SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Assessing Mentee Experience in Medical Education Using Human Centered Design

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This project used human-centered design to explore how medical trainees experience mentorship and sponsorship in medical education. The authors argue that traditional ways of evaluating mentorship—such as assigned mentors and end-of-year surveys—are often too limited to capture real trainee needs, especially because mentees may not know what effective mentorship should look like.<br /><br />At Southeast Health, the team studied internal medicine residents and medical students through a 36-item mentorship survey, brainstorming sessions, interviews with local educators and administrators, and panel interviews with 14 nationally recognized physician leaders. The work presented reflects the first three months of a six-month project.<br /><br />Key findings showed that the current mentorship model was not meeting trainee needs well. Residents gave their overall mentorship experience an average rating of 3.2 out of 5. Forty-three percent said their assigned mentor was not an active mentor, and 56% could not distinguish sponsorship from mentorship. Although 67.37% rated their own mentee skills highly, only 27.23% rated the quality of their mentee education as very good to excellent. Still, 86% felt they would benefit greatly from more mentorship.<br /><br />Interview quotes revealed common challenges: trainees felt unsure how to ask for help, worried about appearing pushy, lacked formal training in how to be a mentee, and often did not know what they did not know. Physician leaders emphasized the importance of mentorship in helping people recognize their potential and make major career decisions.<br /><br />The authors conclude that assigned mentors and annual surveys are inadequate for assessing or supporting mentorship. They suggest that better models are needed, along with training on menteeship and more nuanced ways to measure mentoring relationships.

Asset Subtitle

Ariail G. Schmitz

Meta Tag

Author List Amith Skandhan, Ariail G. Schmitz, Meghana Gadgil, Sasha-Kay A. d'Aguilar

Category Innovations

Concept Mentorship Assessment

Concept Human-Centered Design

Concept Mentee Experience

Concept Mentorship Quality

Concept Mentor Effectiveness

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Southeast Health

Presenting Author Ariail G. Schmitz

Track Education

Keywords

medical education

mentorship

sponsorship

human-centered design

medical trainees

internal medicine residents

mentee training

physician leaders

mentorship survey

trainee needs

Mentorship Assessment

Human-Centered Design

Mentee Experience

Mentorship Quality

Mentor Effectiveness