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Page 182 Ferrari et al. Art Int Surg 2022;2:177-85 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/ais.2022.16

STRATEGIES TO IMPLEMENT MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS
As previously mentioned, mentorship is important in different phases of surgical career. Structured
mentorship programs have not been formally established in many countries; however, sporadic initiatives
have been created in the form of pilot studies, with the aim to guide future structured systems. The “Mentor
Match program” has been established at Geisinger medical center to implement formal mentorship in
[49]
general surgery . The “Mentor Match” was developed by conducting resident and faculty surveys using the
six Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) core competencies of patient care,
medical knowledge, communication skills, practice-based learning, system-based practice and
professionalism. Surveys focused on resident areas of weakness correlating to areas in which faculty
expressed subjective strength. Survey results were used to match faculty mentors with resident mentees. A
survey was conducted one year after implementation to evaluate the perceived success of the match process
and mentorship program. The survey response rate was 78%, with 92% of residents satisfied with the
program; 83% noticed an improvement in their areas of weakness and 75% considered the match process
was effective in pairing mentors with mentees.

In the UK, a new initiative from Royal College of Surgeons has been established to support physicians
during their first five years. Early career consultant network (EYCN) was set up by a task force of colorectal
[50]
surgeons in late 2019 to provide support for Consultants in their first five years of practice . Such support
would take the form of mentoring, opportunities within the profession and career progression, as well as
advice on other aspects of Consultant practice, including job planning, handling complaints, inquests,
litigation etc. The key goals of the committee are inclusivity, peer support and mentorship. EYCN identified
a clear need for mentoring and developed a pilot program, where a colorectal surgeon within the first five
years of experience was matched with a senior colleague from another region of the country. Meetings and
events on different topics, such as technical skills and how to deal with complications and complaints, have
been organized. Every year, at least two face-face meetings have been held between mentor and mentee in
addition to teleconferences .
[50]
As previously explained, for women and ethnic minorities, it is even more difficult to find a mentor with
similar characteristics to offer support. Women in Surgery Italia (WIS Italia), the Italian association of
[51]
women in surgery, along with the University of Padova , recently presented a project aimed to help female
medical students with an interest in surgery and female residents to find mentors among selected world-
class institutions. The pilot project selected 25 mentors and 25 mentees and had its presentation meeting on
June 29, 2022. In the future, online meetings between matched mentor and mentee will be organized with
the aim to create support in training opportunities, role models, career advancement and work-life balance.

CONCLUSION
Mentorship is important during different phases of surgical career, and the availability of different mentors
provides support to different aspects of the surgical profession. Furthermore, providing good mentorship to
young surgeons is also important, because today’s mentees will be future mentors who will support
forthcoming generations of surgeons. In the past, effective mentorship was limited by the necessity to find
mentors within a single institution. However, the recent development of long-distance mentorship and
telementoring might overcome this obstacle, providing technical and non-technical support to surgeons all
over the world. Further development of formal mentorship programs is advocated to guarantee high-level
surgical education to new generations of surgeons, with special attention to women and minorities.
Hopefully, we can establish a sound education system in the future that benefits everyone without an
imbalance of gender, ethnicity and religion.