Retired Surgeons as Mentors for Surgical Training Graduates Entering Practice: An Underutilized Resource

Our study evaluated the willingness of retired surgeons to mentor newly trained surgeons.

Although mentoring is very important during the transition in practice, many novice surgeons are faced with inadequacy or lack of mentoring.

A survey regarding mentorship of new surgeons was sent in April 2018 to retired general, colorectal, vascular, and cardiothoracic surgeons that are members of the American College of Surgeons. The analysis of the data was performed in September 2018 and October 2018.

A total of 2295 of 5282 surveys were completed (43.4% response rate). Mean age was 79.0 ± 0.8 years, mean retirement age was 63.9 ± 0.1 years, and mean interval since retirement was 15.2 ± 0.9 years. Most retired surgeons were in private practice (66.4%), with other practice environments, including academic teaching hospital (12%), academic/private combination (11.3%), employment by community hospital or health system (6.4%), veteran affairs institution (2.7%), military hospital (1%), and Indian Health Service (0.09%). Approximately a third (31.1%) of respondents were not mentored when they first entered practice. The vast majority (98.3%) of participants considered mentoring beneficial during transition in practice. More than half (51.2%) of retired surgeons are interested in mentoring recently trained surgeons, with most of them (81.8%) willing to mentor even for free.

Our findings suggest that a significant number of retired surgeons are enthusiastic about mentoring young surgeons during their transition in practice. Specific programs are necessary to meet the needs of newly hired surgeons and better utilize the expertise of retired surgeons.