Nationwide survey of formal mentorship characteristics and perceptions among resident physicians in Japan

Mentorship is considered essential in residency training, yet its structure and quality in Japan remain unclear.

We conducted a nationwide, multi-center descriptive study of postgraduate year (PGY) 1-2 residents who completed both the General Medicine In-Training Examination (GM-ITE) and a formal mentorship survey in 2024. Residents who declined participation, provided no response to the survey, had incomplete survey responses, or did not have a formal mentor were excluded.

Of 9,179 residents who took the GM-ITE, 3,877 from 570 hospitals were analyzed. Most reported having one mentor (71.6%), and mentors were predominantly male (72.9%). Only 61.0% of programs offered lectures on mentorship. Overall, 46.1% of residents did not perceive feedback as specific or actionable, whereas 69.3% reported trusting their mentors. Mentoring interactions were relatively limited, with 60.4% of residents reporting meeting less than once a month.

Among residents with formally assigned mentors, important gaps remained in mentor diversity, feedback quality, and mentoring engagement. Efforts to strengthen mentor training, improve feedback practices, and promote more structured mentoring interactions may help optimize residents' educational and professional development.