in research during their fellowship year should consider programs with dedicated research assistants and/or programs that publish more than 25 times annually.

Clinical Relevance

This is a descriptive epidemiologic study that helps define the research productivity landscape in orthopaedic sports medicine fellowships. A more accurate understanding of sports medicine fellowship research experience may facilitate a better match between a program's research expectations and an applicant's research interests.

The Dark Side of Development: A Systems Characterization of the Negative Mentoring Experiences of Doctoral Students

Effective mentoring promotes the development and success of graduate students. Yet mentoring, like other relationships, can have negative elements. Little knowledge exists about the problematic mentoring that graduate students experience despite its potentially detrimental impacts. To begin to address this gap, we conducted an exploratory interview study to define and characterize negative mentoring experiences of 40 life science doctoral students. Students attributed their negative mentoring experiences to interacting factors at multiple levels-from interpersonal differences and poor relationship quality to issues at the research group, departmental, organizational, and discipline levels-all of which they perceived as harmful to their development. We found that doctoral students experienced forms of negative mentoring similar to those reported in workplace and undergraduate research settings, but they also experienced negative mentoring that was unique to academic research and their stage of development. Our results are useful to mentors for reflecting on ways their behaviors might be perceived, to mentees for avoiding situations that might be conducive to negative mentoring, and to programs and institutions for improving structures and processes to prevent negative mentoring. Our findings also serve as a foundation for future research on the prevalence and impacts of negative mentoring experiences in graduate education.

Mentoring Experiences and Publication Productivity among Early Career Biomedical Investigators and Trainees

Objective

To identify which mentoring domains influence publication productivity among early career researchers and trainees and whether publication productivity differs between underrepresented minority (URM) and well-represented groups (WRGs). The mentoring aspects that promote publication productivity remain unclear. Advancing health equity requires a diverse workforce, yet URM trainees are less likely to publish and URM investigators are less likely to obtain federal research grants, relative to WRG counterparts.

Methods

A mentoring-focused online follow-up survey was administered to respondents of the NRMN Annual Survey who self-identified as mentees. Publications were identified from a public database and validated with participant CV data. Bivariate and multivariate analyses tested the associations of publication productivity with mentoring domains.

Results

URM investigators and trainees had fewer publications (M = 7.3) than their WRG counterparts (M = 13.8). Controlling for career stage and social characteristics, those who worked on funded projects, and received grant-writing or research mentorship, had a higher probability of any publications. Controlling for URM status, gender, and career stage, mentorship on grant-writing and funding was positively associated with publication count (IRR=1.72). Holding career stage, gender, and mentoring experiences constant, WRG investigators and trainees had more publications than their URM counterparts (IRR=1.66).

Conclusions

Grant-writing mentorship is particularly important for publication productivity. Future research should investigate whether grant-writing mentorship differentially impacts URM and WRG investigators and should investigate how and why grant-writing mentorship fosters increased publication productivity.

MENTOR study: Matching expectations and needs to optimize relationships in cardiovascular fellowship training

Study objective

Mentorship is a key component of successful cardiology training. This study sought to understand the alignment of mentorship priorities for fellow-in-training (FIT) mentees and faculty mentors.

Design

Cross-sectional survey study.

Setting

Online.

Participants

Cardiology mentors and FIT mentees in the State of Connecticut.

Interventions

None.

Main outcome measures

Likert-scale graded valuations on the importance of and satisfaction with various categories of mentorship by both mentors and mentees. Results were analyzed using Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, where appropriate.

Results

Forty-eight percent of FITs (n = 34) and 16% of faculty mentors (n = 34) responded to the survey. Of those, 74% of FITs identified a mentor within the first year of fellowship either by directly contacting the mentor or meeting them through a clinical rotation. Mentors significantly undervalued the importance to FITs of providing research opportunities (4.5 vs 3.6, p < 0.05), helping them make contacts (4.5 vs 3.7, p < 0.05) and providing job-search support (4.3 vs 3.3, p < 0.05). In contrast, mentors overestimated the value of work-life balance and clinical mentorship to FITs.

Conclusions

FITs value support in research, job search support, and networking more than mentors realize, leading to an expectation-satisfaction gap in those areas of mentorship. Further studies to examine how mentors and mentees can best align their expectations may improve the efficacy of the mentorship process.

