Mentorship in Orthopedics: A National Survey of Orthopedic Surgery Residents.

Objective: Mentorship is an important component of graduate medical education. It has been associated with numerous benefits including personal development, increased career satisfaction, and reduced stress and burnout. The purpose of this study was to assess orthopedic resident attitudes regarding mentorship and to determine if there were sociodemographic differences.

Design: A total of 243 orthopedic surgery residents completed this 25-item mixed response questionnaire.

Results: Nearly two-thirds of residents conveyed that their training program either had a formal or informal mentorship program, and 95.8% of residents indicated that they believed mentorship played an important role with respect to their development as an orthopedic resident. Minorities were more likely to have a mentor that was obtained while they were in medical school, less likely to have multiple mentors, and more likely to be dissatisfied with the quality of mentorship in residency. Females were more likely to pursue a mentor on their own. Overall, 31% of orthopedic residents were classified as experiencing burnout. There was no difference in the prevalence of mentorship in respondents experiencing burnout, but they were more likely to be unsatisfied with the quality of mentorship in residency. Finally, only two-thirds of residency programs have mentorship programs despite the fact that the vast majority of orthopedic residents believe that the mentorship plays an important role in their development as surgeons.

Results: Given these findings, future work should focus on identifying and addressing race and sex-based mentorship disparities while simultaneously working to improve access to mentorship for all residents.