The impact of mentoring in trauma and orthopaedic training: a systematic review

Trauma and orthopaedics is renowned for being a challenging yet rewarding career. The value of mentorship in medical and surgical training is known to be beneficial; however, the prevalence and quality of mentorship opportunities in orthopaedics are less well studied. Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of mentoring programmes in orthopaedic training and recognising barriers to effective mentorship are key to unlocking the full potential of future orthopaedic surgeons.

A comprehensive search of PubMed, Medline, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library was performed. All studies published in the English language that reported data on mentorship programmes in orthopaedic training were included.

A total of 23 studies met the inclusion criteria. These studies demonstrated that formal mentorship programmes in orthopaedics are lacking but are sought after, with a positive influence on satisfaction and future career choice/subspecialty selection identified. Several barriers to mentoring in the field were recognised including the difficulty faced by female trainees, the availability of mentors and time constraints. The opportunity to choose a mentor, a mentor with the same interests, regular meetings and the option of gender congruent mentorship were all identified as crucial requirements for effective mentorship.

Mentorship opportunities must be more accessible to all orthopaedic trainees alike and should aim to incorporate the attributes identified to provide the highest calibre of training to prospective orthopaedic surgeons.