Mentoring up: Twelve tips for successfully employing a mentee-driven approach to mentoring relationships

Effective mentorship is critical for achieving professional success, influencing outcomes such as career selection and advancement, self-confidence and performance, and sense of community and fulfillment. Despite the established importance of mentorship, however, mentoring relationships can be challenging to develop and sustain. 'Mentoring up' is a concept adapted from the business concept of 'managing up' that encourages mentees to actively drive their mentoring relationships to ensure desired results. In this article, we hope to empower mentees with twelve strategies and practical steps to cultivate and maintain quality mentoring relationships, and successfully drive their mentoring relationships in a direction that serves their needs and achieves desired outcomes.

A new Mentor Evaluation Tool: Evidence of validity

Background

Mentorship plays an essential role in enhancing the success of junior faculty. Previous evaluation tools focused on specific types of mentors or mentees. The main objective was to develop and provide validity evidence for a Mentor Evaluation Tool (MET) to assess the effectiveness of one-on-one mentoring for faculty in the academic health sciences.

Methods

Evidence was collected for the validity domains of content, internal structure and relationship to other variables. The 13 item MET was tested for internal structure evidence with 185 junior faculty from Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. Finally, the MET was studied for additional validity evidence by prospectively enrolling mentees of three different groups of faculty (faculty nominated for, or winners of, a lifetime achievement in mentoring award; faculty graduates of a mentor training program; and faculty mentors not in either of the other two groups) at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and asking them to rate their mentors using the MET. Mentors and mentees were clinicians, educators and/or researchers.

Results

The 13 MET items mapped well to the five mentoring domains and six competencies described in the literature. The standardized Cronbach’s coefficient alpha was 0.96. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a single factor (CFI = 0.89, SRMR = 0.05). The three mentor groups did not differ in the single overall assessment item (P = 0.054) or mean MET score (P = 0.288), before or after adjusting for years of mentoring. The mentorship score means were relatively high for all three groups.

Conclusions

The Mentor Evaluation Tool demonstrates evidence of validity for research, clinical, educational or career mentors in academic health science careers. However, MET did not distinguish individuals nominated as outstanding mentors from other mentors. MET validity evidence can be studied further with mentor-mentee pairs and to follow prospectively the rating of mentors before and after a mentorship training program.

Postdoctoral Research Training in Palliative Care: Lessons Learned From a T32 Program

Our aging population and advances in chronic disease management that prolong the time that patients live with a chronic illness have combined to create an enormous need for improved palliative care research across diverse diseases. In this article, we describe the structure and processes of a National Institutes of Health-funded T32 postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Washington and our experiences in developing and implementing the program. We recognize a broad definition of palliative care research, including research focused on improving quality of life, minimizing symptoms, providing psychological and spiritual support, and improving communication about patients' values and goals of care, all in the context of a serious illness. We describe our four core principles for postdoctoral training in palliative care research, each with a number of specific approaches: 1) mastering a set of essential content and research skills; 2) structured mentoring and academic career development; 3) creating and supporting early success; and 4) interdisciplinary training and team science. In addition, we also describe our framework for the essential competencies necessary for a palliative care research training program, our methods for identification and selection of applicants, our outcomes to date, and our processes of continuous quality assessment and improvement. Our goal is to describe our successful postdoctoral research training program in palliative care to promote development of new programs and share information between programs to continue to build the field of collaborative and interdisciplinary palliative care research.

Reshaping the critical role of surgeons in oncology research

Surgery remains a mainstay in the treatment of most solid cancers. Surgeons have always engaged in various forms of high-quality cancer research to optimize outcomes for their patients, for example, contributing to clinical research and outcomes research as well as health education and public health policy. Over the past decade, however, concerns have been raised about a global decline in the number of surgeons performing basic science research alongside clinical activity - so-called surgeon scientists. Herein, we describe some of the unique obstacles faced by contemporary trainee and practising surgeons engaged in research, as well as providing a perspective on the implications of the diminishing prominence of the surgeon scientist. Finally, we offer some thoughts on potential strategies and future directions for surgical engagement in oncology research to increase the number of research-active surgeons.

Building consensus on identifying research mentoring gaps and finding ways of addressing the gap in a Kenyan college of health sciences

BACKGROUND

The concept of mentoring in clinical practice has traditionally focused on moving graduates from novice to more respectable positions within the clinical practice hierarchy. With the growing emphasis on evidence-based practice, the role of research in generating evidence for practice cannot be overemphasised. Mentoring in clinical operational research for both students and junior members of academic staff in health professionals' training colleges is as important as mentoring for clinical skills.

AIM

This study aimed at building consensus on possible ways of enhancing research mentoring for graduate students and members of academic staff in a college of health sciences.

SETTING

The study was conducted within Moi University College of Health Sciences (MUCHS) in Eldoret, Kenya.

