A Glance at SPARK: Multiple Perspectives of an Innovative Mentorship Program

The authors describe the history, characteristics, and goals of four innovative programs, each in a medical school, that were established in 1998 to help faculty members of both sexes obtain mentors and thereby facilitate their career advancement. The programs were established as the result of an initiative by the Office on Women's Health (OWH) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Specifically, the OWH convened the National Task Force on Mentoring for Health Professionals, which determined that two principles are paramount to the success of any mentoring relationship or program: institutional commitment and institutional rewards and recognition to mentors. In accordance with the task force findings, the OWH created the National Centers of Leadership in Academic Medicine, one at each of four medical schools: MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine; the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine; East Carolina University School of Medicine; and Meharry Medical College School of Medicine. The authors give highlights of each program's goals and progress, and note that, ideally, these programs will eventually serve as models for similar programs at other schools. Programs such as these foster the advancement of a diverse faculty, a more supportive academic environment, and the education of providers who are sensitive to the needs of all their patients, staff, and colleagues.

There is disparity in the nursing work-force of minority leaders. The aim of this article is to describe and evaluate an innovative program designed to provide mentorship and increase leadership skills of minority nursing students. An innovative mentorship program was developed including coordination of financial aid meetings, incorporating technology, enacting an online preimmersion course, choosing and training mentors, hosting a lunch-and-lead leadership series, and using intensive review sessions and tutoring. Program evaluation data were analyzed using mixed methods. All 40 participants passed the NCLEX-RN and had obtained employment after the program. Of the 20 respondents, 25% already had obtained a leadership role in nursing. Qualitative data about the program revealed categories of leadership, networking, mentorship, more time, and gratitude. This program was successful in promoting retention, graduation, and development of future minority nurse leaders. [J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(9):526-534.].

Mentoring Teachers in Prison Education – Experiences in Three Correctional Facilities in Belgium

Background Evidence-informed decision making (EIDM) is important to ensure that practice is evidence-informed and resources are used efficiently and effectively. However, public health professionals can face barriers to EIDM. Knowledge Brokers can support and champion EIDM within an organization. The National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (NCCMT) developed a Knowledge Broker (KB) Mentoring program, a hands-on mentorship program to develop capacity for evidence-informed decision making. Objectives The objectives of the KB Mentoring program are to build individual and organizational capacity for evidence-informed decision making. The program takes place over 20 months and includes an organizational assessment, nine face-to-face workshop days, monthly webinars, completion of a rapid review, and a period post-program to connect with mentors. Participating cohorts are evaluated qualitatively. Results To date, two cohorts of five organizations each have completed the program (n = 56 participants). At the individual level, participants reported increased: confidence; EIDM knowledge and skills; and interpersonal connections. At the organizational level, the groups reported conducting rapid reviews, critically appraising evidence, and using evidence in program planning decisions. Additionally, organizations have put in place ongoing supports to build EIDM capacity. Participants noted that they would like more support both before and after the program. This recommendation was put in place for the third cohort, currently in progress. Conclusions Participants indicated the KB mentoring program was high quality and increased EIDM capacity and behaviour in their organizations. This innovative program is important across settings and countries as public health continues to face changes to public health practice. In order to scale up the program to diverse geographic settings, an online KB mentoring program is currently in development. Key messages Knowledge Broker mentoring supports public health practitioners to use evidence in practice. Knowledge broker mentoring raises the confidence, knowledge, skills, and connections of participants.

