Mentoring among Pakistani postgraduate resident doctors

Background Mentorship is the key to career success, improving job quality and productivity; however, several barriers are prevalent in many academic institutions. Low/middle-income countries are particularly facing difficulty dealing with poor and often non-existing mentoring. Purpose To gauge the quality of mentorship at King Edward Medical University and discover factors responsible for satisfaction or dissatisfaction of mentors and mentees. Methods This was an institution-based cross-sectional study using web-based questionnaires: one for mentors and another one for mentees. The authors analysed the collected data using the R statistical package (V. 2.15.1). The authors used Fisher's exact test to assess associations between the satisfactions of mentees and mentors and various factors such as having defined goals or the hours spent towards mentoring. p Values <0.05 were regarded as significant. Results 52 mentees and nine mentors completed questionnaires. Greater face time, clear agreement in regard to goals and expectations and proper advice from mentor regarding best practices to advance in career were associated with greater mentee satisfaction (p<0.001, p=0.006 and p<0.001 respectively). Problems faced by mentees included deficiency of protected time for mentorship, poor communication and little understanding of their needs by the mentors. The majority of the mentors ( seven out of nine), believed that a certification course in mentorship should be mandatory. Conclusion There is a lack of opportunities for effective mentorship at King Edward Medical University. Adequate training of mentors and mentees to adopt strategies for a better career outcome of young doctors should be in place.