METHODS

The study population was composed of academic staff members and registered graduate students by the end of 2015. All academic staff and graduate students were eligible to participate. The Delphi technique was used to not only collect individual opinions but also build consensus. During the first iteration, questions were sent for which open-ended responses were needed. Responses from the first round were grouped into patterns and themes that guided the writing of questions for the subsequent rounds.

RESULTS

The response rate was 78%. There was consensus in appreciating that mentoring was fundamental for career growth in clinical practice and research and needed for improving and developing formal structure for effective mentoring. It was crucial to establish training programmes for mentors and for accrediting them.

CONCLUSION

Enhancing of current research mentoring in MUCHS was needed and expected by graduate students and academic staff.

Patterns of North American Women Authorship in 2 Allergy/Immunology Journals: 1997-2017

BACKGROUND

Disparities in the frequency of publications by gender have been reported in various medical subspecialties.

OBJECTIVE

Review author gender in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology from 1997 to 2017.

METHODS

Data on frequency and patterns of authorship by gender were collected in 5-year intervals and analyzed by journal, article type, and year of publication. Logistic regression was used to analyze factors associated with a greater likelihood of first authors being women. We compared these patterns with the frequency of women AAAAI (American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology) members and AAAAI fellows-in-training.

RESULTS

Women were first authors in 36.5% of publications, increasing from 26.6% in 1997 to 48.1% in 2017 (P < .001). Their share as first author was highest (42.5%) for original articles and lowest (17.1%) for editorials. Share of women as last authors increased from 18.1% in 1997 to 30.9% in 2017 (P = .001). Women were less likely to be sole authors: 17.7% (P < .001). Articles with women as first authors were observed more frequently when women were last authors (odds ratio [OR], 3.14; P < .0001). This association was more likely in original investigations (OR, 2.1; P < .001) and articles published more recently (2007, 2012, 2017) (OR, 1.75; P < .001). The increasing rate of women first authors correlated with rising proportions of women AAAAI members (Pearson correlation = 0.96; P = .01) and fellows-in-training (Pearson correlation = 0.96; P < .01).

CONCLUSIONS

Women authorship has become more frequent in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. The probability of women being first authors is more likely in articles with women as last authors, implying that mentorship of women by women may encourage women to become more active in scholarship.

Cross-sectional multicentre study on the cohort of all the French junior lecturers in general practice

Background: General practice became an academic discipline quite recently in many western countries. In France, junior lecturer work is specified in a three-part mandate: medical work in general practice, teaching in the university, and research. Since 2007, 130 junior lecturers have been appointed in general practice. The aim of the creation of junior lecturer status was to align general practice with other specialties and to develop research and education in primary care.

Objectives: To describe the healthcare, teaching and research undertaken by junior lecturers in general practice, practising in October 2014.

Methods: A cross-sectional multicentre study using an online self-administered questionnaire on the cohort composed of all the junior lecturers in general practice with open questions and the qualitative analysis of written verbatim accounts.

Results: Of the 95 junior lecturers practising at the date of the study, 75 (79%) responded; average age 32 years; gender ratio (F/M) 2.4:1. They spent five, two and three half-days per week respectively in healthcare, teaching and research. The healthcare activity was predominantly carried out in the community (73%). Thirty-nine per cent worked as part of a multi-professional team taking on 50 consultations per week. Most of the educational work involved lecturing and mentoring students specializing in general practice (median 86 hours per year). Research output increased during the fellowship. Research topics were varied and relevant to the disciplinary field.

Conclusion: During the fellowship, the balancing, and even the reinforcement, of healthcare and research contributions were accompanied by a significant investment in educational provision.

One Click Away: Digital Mentorship in the Modern Era

Mentorship is a valuable component of the career development of junior faculty. The digital era has allowed for greater access to mentors spanning geographic barriers and time zones. This article discusses the concept of digital mentorship, as well as strategies and techniques for developing and supporting a digital mentoring relationship in the modern era.

Research Interest in Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellows

OBJECTIVE

Factors predictive of research career interest among pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) fellows are not known. We sought to determine the prevalence and determinants of interest in research careers among PEM fellows.

METHODS

We performed an electronically distributed national survey of current PEM fellows. We assessed demographics, barriers to successful research, and beliefs about research using 4-point ordinal scales. The primary outcome was the fellow-reported predicted percentage of time devoted to clinical research 5 years after graduation. We measured the association between barriers and beliefs and the predicted future clinical research time using the Spearman correlation coefficient.

