Abstract
BackgroundMentorship influences career planning, academic productivity, professional satisfaction, and most notably, the pursuit of academic medicine careers. Little is known about the role of mentoring in recruiting Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino residents into academia. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of mentoring on academic medicine career choice among a cohort of racially and ethnically diverse residents.MethodsA strategic convenience sample of U.S. residents attending national professional conferences between March and July 2010; residents completed a quantitative survey and a subset participated in focus groups.ResultsOf the 250 residents, 183 (73%) completed surveys and 48 participated in focus groups. Thirty-eight percent of residents were white, 31% Black/African American, 17% Asian/other, and 14% Hispanic/Latino. Most respondents (93%) reported that mentorship was important for entering academia, and 70% reported having sufficient mentorship to pursue academic careers. Three themes about mentorship emerged from focus groups: (1) qualities of successful mentorship models; (2) perceived benefits of mentorship; and (3) the value of racial/ethnic and gender concordance. Residents preferred mentors they selected rather than ones assigned to them, and expressed concern about faculty using checklists. Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and female residents described actively seeking out mentors of the same race/ethnicity and gender, but expressed difficulty finding such mentors. Lack of racial/ethnic concordance was perceived as an obstacle for minority mentees, requiring explanation of the context and nuances of their perspectives and situations to non-minority mentors.ConclusionsThe majority of residents in this study reported having access to mentors. However, data show that the lack of diverse faculty mentors may impede diverse residents’ satisfaction and benefit from mentorship relationships compared to white residents. These findings are important for residency programs striving to enhance resident mentorship and for institutions working to diversify their faculty and staff to achieve institutional excellence.
Highlights
Mentorship influences career planning, academic productivity, professional satisfaction, and most notably, the pursuit of academic medicine careers
Forty-eight residents participated in focus groups; 2 focus groups with 7 and 11 self-identified Black/African American residents occurred at the National Medical Association (NMA) conference, 2 focus groups with 11 and 12 self-identified White or Asian residents occurred at American Medical Association (AMA), and one focus group of 7 self-identified Hispanic/Latino residents occurred at National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA)
Our findings demonstrate that access to sufficient mentorship and the ability to use mentors for career advancement were significantly associated with residents’ interest in pursing academic careers
Summary
Mentorship influences career planning, academic productivity, professional satisfaction, and most notably, the pursuit of academic medicine careers. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of mentoring on academic medicine career choice among a cohort of racially and ethnically diverse residents. Prior studies indicate that a large proportion of residents lack mentors [13,15] It is unclear whether racial and ethnic minority residents have mentors or benefit from these relationships in the same manner as their non-minority counterparts. As more residencies adopt structured mentoring programs, an appreciation of racial and ethnic minority residents’ perceptions of mentorship becomes important to ensuring that mentoring experiences are of comparable benefit for diverse groups [8]
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