Virtual Team-Based Mentorship: Fostering Knowledge Acquisition, Career Advancement, and Connectedness

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Faculty Development
• Academic Medicine

Background:

• Structured virtual mentoring for clinical faculty in academic health centers is understudied.
• The Mentorship Matters pilot program was designed to evaluate structured virtual mentoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of a structured virtual mentoring program for clinical faculty.
• To understand the impact of virtual mentoring on career advancement, academic promotion, and work-life integration.

Main Methods:

• The Mentorship Matters program provided tailored virtual mentoring to Department of Medicine faculty.
• Participants completed pre-, mid-, and post-engagement surveys assessing program outcomes.
• Surveys included standardized instruments and custom questions based on mentorship literature.

Main Results:

• Pre-engagement data revealed significant unmet needs for mentoring and career guidance among faculty.
• Mentees reported high satisfaction with career advancement, academic promotion, and work-life integration support.
• Mentors found the virtual format effective and the time commitment appropriate; both groups valued program content.

Conclusions:

• Regularly scheduled, virtual programmatic mentorship positively impacts clinical faculty career growth.
• Programs like Mentorship Matters enhance faculty knowledge, job satisfaction, and networking opportunities.
• Virtual mentoring fosters faculty success within academic health centers.