Faculty Mentoring Issues in the Mentor–Mentee Relationship in Academic Medicine: A Qualitative Study

Purpose To explore the phenomenon of the mentor–mentee relationship and to characterize this relationship among people who have obtained early career support from a government funding agency, in order to facilitate the development of future mentorship programs. Method A qualitative study was completed involving clinician scientists who were awarded early career support from a provincial funding agency (Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) and their mentors. Individual, semistructured interviews were completed, and transcripts of interviews were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Results Interviews with 21 population health or clinician investigators (mentees) and seven mentors were completed from October to December 2006. Several themes were identified including the experience with mentorship, experience of being assigned a mentor versus selfidentification, roles of a mentor, characteristics of good mentoring, barriers to mentorship, and possible mentorship strategies. Participants believed mentorship to be important, but several experienced significant difficulty with finding mentors and establishing productive relationships. Conclusions Challenges exist within academic medicine around ensuring that clinician scientists receive appropriate mentorship. Strategies to enhance the mentorship process were identified, including the development of formal mentorship initiatives, the creation of workshops organized by funding agencies in partnership with universities, and the development and evaluation of a mentorship training initiative for mentors and mentees. These findings can be applied to any academic health sciences institution. Acad Med. 2009; 84:135–139. Mentorship has been recognized as a catalyst for career success, and mentoring relationships have been cited as important in career selection, advancement, and productivity.1–3 Indeed, a systematic review found that mentorship is an important factor in choosing a career in academic medicine.4 However, mentor–mentee relationships are challenged by increased clinical, research, and administrative demands.1–3,5 Moreover, mentorship is often undervalued by leaders at academic institutions, who may fail to consider the work of a mentor in promotion and tenure decisions.3,5,6 To enhance the development of mentorship within academic institutions and to prevent further erosion of these vital mentor–mentee relationships, it is important to understand the effect of mentorship on the mentees (and mentors), the variables associated with mentoring success, and the impact of mentoring interventions on career satisfaction and productivity. A systematic review identified that mentorship has an important influence on personal development, career guidance, career choice, and research productivity, including publication and grant success.3 The architecture of the studies identified in the review does not allow conclusions to be made on the effect size of mentoring on any aspect of academic and professional development. To make relevant practical recommendations on mentoring in medicine, studies using rigorous methodology and addressing contextual issues are needed to answer some key questions about the value of mentoring, including the experiences of the mentor and mentee. In an attempt to meet this challenge, we designed this study to explore the phenomenon of the mentor– mentee relationship and to characterize this relationship through the experiences of those people who have obtained early and midcareer support. We hope the results of our study are useful in facilitating the development of future mentorship programs.