RESULTS

Of 458 current fellows, 231 (50.4%) submitted complete responses to the survey. The median predicted future clinical research time was 10% (interquartile range, 5%-20%). We identified no association between sex, residency type, and previous research exposure and predicted future research time. The barrier that most correlated with decreased predicted clinical research time was difficulty designing a feasible fellowship research project (Spearman coefficient [ρ], 0.20; P = 0.002). The belief that most correlated with increased predicted clinical research time was excitement about research (ρ = 0.69, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Most fellows expect to devote a minority of their career to clinical research. Excitement about research was strongly correlated with career research interest.

Implementing and sustaining a mentorship program at a college of pharmacy: The Keys to Successful Mentorship

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate mentor and mentee opinions of The Keys to Successful Mentorship, a longitudinal student-led mentorship program established at a college of pharmacy.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

In 2008, a mentorship program was created whereby first year pharmacy students (mentees) were paired with third year pharmacy students (mentors). An anonymous survey was administered to second (P2) and fourth (P4) year pharmacy students identifying strengths and weaknesses of the program.

FINDINGS

Results of the survey administered to the P2 and P4 pharmacy students revealed that there was a strong desire to take part in the mentorship program. Of the respondents, 77% of P2 and 70% of P4 students stated the mentorship program aided in their professional growth. Mentors disagreed significantly more than mentees that participation in the program should be optional. Qualitative findings suggested that the program assisted students in building professional relationships and networks, better prepared them for experiential training, and helped with post-graduate decisions.

CONCLUSION

The implementation of a longitudinal student-led mentorship program was supported by student pharmacists and may aid in their professional development.

Successful adaptation of a research methods course in South America

BACKGROUND

South America has low research productivity. The lack of a structured research curriculum is one of the barriers to conducting research.

OBJECTIVE

To report our experience adapting an active learning-based research methods curriculum to improve research productivity at a university in Ecuador.

DESIGN

We used a mixed-method approach to test the adaptation of the research curriculum at Universidad Catolica Santiago de Guayaquil. The curriculum uses a flipped classroom and active learning approach to teach research methods. When adapted, it was longitudinal and had 16-hour programme of in-person teaching and a six-month follow-up online component. Learners were organized in theme groups according to interest, and each group had a faculty leader. Our primary outcome was research productivity, which was measured by the succesful presentation of the research project at a national meeting, or publication in a peer-review journal. Our secondary outcomes were knowledge and perceived competence before and after course completion. We conducted qualitative interviews of faculty members and students to evaluate themes related to participation in research.

RESULTS

Fifty university students and 10 faculty members attended the course. We had a total of 15 groups. Both knowledge and perceived competence increased by 17 and 18 percentage points, respectively. The presentation or publication rate for the entire group was 50%. The qualitative analysis showed that a lack of research culture and curriculum were common barriers to research.

CONCLUSIONS

A US-based curriculum can be successfully adapted in low-middle income countries. A research curriculum aids in achieving pre-determined milestones.

ABBREVIATIONS

UCSG: Universidad Catolica Santiago de Guayaquil; UM: University of Miami.

Supporting clinician educators to achieve "work-work balance"

Clinician Educators (CE) have numerous responsibilities in different professional domains, including clinical, education, research, and administration. Many CEs face tensions trying to manage these often competing professional responsibilities and achieve "work-work balance." Rich discussions of techniques for work-work balance amongst CEs at a medical education conference inspired the authors to gather, analyze, and summarize these techniques to share with others. In this paper we present the CE's "Four Ps"; these are practice points that support both the aspiring and established CE to help improve their performance and productivity as CEs, and allow them to approach work-work balance.

Current Roles and Perceived Needs of Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship Graduates

OBJECTIVES

Pediatric hospitalists report the need for additional training in clinical and nonclinical domains. Pediatric hospital medicine (PHM) fellowships seek to provide this training and produce leaders in the field. Our objective is to describe current roles and perceived training needs of PHM fellowship graduates.

METHODS

In 2014, all PHM fellowship graduates were asked to complete a Web-based survey. Survey questions addressed demographics, past training, current roles, and training needs in clinical care, research, education, and administration. Associations between fellowship experiences and outcomes were examined.

RESULTS

Fifty-one of 61 eligible individuals completed the survey. Average duration as a pediatric hospitalist was 5 years. Ninety percent completed pediatric categorical residency, whereas 10% completed an Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Residency. Most respondents completed a 1- (38%) or 2-year (46%) fellowship program. Ninety-six percent of respondents currently work in academic environments. The perceived need for additional clinical training was low, except procedures (44%). Nearly all teach medical students and pediatric residents, reporting adequate training in variety of teaching strategies. The majority of respondents conduct research, most commonly quality improvement (QI; 67%) and education (52%). Two-thirds are first authors on at least 1 peer-reviewed article. Research training needs include QI methodology (44%), biostatistics (43%), and obtaining funding (54%). A considerable number of respondents have academic leadership positions.

