Getting to know internal medicine mentors: new training requirements

Mentors are responsible for planning the residents' learning. The aim of this study was to determine the situation of internal medicine mentors in Spain and detect areas of improvement that can facilitate their work.

Online surveys were sent to internal medicine mentors from May to July 2017, the results of which were subsequently analysed.

A total of 110 mentors from 13 autonomous communities and from hospitals of all levels with courses in internal medicine responded to the survey. Of these mentors, 63 were men (57.3%), and the mean age was 48 years. The mean experience as mentors was 8.5 years. Some 88.2% of the cases had a ratio of 5 residents to 1 mentor; 46% of the mentors believed this ratio should be decreased to optimize their work. A third of the mentors were chosen by the heads of the department, and 30% had not previously taken courses on training. The mentor-resident interview was used by most mentors (96.4%) as a communication tool. A quarter of the rotations were not planned by the mentors, and only half had contact with the centres where the residents performed the external rotations. Sixty-one percent of the mentors were of the opinion that resident assessments were not conducted properly, with very little use of the new assessment tools.

Reducing the mentor-resident ratio and adding training in assessment techniques and learning development could improve the quality of the mentoring.