ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFICACY OF A VIRTUAL MENTORSHIP PROGRAM IN CRITICAL CARE

Abstract

SESSION TITLE: Education, Research, and Quality Improvement Posters SESSION TYPE: Original Investigation Posters PRESENTED ON: October 18-21, 2020 PURPOSE: Critical Care (CC) fellowship training after Emergency Medicine (EM) residency has evolved over the last decade, with multiple routes to certification and a variety of career options. In 2009, a Virtual Mentorship program was created by dual-trained EM-CC physicians in order to support the growing need for mentorship and guidance of EM physicians pursuing careers in CC. The purpose of this study was to assess the 10 year efficacy of the program, determine themes of mentoring success across a diverse practice of critical care, and find areas to improve. METHODS: We developed a survey that was sent to current and prior mentors. The questions were designed to assess the mentor’s background, practice location, motivators for partaking in the program, and seek feedback for further improvement. Over the course of 10 years, there were a total of 92 mentees, 11 of these mentees went on to become mentors themselves. In total, the program had 36 mentors, 30 of those participants were given the opportunity to take the survey. IRB approval was obtained and the survey was distributed via REDCap with reminder emails sent to non-responders. This was followed by voluntary participation in a 30 minute telephone interview. RESULTS: Of the 30 individuals whom the survey was distributed to, 19 responded. The training completed by mentors were 53% Internal Medicine CC, 31% Surgical CC, and 16% Anesthesia CC, with 90% of mentors currently practicing in academic medicine. Most mentors were on average 6 years post fellowship. 32% actively sought out the program with the intent of being a mentor. The mean number of mentees per mentor was 2, the mean shortest mentor-mentee relationship was 4 months, the mean longest relationship was 9 months. All mentors felt neutral to positive about how well matched they were with their mentees. 69% felt that the program was overall useful and effective. The primary feedback we received on areas of improvement were creating a formal guideline of expectations as well as improved outreach and recruitment of mentees. CONCLUSIONS: The EM-CC Virtual Mentorship program has a diverse group of mentors who are eager to take on mentees. Creating a more structured format and enhancing advertisement may make the program more efficacious. Future directions include obtaining similar data for mentees to see if their needs were met, and areas where they feel the program is lacking. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Assessment of the Virtual Mentor program (https://www.emra.org/be-involved/committees/critical-care-committee/critical-care-mentee-registration/) demonstrated areas to improve the program in order to help enhance the readiness of emergency medicine physicians applying into CC fellowships. DISCLOSURES: No relevant relationships by Cassidy Dahn, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Lillian Emlet, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Cheyenne Snavely, source=Web Response