CONCLUSIONS

PHM fellowship graduates are academic hospitalists with diverse responsibilities. Despite a short average career span, many have achieved leadership roles and been academically productive. Future curriculum development should focus on procedures, QI, and research training.

Defining Attributes and Metrics of Effective Research Mentoring Relationships

Despite evidence of mentoring's importance in training researchers, studies to date have not yet determined which mentoring relationships have the most impact and what specific factors in those mentoring relationships contribute to key outcomes, such as the commitment to and persistence in research career paths for emerging researchers from diverse populations. Efforts to broaden participation and persistence in biomedical research careers require an understanding of why and how mentoring relationships work and their impact, not only to research training but also to promoting career advancement. This paper proposes core attributes of effective mentoring relationships, as supported by the literature and suggested by theoretical models of academic persistence. In addition, both existing and developing metrics for measuring the effectiveness of these attributes within mentoring relationships across diverse groups are presented, as well as preliminary data on these metrics from the authors' work.

Mentoring among Pakistani postgraduate resident doctors

BACKGROUND

Mentorship is the key to career success, improving job quality and productivity; however, several barriers are prevalent in many academic institutions. Low/middle-income countries are particularly facing difficulty dealing with poor and often non-existing mentoring.

PURPOSE

To gauge the quality of mentorship at King Edward Medical University and discover factors responsible for satisfaction or dissatisfaction of mentors and mentees.

METHODS

This was an institution-based cross-sectional study using web-based questionnaires: one for mentors and another one for mentees. The authors analysed the collected data using the R statistical package (V.2.15.1). The authors used Fisher's exact test to assess associations between the satisfactions of mentees and mentors and various factors such as having defined goals or the hours spent towards mentoring. p Values <0.05 were regarded as significant.

RESULTS

52 mentees and nine mentors completed questionnaires. Greater face time, clear agreement in regard to goals and expectations and proper advice from mentor regarding best practices to advance in career were associated with greater mentee satisfaction (p<0.001, p=0.006 and p<0.001 respectively). Problems faced by mentees included deficiency of protected time for mentorship, poor communication and little understanding of their needs by the mentors. The majority of the mentors (seven out of nine), believed that a certification course in mentorship should be mandatory.

CONCLUSION

There is a lack of opportunities for effective mentorship at King Edward Medical University. Adequate training of mentors and mentees to adopt strategies for a better career outcome of young doctors should be in place.

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.

Cultivating Medical Education Research Mentorship as a Pathway Towards High Quality Medical Education Research

The lack of effective and consistent research mentorship and research mentor training in both undergraduate medical education (UME) and graduate medical education (GME) is a critical constraint on the development of innovative and high quality medical education research. Clinical research mentors are often not familiar with the nuances and context of conducting education research. Clinician-educators, meanwhile, often lack the skills in developing and conducting rigorous research. Mentors who are not prepared to articulate potential scholarship pathways for their mentees risk limiting the mentee's progress in early stages of their career. In fact, the relative paucity of experienced medical education research mentors arguably contributes to the perpetuation of a cycle leading to fewer well-trained researchers in medical education, a lack of high quality medical education research, and relative stagnation in medical education innovation. There is a path forward, however. Integration of doctoral-level educators, structured inter-departmental efforts, and external mentorship provide opportunities for faculty to gain traction in their medical education research efforts. An investment in medical education research mentors will ensure rigorous research for high quality innovation in medical education and patient care.

Effects of government spending on research workforce development: evidence from biomedical postdoctoral researchers

We examine effects of government spending on postdoctoral researchers’ (postdocs) productivity in biomedical sciences, the largest population of postdocs in the US. We analyze changes in the productivity of postdocs before and after the US government’s 1997 decision to increase NIH funding. In the first round of analysis, we find that more government spending has resulted in longer postdoc careers. We see no significant changes in researchers’ productivity in terms of publication and conference presentations. However, when the population is segmented by citizenship, we find that the effects are heterogeneous; US citizens stay longer in postdoc positions with no change in publications and, in contrast, international permanent residents (green card holders) produce more conference papers and publications without significant changes in postdoc duration. Possible explanations and policy implications of the analysis are discussed.

