520 - Mentoring in Pediatric Emergency Medicine: What Women Want

Poster Number: 520
Publication Number: 520.227

Kirsten Bechtel, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States; Melissa L. Langhan, Yale university, New Haven, CT, United States; Deborah A. Levine, Weill Cornell Medical College - New York, NY, Port Washington, NY, United States

Background: Women in medicine have reported gender-specific obstacles to career success, such as a dearth of mentors and role models. Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) is a female-dominated subspecialty, yet it is still impacted by gender inequality in many areas. No previous study has explored mentoring experiences of women PEM physicians and their impact on their career trajectory.  We sought to explore the mentorship experiences of female PEM physicians to determine aspects of mentoring that were successful or unsuccessful.
 

Objective: To describe the mentoring experiences of women PEM physicians.

Design/Methods:

This was a qualitative study with a purposeful sampling of female PEM physicians. Volunteers from the American Academy of Pediatrics Section of Emergency Medicine completed semi-structured interviews in 2022, recorded and transcribed verbatim by one researcher. Our research team consisted of 3 PEM physicians. Using the phenomenology theory, we analyzed transcripts by inductively developing codes, grouping codes in categories, and refining codes, descriptions, and group assignments to identify themes. Interpretations of and relationships among themes were iteratively discussed and revised. 

 

Results: Twenty-two participants were interviewed by phone. The mean age of participants was 44 years old, and the majority (73%) identified as White, Non-Hispanic, and at the rank of Assistant Professor (45%) (Table 1). Four themes were identified from coding the transcripts: 1) the process to find a mentor is varied: formal, informal, and organic matches, multiple mentors, and the inability to find mentors 2) the 4 “A” characteristics of successful mentors: advocating, advancing, available, and altruistic 3) the 4 “S” responsibilities of successful mentors: structure, support, synergy and sponsorship and 4) mentors can foster or delay career development (e.g., promoting work-life balance or leading to career sabotage). Participants with negative mentoring experiences lacked mentors with the characteristics or responsibilities of successful mentors. See Table 2 for themes with representative quotes. Figure 1 depicts all representative codes.
 

Conclusion(s): Women in PEM highlighted the value of positive mentorship in their careers, along with difficulties finding mentorship at times. We identified four themes that could be incorporated into mentoring programs and are associated with successful experiences for women PEM physicians that have not been previously identified.  Institutions should have evaluation components of their mentorship programs to ensure faculty success.