More Formal Mentorships, No Change in Satisfaction

Brains, talent, grit…all can help you rise to the top. However, there is something else that has been credited with advancing the careers of many an orthopedic surgeon—mentorship.

That was the subject of a new Topics in Training article which appeared in the March 4, 2020 edition of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. The piece is titled, “Update on Mentorship in Orthopaedic Resident Education: A Report from the American Orthopaedic Association.”

Alan H. Daniels, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, along with colleagues from the Swedish Neuroscience Institute in Seattle, Washington, the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA), the University of Iowa, and the Tulane School of Medicine in New Orleans, compared the results of a 2008 survey of residents’ experiences to that from a more recently conducted survey in 2015.

“Mentorship is a fundamentally important component of surgical education and is often underappreciated and rarely studied,” explained Dr. Daniels to OTW. “My interest in mentorship originated from my first mentor in spine surgery, Bob Hart. Dr. Hart is a dedicated mentor who has focused his career on both high quality patient care and research, but also mentoring students, residents, and fellows.”

The authors noted that the 2008 survey showed variability among U.S. residencies regarding the structure and requirements for mentorship during orthopedic training, and also demonstrated variability in residents’ satisfaction with mentorship opportunities during their training.

The 2015 survey of 149 out of 170 residents who responded, was more positive than the 2008 survey.

Dr. Daniels told OTW, “The results of the more recent study showed progress with more orthopedic surgery programs having formal mentorship programs. Despite the increase in these formal programs, resident satisfaction in their mentorship experience was unchanged.”

The authors wrote, “A total of 149 of 170 residents responded to the survey. Of these, 34.9% reported the existence of a formal mentorship program within their residency, as compared with 26.0% of residencies as stated in the 2008 report. One hundred percent of residents indicated that having a mentor during orthopaedic residency was either critical (63.7%, 93 of 146) or advantageous (36.3%, 53 of 146) to professional development as a surgeon; 74.7% (109 of 146) of residents reported currently having mentors, which appears to represent an increase from the prior report (51%, 258 of 506). However, the percentage of residents who reported being “very” satisfied (17.9%, 25 of 140) or “somewhat” satisfied (43.6%, 61 of 140) with their mentorship opportunities was almost identical to the prior report (61.9% [86 of 139] versus 61.0%, respectively).”

“Overall, residents from programs with formal mentorship programs in place reported significantly higher satisfaction with their mentoring program/environment compared with those from programs without formal mentorship programs in place (3.98 versus 3.54).”

Dr. Daniels: “Over the course of seven years, more residency programs reported formal mentorship programs and more residents reported having mentors. Clearly progress has been made, although more progress is needed to optimize the system.”

Asked what they did not capture that he might want to examine later on Dr. Daniels stated, “This study only examined participants in the AOA, therefore future study should examine programs and residents who were not participants in the AOA meeting. Also, ongoing reassessment over time and examination of future interventions to improve mentorship should be completed.”