Building supportive networks: Insights from a division mentorship workshop

Abstract

Over the past 4 years, our institution has observed consistently lower scores on the ACGME Well-Being Surveys among both our fellows and faculty compared to national averages. This trend reflects a widespread sense of disengagement and dissatisfaction with work for both trainees and faculty. We attribute a portion of this distress to the physical spread of our division across campuses and the growing reliance on virtual platforms for communication and collaboration, limiting opportunities for engagement alongside our colleagues. Consequently, fostering mentorship and support networks within our community has been challenging, leading to feelings of isolation and discontent among fellows and faculty.

Developing mentorship programmes is one way to improve the support network for fellows and faculty and can improve resiliency, increase job satisfaction and decrease the risk of burnout. * To support mentorship efforts, we developed a half day Mentorship Retreat for fellows and core clinical faculty to come together and facilitate networking opportunities and deepen mentor–mentee connections.

All clinical fellows (n = 7) and six core teaching faculty participated in the retreat. Attendees completed pre-surveys to identify their goals for the session and post-surveys to assess satisfaction. The most common goals reported by fellows were professional development, while faculty aimed to become more effective and supportive mentors. The retreat was highly rated by fellows and faculty, who rated it as 4.75 and 4.6 out of 5, respectively, on the post evaluation surveys. The topics were deemed highly pertinent to the career development of the fellows. Faculty members unanimously agreed that their participation was crucial for the event's success and built community, with many suggesting that it should be an annual event.

There was palpable enthusiasm and engagement observed throughout the workshop. Fellows valued the opportunity to receive personalised guidance on crafting CVs and developing ILPs, while faculty members appreciated the chance to share their experiences and insights into effective mentorship practices. The mentor–mentee presentation underscored the need to develop relationships with role models, network using mosaic mentorship, and encouraged introspection and critical information gathering, which generated a stimulating discussion, as faculty shared their experiences with mentorship. Surprisingly, junior faculty attendees of the workshop conveyed profound gratitude for these mentorship dialogues. This highlighted the need for junior clinical faculty and clinician educators to also have more structured professional development.

Encouraged by the positive response, we plan to continue with the workshop annually and consider expansion of platforms that facilitate the cultivation of relationships for sponsorship, offer guidance in navigating clinical career paths and provide support with the academic promotions process for junior faculty.

Tracy S. Tylee: Conceptualization; writing—review and editing; writing—original draft. Farah N. Khan: Conceptualization; writing—review and editing; writing—original draft. Tiffany Nguyen: Conceptualization; writing—review and editing; writing—original draft. Radhika R. Narla: Conceptualization; writing—review and editing; writing—original draft.

None of the authors have any conflict of interest to report.