Mentorship as a Catalyst for Academic Writing in Emergency Medicine

Academic writing is an important professional development skill, yet emergency medicine (EM) residents rank their competency in this area poorly. The goal of this study is to define the impact of an academic writing mentorship program on EM residents and faculty.

Forty-three mentorship program participants from a single academic EM department were surveyed regarding their academic productivity and their interest, confidence, difficulty, familiarity, and assessment of the importance of academic writing. Participants also rated the quality of their mentorship and suggested improvements to the program. Data was analyzed using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

There was an 81.4% survey response rate (18 residents and 17 faculty). Respondents reported significantly increased interest and confidence in academic writing, and increased familiarity with the peer-reviewed publishing process after participation. Respondents reported significantly decreased perceived difficulty of academic writing after mentorship program participation. Participants had increased manuscript submission rates after participation.

Participation in an academic writing mentorship program positively impacts both EM residents and faculty perceptions of academic writing and decreases the perceived difficulty of academic writing. Participation was associated with increased academic writing productivity.