Abstract
BackgroundPhysician-scientists play key roles in biomedical research across the globe, yet prior studies have found that it is increasingly difficult to recruit and retain physician-scientists in research careers. Access to quality research mentorship may help to ameliorate this problem in the U.S., but there is virtually no information on mentoring in academic medicine in Japan. We conducted a survey to determine the availability and quality of mentoring relationships for trainee physician-scientists in Japan.MethodsWe surveyed 1700 physician-scientists in post-graduate research training programs in 6 academic medical centers in Japan about mentorship characteristics, mentee perceptions of the mentoring relationship, and attitudes about career development.ResultsA total of 683 potential physician-scientist mentees completed the survey. Most reported that they had a departmental mentor (91%) with whom they met at least once a month; 48% reported that they were very satisfied with the mentoring available to them. Mentoring pairs were usually initiated by the mentor (85% of the time); respondents identified translational research skills (55%) and grant writing (50%) as unmet needs. Mentoring concerning long-term career planning was significantly associated with the intention to pursue research careers, however this was also identified by some mentees as an unmet need (35% desired assistance; 15% reported receiving it).ConclusionsMore emphasis and formal training in career mentorship may help to support Japanese physician-scientist mentees to develop a sense of self-efficacy to pursue and stay in research careers.
Highlights
Physician-scientists play key roles in biomedical research across the globe, yet prior studies have found that it is increasingly difficult to recruit and retain physician-scientists in research careers
Design, setting and participants In November 2011, we mailed by post an anonymous Japanese language questionnaire survey to 1700 potential mentees at 6 academic medical centers in Japan
Participant demographics A total of 683 of 1700 (40%) potential mentees from the 6 medical centers responded to the survey
Summary
Physician-scientists play key roles in biomedical research across the globe, yet prior studies have found that it is increasingly difficult to recruit and retain physician-scientists in research careers. Physician-scientists, defined as persons with an MD or equivalent degree whose major professional activity is to conduct clinical research [1], play an important role as clinician-investigators in academic biomedical research. In spite of this importance, some commentators have warned that the pipeline of clinical researchers in the U.S face a number of significant challenges that threaten them with becoming an “endangered species [2,3]”. As in the U.S, fewer MDs are choosing academic research careers [12] and Japanese clinical research
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