Resident Doctors of Canada Commentary:
Residents Need Mentorship!
MENTORSHIP ESSENTIALS:
1.
Ensure there is a structured organization for mentorship in your residency program that offers residents an
opportunity to have multiple mentors.
2.
Clearly define the roles, responsibilities, and goals for both mentor and mentee in each relationship.
3.
Match mentors and mentees appropriately.
4.
Provide information and training on how to be an effective mentor or mentee.
5.
Monitor and evaluate the success of your mentorship program through regular surveys, participant
feedback, and data analysis.
Why Residents Need Mentorship
Mentorship is an essential component of the resident experience:


An extensive literature review performed by CAIR has demonstrated that mentorship provides benefits to the
mentee, mentor, and medical community at large (see CAIR Position Paper on Mentorship June 2013).
Mentorship fosters important network connections and generates personalized advice on how to be a
successful practising physician while residents are developing their clinical and academic skills.
Mentorship helps to prepare the next generation of physicians for positions in academic and clinical
leadership.
Current Status of Mentorship in Canadian Residency
Data courtesy of CAIR National Survey 2013
Type of residency

Surgical specialty
Other specialty
Medical specialty
Family medicine
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Percentage of residents surveyed (%)
Do not have mentor but would like one
Formal mentor assigned through program
412-151 rue Slater Street, Ottawa ON K1P 5H3 l Tel./Tél.: 613-234-6448 l Fax/Télec.: 613-234-5292
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There is room to improve the mentorship process



A survey of Canadian residents indicated that while some programs provide residents with a mentor, a
significant proportion of residents do not have a mentor, and would desire one.
Only 13% of residents with identified mentors are very satisfied with them. This may be in part because
mentors are not chosen based on factors that are important to the resident.
68% of residents surveyed also would be interested in a service such as a mentor-match database.
Who Should You Recruit to be a Mentor?


Survey results indicate that most residents want a mentor who is close geographically and who has similar
professional interests and related clinical experience.
A perceived barrier of mentorship is the time commitment on the part of the mentor. However, residents are
not necessarily looking for one mentor to have all the answers. Other mentors with similar research and
personal interests should be encouraged.
Canadian Resident Physician Preferences for Mentor Characteristics
Mentor characteristic
Data courtesy of CAIR National Survey 2013
Chosen by resident
Geographic proximity
Related clinical experience
Related research experience
Similar personal interests
Similar professional interests
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Percent of residents surveyed who felt the characteristic was "important" (%)
Bottom Line



Mentorship provides benefits to the mentee, mentor, and medical community at large, however, many
residents do not have access to mentorship.
Recruit mentors who are close geographically, who have similar professional interests and related clinical
experience for your mentees
An institution-specific mentor-match database would be beneficial.
Resident Doctors of Canada (RDoC) is the national representative body of over 9,000 Resident Doctors in Canada. RDoC is a residentdriven organization that works collaboratively with other national health organizations to continuously improve patient care and
explore new approaches to the delivery of health care. RDoC works to achieve consensus on policy and advocacy issues of a national
interest. It delivers improvement to the lives of Resident Doctors in such areas as personal well-being, medical education quality and
professionalism.
412-151 rue Slater Street, Ottawa ON K1P 5H3 l Tel./Tél.: 613-234-6448 l Fax/Télec.: 613-234-5292
[email protected] l www.residentdoctors.ca