Improving the Training Process of Anesthesiology Residents Through the Mentorship-Based Approach

Although mentoring has been accepted as an effective and nourishing component in medical learning, known mentoring programs for the residents are lacking in most countries.

To evaluate the mentoring program for anesthesiology residents at Shahid Beheshti University, an examination was designed to explore the styles of mentoring programs, as well as the aims and outcome followed by such programs.

In October 2016, Anesthesiology Department of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences enrolled all the nine educational wards in "mentorship program". Twelve members of the faculty were chosen to be mentor. This program contained: (a) Creating online groups for reporting, feedbacks, and problem-solving, (b) integrating each chapter of textbooks for studying program each month, (c) establishing formative and summative assessments (i.e., PMP, OSCE, multiple choice exams), (d) role-playing for stress management of level 4 residents. Our main objective was to provide the residents with the provision of mentors. The goals of our programs were: Arrange a safe environment to encourage and foster reflection, promote self-care and wellness, guide special development, provide a resource for residents pursuing control, enrich team constructing and problem-solving skills, and promotion in career counseling of anesthesia residents at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences enrolled in this program from 2014 to 2017. We retrospectively compared 2 periods before (2014 - 2015) and after (2016 - 2017) of monthly examination and educational conference.

In the academic stage from 2014 - 2015, the overall first-time license rate for the IBA written QE was 7 of 14 (50%) and in the period of 2016 - 2017, the general rate was 11 of 14 (78%) and in the period of 2017 - 2018, it was 12 of 14 (85%). For each extra year experiencing the program, the odds ratio for passing IBA written QE was 1.7 (P < 0.05). The median Iranian Board of Anesthesiology In-Training Examination (IBAITE) percentile was considerably greater in period 2 than period 1 (P < 0.05). Also, there was a significant correlation between IBAITE score and first-time passing rates for the IBA written QE (0.55, P < 0.05).

The results of this study demonstrated the clinical mentorship program as an effective method in improving theoretical, clinical, and professional achievement of anesthesiology residents. Programmed mentorship could significantly improve the educational goal achievements for anesthesiology residents. Mentoring programs are needed to be more used; however, need to be assessed and evaluated, especially regarding the professional aspects of education. Medical schools could subsequently be assessed regarding the number and quality of their running mentorship programs as a quality improvement tool.