Mentoring the Next Generation of Social Workers in Palliative and End-of-Life Care: The Zelda Foster Studies Program

As Americans live longer with chronic illnesses, there is a growing need for social workers with the knowledge and skills to deliver quality palliative care to older adults and their families. Nevertheless, there remains a critical shortage of social workers prepared to provide quality palliative and end-of-life care (PELC) and to maintain the field into the next generation. Formal mentorship programs represent an innovative approach to enhancing practice, providing support and guidance, and promoting social work leadership in the field. This article reviews the literature on mentorship as an approach to professional and leadership development for emerging social workers in PELC. The Zelda Foster Studies Program in Palliative and End-of-Life Care bolsters competencies and mentors social workers in PELC over the trajectory of their careers, and enhances the capacity in the field. Findings from the first six years of two components of the ZF Program are examined to illustrate the feasibility, benefits, and challenges of formal mentorship programs. The authors describe the background, structure, and evaluation of the initiative's mentorship programs, and discuss the implications of mentorship in PELC for social work education, practice, and research.

Research Workforce Diversity: The Case of Balancing National versus International Postdocs in US Biomedical Research

The US government has been increasingly supporting postdoctoral training in biomedical sciences to develop the domestic research workforce. However, current trends suggest that mostly international researchers benefit from the funding, many of whom might leave the USA after training. In this paper, we describe a model used to analyse the flow of national versus international researchers into and out of postdoctoral training. We calibrate our model in the case of the USA and successfully replicate the data. We use the model to conduct simulation-based analyses of effects of different policies on the diversity of postdoctoral researchers. Our model shows that capping the duration of postdoctoral careers, a policy proposed previously, favours international postdoctoral researchers. The analysis suggests that the leverage point to help the growth of domestic research workforce is in the pregraduate education area, and many policies implemented at the postgraduate level have minimal or unintended effects on diversity.

Publication track records as a metric of clinical research training effectiveness

Clinical research training programs exist across the country, but no quantitative studies have been performed to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs. The goal of this study was to evaluate the success of the clinical research training program at the University of Cincinnati by comparing the publication histories of pediatric fellows who graduated from the clinical and translational research Master of Science (MS) degree programs between 1995 and 2011 with fellows who did not pursue an MS degree. Among 296 pediatric fellows, 44 of 54 graduates (81%) published at least 1 first-authored paper, as compared with 149 of 242 (62%) fellows who did not obtain an MS degree (P < 0.01). In multivariable analysis, 3-4 years after program completion, MS graduates published more papers overall (R(2) = 0.10) and more first-authored papers than did non-MS graduates (R(2) = 0.04). These findings suggest that graduate training in clinical and translational research is related to an increase in research productivity as assessed by publication rates.

Research training of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics fellows: a survey of fellowship directors by Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Research Network

OBJECTIVE

To describe research training in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (DBP) Fellowship Programs.

METHODS

Thirty-five US-accredited DBP fellowships were contacted through the Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Research Network to complete an online survey on scholarly work and research training.

RESULTS

With an 83% response rate, responding programs represented 110 (87 filled) fellowship positions. External funding for fellowship positions was minimal (11 positions fully funded, 13 funded above 50% of cost). Structured research training included didactic lectures, web-based training, university courses, direct mentoring, journal clubs, and required reading. Of the 159 fellows described, spanning a 5-year training period, the majority chose projects relying on their own data collection (57%) rather than joining an existing research study and focused on clinical research (86%). Among 96 fellows with completed scholarly work, 29% were observational/epidemiological studies, 22% secondary analyses of large data sets, 16% community-based research, and 15% survey design. A limited number of fellows pursued basic science, meta-analysis/critical appraisal of the literature, or analysis of public policy. Barriers to successful fellow research are as follows: lack of time and money, challenges in balancing clinical demands and protected faculty research time, limited faculty research opportunities, time or expertise, and a lack of infrastructure for fellow research mentoring.

CONCLUSIONS

The scholarly work of fellows in DBP fellowship programs has primarily focused on clinical research using observational/epidemiological research and secondary analysis of large data set. Barriers largely in faculty time and expertise for research mentoring and inadequate funding in programs that have high clinical demands and little resources for research efforts were noted.

Policies, activities, and structures supporting research mentoring: a national survey of academic health centers with clinical and translational science awards

PURPOSE

To document the frequency of policies and activities in support of mentoring practices at institutions receiving a U.S. National Institutes of Health's Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA).

