The importance of faculty mentorship: Evaluation of a departmental junior faculty mentorship program.

Mentorship has been well studied in the field of academic medicine and demonstrates a correlation with job satisfaction, retention, and success. It has the potential to play an important role in career advancement of the mentee, with the mentor supporting selection and pursuit of the appropriate career choices and fostering and providing opportunities for career advancement. 1 Sachdeva A.K. Preceptoring, proctoring, mentoring, and coaching in surgery. J Surg Oncol. 2021; 124: 711-721 Crossref Scopus (6) Google Scholar ,2 Wallace L.A. Chen H. Bello-Ogunu F. Xie R. The need for increasing female leadership in surgical departments. Am J Surg. 2022; 224: 1332-1333 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar The transition surgeons make from residency or fellowship to independent practice is a pivotal moment in their career. A nationwide survey was conducted in 2019 to assess challenges of young surgeons and their mentorship needs, and nearly one-third of these respondents did not have mentoring when starting their practice. 3 Stolarski A. He K. Sell N. et al. Mentoring experience of new surgeons during their transition to independent practice: a nationwide survey. Surgery. 2021; 169: 1354-1360 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar This finding aligns with information gleaned from a survey of surgery departmental chairs by Kibbe et al. 4 Kibbe M.R. Pellegrini C.A. Townsend C.M. Helenowski I.B. Patti M.G. Characterization of mentorship programs in departments of surgery in the United States. JAMA Surg. 2016; 151: 900-906 Crossref PubMed Scopus (65) Google Scholar demonstrating that only half of surgery departments in the United States have mentorship programs. An important finding from Stolarski et al. 3 Stolarski A. He K. Sell N. et al. Mentoring experience of new surgeons during their transition to independent practice: a nationwide survey. Surgery. 2021; 169: 1354-1360 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar was non-mentored surgeons starting out their career were twice as likely to leave their first job when compared to mentored young surgeons.