In a shift from previous projects, the Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure involved an impact evaluation officer, a researcher trained in social sciences and education research, to lead its evaluation efforts. This paper/session presents the findings of the evaluation and, in particular, reflects on the value of including a social sciences perspective. That is, we will highlight not only what the evaluation found in terms of impact in key areas such as scientific and technological impact but will focus on what emerged that might not have been uncovered using our previous evaluation approaches.The purpose of the evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of the RI for its user community. Although the analyses were been broadly structured around the five impact areas identified by the OECD’s Reference Framework for Assessing the Scientific and Socio-Economic Impact of Research Infrastructures (2019), the evaluation also aimed to draw out what contributed to its impact. While evidence has been found for impact in all five impact areas (Scientific, Technological, Training and Education, Economic, Social and Societal), evidence is particularly strong in the first three.Across scientific and technological impact, the Transnational Access (TA) visits – which formed the cornerstone of the RI in many ways – made possible impacts, particularly scientific, that simply would not be possible without the support of the RI, due to the access to facilities, both equipment and expertise, that it provided. These impacts were amplified due to the participation of early career researchers in the programme, ensuring impact into the future. Such impact was only enhanced and strengthened by other areas of scientific impact from Virtual Access activities and Networking Activities(e.g. Expert Exchange programme, Telescope Network) activities.Impact in the area of training and education is also substantial, via a Mentorship programme, Expert Exchange programme, Winter Schools and training workshops. One distinguishing feature of the 2024 RI that the evaluation surfaced was the extensive support for students and early career researchers in particular, and amateur astronomers as well. In addition to the various programmes and workshops, the TA visits made a large contribution to this impact via the participation of early career researchers and students – the visits provided opportunities that are not otherwise available to them, thus accelerating their career development.The Social and Societal impact has also been considerable, albeit more challenging to measure. There has been substantial outreach activity undertaken by TA facilities and TA visitors, and there has also been development of educational materials for school use. Both the management of the RI, as well as leaders of multiple TA facilities have engaged with policymakers and policy initiatives. Impact related to social responsibility is also notable. The mentorship programme and support provided for amateur astronomers widened the reach of those who could participate in and benefit from the activity of the RI. Direct support in the form of conference bursaries and workshops to support applications to the TA programme achieved similar goals. Some of these efforts also contributed to impact in the area of education and training and highlighted the multifaceted nature of the RI’s support for the Europlanet community.The evaluation – particularly more qualitative aspects, such as interviews – reflected that across many of the RI activities, collaboration and networking emerged as key to impact, both as a pathway to impact and an indicator of its attainment. The network element provides support for researchers at all levels and strengthens the community, which in turn contributes to sustainability and improving the science. Put differently, the evaluation identified not only the impact that the RI has achieved but also the way in which it has done so – through its support of the community. In particular, the RI provided access – access to expertise, to equipment (labs, field sites) and to people. This access was supported by a host of interlocking activities that clearly impacts on individuals – from doctoral students to amateur astronomers and beyond – and the science that they engage in, now and in the future.  All of this, critically, does not just lead to good science, but the outward facing nature of much of the RI activity means the impacts will be broader than just on the scientists participating directly and their science, but vitally strengthens the planetary science community – and beyond. By having an evaluator trained in social sciences designing and implementing the evaluation – and bringing that perspective to the data, the evaluation of Europlanet 2024 RI robustly evidenced the way in which scientific impacts were achieved and the vital role of support for the community of planetary scientists in this impact.Europlanet 2024 RI has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871149.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to highlight the benefits and challenges of immersive, design thinking and community-engaged pedagogies for supporting social innovation within higher education; assess the impact of such approaches across stakeholder groups through long-term retrospective analysis of transdisciplinary and cross-stakeholder work; offer an approach to ecosystems design and analysis that accounts for complex system dynamics in higher education partnerships.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz and Belgrave, 2012) to create a long-term systemic analysis of university innovation efforts. Researchers analysed 37 semi-structured interviews across key stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of the Design Thinking Studio in Social Innovation. Interview subjects include alumni (students), faculty, community partners and administrators. Interviews were coded using constant comparative coding (Mills et al., 2006) to develop and analyse themes. This study includes situated perspectives from the authors who offer their subjective relationship to the Studio’s development.FindingsThis paper assesses the outcomes and design of a transdisciplinary cross-stakeholder social innovation program and extends prior research on the potential and challenges of design thinking and immersive pedagogies for supporting service-learning and community engagement (SLCE) practices within higher education. Qualitative interview results reveal how time, resources and other structural and systemic factors operate across stakeholder groups. The findings address a gap in SLCE and social innovation literature by situating community learning within pedagogical interventions constructed not only for the benefit of students but for community members. The authors conclude that the research on social innovation in higher education could benefit from a more intentional examination of longitudinal effects of innovative pedagogical environments across a broad range of stakeholder perspectives and contexts.Social implicationsThis paper identifies how innovative higher education programs are forced to navigate structural, epistemological and ethical quandaries when engaging in community-involved work. Sustainable innovation requires such programs to work within institutional structures while simultaneously disrupting entrenched structures, practices, and processes within the system.Originality/valueSocial innovation in higher education could benefit from harnessing lessons from collective impact and ecosystem design frameworks. In addition, the authors argue higher education institutions should commit to studying longitudinal effects of innovative pedagogical environments across multiple stakeholder perspectives and contexts. This study closes these gaps by advancing an ecosystems model for long-term and longitudinal assessment that captures the impact of such approaches across stakeholder groups and developing an approach to designing and assessing community-involved collaborative learning ecosystems (CiCLE).

The Mentoring‐Transcript Clearinghouse at the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln is described and the application of mentoring and transcript concepts in innovative programs are examined.

