Identifying the Motivations, Barriers, and Factors Associated with Mentoring among Academic Physicians

Mentoring is crucial for career advancement and retention of physicians. Understanding factors, motivations, and challenges associated with mentoring can help facilitate physician mentoring at academic institutions. This report examined characteristics of physicians associated with mentoring more, identified the motivations for physicians to mentor, and revealed obstacles that hinder physicians from mentoring. The authors recruited physicians to voluntarily participate in an anonymous survey using faculty listservs. Group differences were compared using Chi-Square and Fisher Exact tests. Two hundred and fifty-five physicians from sixteen departments responded to the survey. Mentoring productivity, defined as the number of mentees mentored per year since training, was associated with career track, prior mentoring training, and how much the physician publishes. The most common motivations to mentor included personal fulfillment, talent development, to give back, and advocacy. Time constraint was the most frequent challenge in mentoring. The authors identified differences in motivations and challenges for physician-subgroups. By understanding factors associated with mentoring productivity, motivations for physicians to mentor, and barriers encountered by mentors, academic institutions can design initiatives, customized to specific physician subgroups, to better facilitate mentoring.