Mentee-mentor Satisfaction among Junior Doctors and Senior Medical Staff at Two Australian hospitals: A Longitudinal Study of a Mentoring Program.

Abstract BackgroundMentoring is a unique educational workplace relationship that can support the skill, knowledge, social and emotional needs of both the mentee and mentor. This study aimed to assess the level of participant satisfaction in achieving these aims for a mentoring program implemented at two hospitals in New South Wales, Australia. MethodsUsing a quantitative approach, survey data were collected from 22 junior doctors (the mentees) and 21 senior medical staff (the mentors) at pre-, mid-and post-program. Between group differences were assessed using the Mann-Whitney U test and Fishers’ exact test, while temporal trend was assessed using the Cochran-Armitage trend test. Results Though no temporal trends or mentee-mentor differences reached statistical significance, junior doctors were found to initiate mentee-mentor meetings more frequently, at both mid-program (50% vs 30%) and post-program (50% vs 19). In addition mentees displayed higher levels of program satisfaction when compared to their mentors at mid-program (100% vs 85%) and post-gram (94% vs 75%). ConclusionsMentoring, if implemented correctly and well-timed, undoubtedly has the necessary properties to enhance each participating party’s professional and personal lives, be they doctors or not.