Background: Surgical mentorship remains important especially in an era of run-through training but can be hindered by the 'generation gap' between consultants and students. To cater for this, we established a trainee-led mentorship programme for medical students interested in surgery and herein report our initial findings.
Aim: Our aim is to assess the attitudes of surgical mentors and mentees to a newly established surgical trainee-led mentorship programme to determine factors desirable for its successful delivery.
Methods: Six first year surgical trainees enrolled as mentors in September 2014. Ninety students enrolled as mentees. During the second semester both mentees and mentors were surveyed by an anonymous questionnaire to assess attitudes to the programme.
Results: Data was collected from 85 respondents. Eighty-nine percent of mentees felt their participation had positively impacted their decision to pursue a surgical career. The main benefits were found to be in improving technical skills (40%), providing surgical career guidance (35%) and information about surgical training programmes (14%). Of the mentor qualities most appreciated, 89% preferred institutional proximity while 30 and 27% valued enthusiasm and approachability. Ninety-three percent felt gender is unimportant; 49% preferred a mentor in their speciality of interest. Mentors valued this responsibility drawing greater job satisfaction.
Conclusion: Our study, the first to describe the experience and potential benefits of a surgical trainee-led mentoring programme in Ireland, demonstrates a significant appetite amongst students and surgical trainees for mentorship. Further evaluation of the importance of mentoring programmes and the role of trainees in their delivery are necessary.
Keywords: Mentorship programme; Student education; Student mentorship; Surgical training.