METHOD

The study consisted of a 69-item survey with questions about the inclusion (formal or informal) of policies, activities, and structures supporting mentoring within CTSA-sponsored research (i.e., KL2 programs) and, more broadly, in the CTSA's home institution. The survey, conducted from November 2010 through January 2011, was sent to the 55 institutions awarded CTSAs at the time of the survey. Follow-up phone interviews were conducted to clarify responses as needed.

RESULTS

Fifty-one of 55 (92%) institutions completed the survey for institutional programs and 53 of 55 (96%) for KL2 programs. Responses regarding policies and activities involving mentor criteria, mentor-mentee relationship, incentives, and evaluative mechanisms revealed considerable variability between KL2 and institutional programs in some areas, such as having mentor qualification criteria and processes to evaluate mentors. The survey also identified areas, such as training and women and minority mentoring programs, where there was frequent sharing of activities between the institutional and KL2 programs.

CONCLUSIONS

KL2 programs and institutional programs tend to have different preferences for policies versus activities to optimize qualification of mentors, the mentor-mentee relationship, incentives, and evaluation mechanisms. Frequently, these elements are informal. Individuals in charge of implementing and maintaining mentoring initiatives can use the results of the study to consider their current mentoring policies, structures, and activities by comparing them with national patterns within CTSA institutions.

Characteristics of success in mentoring and research productivity - a case-control study of academic centers

OBJECTIVES

While mentoring has been associated with research productivity, the specific characteristics of successful mentoring have not been well studied. Thus, we performed a case-control study to identify characteristics of successful mentoring programs.

METHODS

Institutions were divided based on number of plenary research presentations at an annual society meeting over 6years. Case institutions (Group A) had more presentations vs. controls (Group B). A survey of professors and research fellows assessed characteristics of their mentoring program. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were performed.

RESULTS

Of 159 surveyed, response rates were 46% for professors and 51% for fellows. Compared to Group B, Group A was more likely to have: an additional year of protected fellowship research training (62% vs. 24%; p=0.003), an established program to connect a mentor and mentee with similar research interests (52% vs. 27%; p=0.049), methods to provide feedback to mentors (62% vs. 29%; p=0.01), require mentee research progress reports (45% vs. 21%; p=0.047), and report ease of identifying a mentor (90% vs. 69%; p=0.046). On multivariate analyses, the additional year of research training (OR=7.53, 95% CI: 2.10-27.09; p=0.002) and ease at identifying a research mentor (OR=7.45, 95% CI: 1.44-38.6; p=0.017) remained as independent factors associated with higher research productivity.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data suggest that programs can enhance research productivity with the incorporation of accountability features including formalized reports of progress and mentorship feedback in fellowship training. Facilitating the identification of a mentor and providing an additional year of research may be independent factors associated with research productivity.

A learning and development strategy for children's hospices across London

Over recent years there have been several political imperatives in the UK directed toward children's palliative care and ensuring that services are high-quality, coordinated, family-centred, and able to meet the needs of children with complex disabilities. In addition, in 2010 the health and social care regulation authority in England-the Care Quality Commission (CQC)-aligned hospices with regulation and inspection requirements. This context has acted as a driver for the creation of effective education and training to ensure a skilled and expert workforce. Against this backdrop, this paper describes a project to develop a learning and development strategy for Children's Hospices across London (CHaL). CHaL educators worked with a research team to develop a unified strategy that was based on evidence of good practice, embedded in required CQC outcomes, and validated with a wider audience. The resultant strategy contains a set of four key learning and development principles that are applicable and transferable across different hospices.

Defining the ideal qualities of mentorship: a qualitative analysis of the characteristics of outstanding mentors

OBJECTIVE

The study's objective was to identify the important qualities of outstanding mentors as described by their mentees' letters of nomination for a prestigious lifetime achievement award in mentorship.

METHODS

The Lifetime Achievement in Mentorship Award at the University of California, San Francisco, recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated sustained mentoring excellence in the academic health sciences. Recommendation letters in support of the top 10 nominees in 2008 (n=53 letters) were analyzed using grounded theory and constant comparative technique until thematic saturation was achieved.

RESULTS

In 2008, 29 faculty members (of>1000 eligible senior faculty) were nominated. Nominees were 53 to 78 years old, and 30% were women. The nominees represented 4 schools (Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Dentistry) and 22 departments/divisions. Five themes emerged from the analysis. Outstanding mentors: 1) exhibit admirable personal qualitites, including enthusiasm, compassion, and selflessness; 2) act as a career guide, offering a vision but purposefully tailoring support to each mentee; 3) make strong time commitments with regular, frequent, and high-quality meetings; 4) support personal/professional balance; and 5) leave a legacy of how to be a good mentor through role modeling and instituting policies that set global expectations and standards for mentorship.

