Faculty Mentoring Practices in Academic Emergency Medicine.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Academic Medicine
• Emergency Medicine Faculty Development

Background:

• Mentoring is crucial for career success in academic medicine.
• Academic Emergency Medicine (EM) lacks standardized faculty mentoring practices.
• Limited research exists on faculty mentoring within EM.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe current faculty mentoring programs and practices in academic EM departments.
• To identify variations in mentoring structures, training, and outcomes.
• To establish a baseline for improving faculty mentoring in EM.

Main Methods:

• An electronic survey was distributed to 135 EM department chairs in the U.S.
• Survey data included faculty demographics, mentoring practices, and outcome measures.
• Statistical analyses (chi-square, Wilcoxon rank-sum) compared mentoring effectiveness metrics.

Main Results:

• 39 EM departments responded, revealing diverse faculty classifications and mentoring approaches.
• Only 43.6% of departments had formal mentoring programs; many used supplementary methods like skills-based or peer mentoring.
• A significant association was found between perceived mentoring success and higher National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and publication rates (p=0.022).

Conclusions:

• Faculty mentoring in EM is highly variable, presenting opportunities for enhancement.
• Effective mentoring practices appear linked to increased research productivity and funding.
• This study provides a foundation for sharing best practices and improving faculty mentoring strategies in EM.