IntroductionThe adaptation of universities to the new guidelines set by the European Higher Education Area implies relevant changes. Among them, a teaching model more focused on the student and his or her learning than on the teacher and the subject, new active teaching-learning methodologies and the development of competences through the acquisition of learning outcomes; all with the aim of contributing to the integral formation of the university student. The integral formation, enabling each student to discover and realize their own life project, is nourished by educational accompaniment and the development of competences. A concrete form of educational accompaniment is mentoring. The objective of this study is to evaluate the formative effectiveness of an innovative mentoring program in the development of transversal competences as a means to achieve the ultimate mission of the university: to provide a comprehensive education to students.MethodsThe design of this research is quasi-experimental (pretest-posttest). The sample consists of more than 300 first-year students of the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria who participated in the mentoring program. A questionnaire on transversal competences and group interviews were used as measurement instruments.ResultsThe results showed significant differences in the level of acquisition of intrapersonal competences between the pre-treatment and post-treatment periods, in favor of the latter. This fact suggests that students improved their level of intrapersonal competences thanks to the mentoring program. These results are subsequently supported by the analysis of the group interviews.DiscussionTherefore, it can be concluded that this type of mentoring program is a valid example for the development of intrapersonal competences, which in turn contributes to the integral formation of the student.

Even though the Institute of Medicine released a report on the importance of ethnic diversity in the health care workforce to reduce health disparities, there has been little progress in increasing diversity in nursing. Nationally, health care systems do not have adequate representation of Black/African American, Asian, and Latino RNs. The Dotson Bridge and Mentoring Program is an innovative mentoring program for African American, Latino, Asian, and Native American (ALANA) students. Mentoring programs that support ALANA students can lead to an increase in retention, graduation, and NCLEX pass rates and should be an integral part of nursing programs. The outcomes of the program included improving the course pass rates from 50% to 92%, improving the first-time NCLEX pass rate from 74% to 94% and decreasing the attrition rate from 23% to 1%.

BackgroundWe implemented a contextualized innovative mentorship program in the Clinical Master in Family Medicine (CMFM) program established in April 2020 at Arabian Gulf University. In this paper, we describe the process of this program and derive the major challenges faced by trainees and related corrective actions and their outcomes on high-risk trainees for optimal performance.MethodsWe conducted a mixed-method longitudinal study of 80 trainees, analyzing information extracted from the Moodle learning platform about five key performance indicators as well as the contents (quantitative and qualitative) of mentoring meeting reports submitted through a validated online form between 2020 and 2022. We analyzed frequencies and themes of challenges and compared trainees' performance according to time and level of risk.ResultsThe follow-up of all 80 trainees in two cohorts (40 for each cohort) shows that most are female (93.75%) and the mean age is 30.00 ± 2.19 years with a ratio of mentors to mentees of 1 to 5. Meetings are conducted through phone calls, virtually, and face-to-face in 62%, 29%, and 8.3% respectively. The mean number and duration of meetings are 30.88 ± 2.31 and 20.08 ± 9.50 min respectively. Time management is the most reported challenge (41.3%), followed by health, social, and psychological-related issues in 7.6%, 4.6%, and 3% respectively. We extracted four main themes related to trainees, settings of training, e-Portfolio, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The mentorship program captured 12 trainees at high risk for low academic progress (12%) of whom six graduated on time and the remaining had to repeat a few courses the following terms. The performance of the program is stable over time (mean GPA of 3.30 (SE = 0.03), versus 3.34 (SE = 0.05) for cohorts 1 and 2 in the two years respectively, (P = 0.33). However, it is slightly lower among high-risk trainees compared to the remaining (GPA = 3.35 (SE = 0.03) versus 3.14 (SE = 0.08), P = 0.043) though above the minimum of the threshold of 3 out of 4, required for the master's degree.ConclusionThe mentorship program captured the struggling trainees and permitted to implement pertinent corrective actions timely, particularly in the context of a two-year intensive CMFM program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Innovation Concept: Transition to independent practice is challenging and early career physicians are more prone to burnout and error. Despite recommendations for formal mentorship to support physicians, only 43.6% of US academic Emergency Medicine departments have such programs. We describe an innovative mentorship program designed to support these early career physicians and enhance quality of care, career longevity, and wellness. We operationalized mentorship in which experienced, highly regarded, empathic mentors guide mentees in their personal and professional development. Methods: In this program two Emergency Physician mentors were teamed with each newly hired Emergency Physician. Mentees could request their own mentors, and teams were matched on the basis of shared personal and academic interests. Mentors received academic funding and training on good mentorship practice, roles and responsibilities, and feedback. Teams had to meet formally at least twice a year, with additional contact as needed. While mentees set the meeting agenda, teams were also encouraged to address four main areas. These areas were identified from a targeted needs assessment and literature review. They include: 1) clinical process and care, 2) departmental structure and culture, 3) teaching and scholarship, and 4) physician wellness. After meetings, mentees summarized and submitted the topics discussed and reflected on action plans. An oversight committee supported the program. Curriculum, Tool or Material: All nine (9) newly hired physicians joined the program in Fall 2018. As of December 2018, six (6) teams have had formal meetings. They discussed the following areas: clinical processes and care (50%), departmental structure and culture (100%), teaching and scholarship (67%), and physician wellness (100%). Other areas discussed include: academic career, financial planning, and networking. Teams spent 20-60% of the time formulating steps to achieve mentee career goals. They spent 40-60% of the time discussing skills and resources needed. End of year program evaluation will include outcomes such as satisfaction, value, effectiveness, projects, promotions, and awards. The results will shape future program design. Conclusion: We implemented a mentorship program for newly hired Emergency Physicians. As mentorship is integral to successful transition to independent practice, this program model could be highly beneficial to other academic Emergency Medicine departments.

