Women's Night in Emergency Medicine Mentorship Program: A SWOT Analysis

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Gender Studies in Medicine
• Emergency Medicine

Background:

• Women in emergency medicine face gender-specific challenges impacting career satisfaction and advancement.
• Longitudinal mentoring, professional development, and networking programs can mitigate these barriers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a program designed to enhance social support, leadership training, and professional mentorship for female emergency medicine residents, faculty, and alumnae.
• To identify program strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats through participant feedback.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a program for female emergency medicine professionals.
• Anonymous online survey using a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) format.
• Analysis of free-text responses to evaluate program effectiveness.

Main Results:

• Eight themes emerged from participant feedback.
• Strengths included creating a dedicated space, fostering a networking community, building solidarity, and providing guidance.
• Weaknesses/threats involved participation barriers and concerns about event structure and external perception; opportunities included program expansion.

Conclusions:

• The program was a positive addition to the curriculum, offering valuable professional development.
• Sharing program outcomes, including strengths and areas for improvement, can inform the development of similar initiatives in other departments.