CONCLUSION

This is the first study to describe the qualities of admired mentors by analyzing nomination letters for a prestigious mentoring award. Our results give new insight into how mentors foster the careers of junior faculty in the academic health sciences. The results can guide academic leaders on how to train and evaluate mentors.

Tracking the careers of academic general pediatric fellowship program graduates: academic productivity and leadership roles

OBJECTIVE

Little is known about the careers of graduates of academic general pediatric (AGP) fellowship programs. We evaluated the careers of 2 cohorts of AGP fellowship graduates: an early cohort trained during 1978 to 1988, and a later cohort trained during 1989 to 1999.

METHODS

We surveyed all known AGP fellowship graduates in both cohorts by using a confidential mailed survey. We assessed graduates' current professional work and analyzed curricula vitae for principal investigator (PI) grants; first-authored, peer-reviewed publications; and leadership positions.

RESULTS

From the early cohort, 95 of 131 eligible graduates (73%) responded; from the later cohort, 93 of 133 (70%) responded. Two thirds of each cohort remain in academics; of these, nearly half are on tenure tracks and over half have major educational roles within their university. The percentage in the early cohort who have been PI on a research grant by 5, 10, and 15 years postfellowship was 44%, 53%, and 54%, respectively; in the later cohort, it was 62%, 75%, and 75%, respectively (P = .004 vs early cohort). During the 10 years postfellowship, the early and later cohorts averaged 5.5 and 7.4 first-authored, peer-reviewed papers, respectively (P = .4). By 10 years, a high proportion of both cohorts had become division chief (19% vs 16%), had other academic leadership positions (43% vs 59%), or were leaders in professional organizations (20% vs 30%; all P = NS).

CONCLUSIONS

Graduates of AGP fellowship programs have achieved considerable academic success. Recently trained fellows appear even more successful. The academic outcomes of these AGP fellows bode well for the future of AGP.

Training the next generation of research mentors: the University of California, San Francisco, Clinical & Translational Science Institute Mentor Development Program

Mentoring is a critical component of career development and success for clinical translational science research faculty. Yet few programs train faculty in mentoring skills. We describe outcomes from the first two faculty cohorts who completed a Mentor Development Program (MDP) at UCSF. Eligibility includes having dedicated research time, expertise in a scientific area and a desire to be a lead research mentor. A post-MDP survey measured the program's impact on enhancement of five key mentoring skills, change in the Mentors-in-Training (MIT) self-rated importance of being a mentor to their career satisfaction, and overall confidence in their mentoring skills. Since 2007, 29 MITs participated in and 26 completed the MDP. Only 15% of the MITs reported any previous mentor training. Overall, 96% of MITs felt that participation in the MDP helped them to become better mentors. A majority reported a significant increase in confidence in mentoring skills and most reported an increased understanding of important mentoring issues at UCSF. MITs reported increased confidence in overall and specific mentoring skills after completion of the MDP. The MDP can serve as a model for other institutions to develop the next generation of clinical-translational research mentors.

Does mentoring matter: results from a survey of faculty mentees at a large health sciences university

BACKGROUND

To determine the characteristics associated with having a mentor, the association of mentoring with self-efficacy, and the content of mentor-mentee interactions at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), we conducted a baseline assessment prior to implementing a comprehensive faculty mentoring program.

METHOD

We surveyed all prospective junior faculty mentees at UCSF. Mentees completed a web-based, 38-item survey including an assessment of self-efficacy and a needs assessment. We used descriptive and inferential statistics to determine the association between having a mentor and gender, ethnicity, faculty series, and self-efficacy.

RESULTS

Our respondents (n=464, 56%) were 53% female, 62% white, and 7% from underrepresented minority groups. More than half of respondents (n=319) reported having a mentor. There were no differences in having a mentor based on gender or ethnicity (p>or=0.05). Clinician educator faculty with more teaching and patient care responsibilities were statistically significantly less likely to have a mentor compared with faculty in research intensive series (p<0.001). Having a mentor was associated with greater satisfaction with time allocation at work (p<0.05) and with higher academic self-efficacy scores, 6.07 (sd = 1.36) compared with those without a mentor, 5.33 (sd = 1.35, p<0.001). Mentees reported that they most often discussed funding with the mentors, but rated highest requiring mentoring assistance with issues of promotion and tenure.

CONCLUSION

Findings from the UCSF faculty mentoring program may assist other health science institutions plan similar programs. Mentoring needs for junior faculty with greater teaching and patient care responsibilities must be addressed.