This chapter inspects the fundamental components and methodologies for planning successful tutoring programs custom-made to the post-Coronavirus instructive scene. Mentoring has emerged as an essential component in fostering student success and assisting educators through transitions as educational establishments adjust to new learning modalities and an increasing reliance on digital tools. Flexibility, adaptability, and the incorporation of technology are emphasized in this paper as essential characteristics of successful mentoring programs. It investigates methods for developing dynamic and adaptable mentoring programs that address the particular difficulties of post-COVID education. The study shows how innovative practices like adaptive support systems and virtual mentoring platforms can improve student engagement and learning outcomes. By zeroing in on these procedures, the paper gives a guide to establishments looking to execute or improve tutoring programs in the developing instructive climate.

Mentoring of medical students remains a core pillar of medical education, yet the changing landscape of medicine has called for new and innovative mentoring models to guide students in professional development, career placement, and overall student well-being. The objective of this review is to identify and describe models of mentorship for US medical students. We searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Education Resources Information Center, and Cochrane Databases of Systematic Reviews following PRISMA guidelines. We included original, English-language studies of any research design including descriptive studies that described a mentorship program at a US medical school designed for medical students. Our search yielded 3743 unique citations. Thirty articles met our inclusion criteria. There was significant diversity of the identified programs with regard to program objectives and size. The traditional dyad model of mentorship was the most frequently cited model, with a combination of models (dyad and group mentorship) cited as the second most common. Outcome measures of the programs were largely survey based, with satisfaction being the most measured outcome. Overall, satisfaction was highly rated throughout all the measured mentoring programs. Seven programs provided objective outcomes measures, including improved residency match data and increased scholarly productivity. The programs with objective outcomes measures were smaller, and 6/7 of them focused on a specific clinical area. Five of these programs relied on the traditional dyad model of mentorship. Cost and faculty time were the most frequently cited barriers to these programs. Our review demonstrates that mentoring programs for medical students can positively improve medical school satisfaction and career development. These results underscore the need for continued innovative mentoring programs to foster optimal student development in the setting of the increasingly competitive residency match process, growing expectations about student research productivity, and the national focus for overall student wellness.

Objectives: Despite the high proportion of female medical students, the leading positions in almost all medical departments are still considerably less often held by female clinicians than by male. The aim of this project report is to introduce a career mentoring curriculum for female clinician scientists at Ruhr-University of Bochum in Germany.Methods: The career mentoring program was developed for young female clinician scientists who aim for a leading position in academic medicine. We describe and discuss herein its planning and implementation over two years (11/2020-11/2022) focusing on the needs of the target group. Results: The mentoring program is based on an agile twin-track strategy. It includes peer mentoring, content-related input and interdisciplinary three-to-one mentoring by the coordinators. Additionally, the mentees develop and conduct a scientific project to practice their acquired skills in a protected environment. The quality assurance system of the mentoring program includes a continuous evaluation of the mentees’ satisfaction with the content and organisation of the program, whose results serve as the basis of the prompt adjustment of the latter. It also includes an evaluation of the sustainable impact of the program on the mentees’ career development based on an adapted role matrix. The role matrix addresses the mentees to acquire the competencies required for them to become a successful clinician, scientist and academic teacher.Conclusions: A 2-year innovative and unique career mentoring program for female clinician scientists was developed and already successfully launched. Making use of different mentoring strategies, the program has the potential to promote gender equality and encourage female physicians to pursue a career in academic medicine.

As public child welfare agencies continue to experience high rates of workforce turnover and low rates of retention, employee mentoring and coaching has been forwarded as a potential mechanism to positively impact the workforce. Using a qualitative multi-method case study approach, this learning case describes an innovative statewide child welfare worker new employee mentoring program implemented by the State of Alaska Office of Children’s Services. Drawn from the perspectives of key leadership, line supervisors, and other stakeholders responsible for the development of the program, results included broad support and observed supervisor and employee benefits. Implications of this learning case are relevant to both child welfare agencies as well as other social service programs considering development of mentoring programs and implementation of broad system-wide programs.