Exploring Early Career Surgeons' Views on Support and Mentorship

Objectives: There is a dearth of information related to the support and needs for the early-career gynecologic surgeon in independent practice as most work has focused on trainees. Current training culture has required training programs to focus on surgical competency instead of mastery. Surgical volume and complexity varies significantly across training programs, highlighting the need for postgraduate surgical education and support. The objective of this study was to survey early career, benign gynecologic surgeons to gain insight into their perceptions of support during the early stages of their career.

Methods: A survey regarding the perceptions of early career surgeons was developed and disseminated through the American Urogynecologic Society, the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons, and the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopist Young Alumni Network listserv. The survey was designed so only respondents in independent practice for seven years or less were eligible to proceed with the survey.

Results: 85 respondents completed the survey. Table 1 shows demographic data.

Over 90% of respondents did not have a formal surgical mentorship program at their institution. The majority also did not have a formal research mentorship program (80%) or career developments program (70%) within their department. The level of perceived support for different aspects of clinical and administrative practice is shown in Table1. There was no association found between gender and URM.

The majority of respondents would have support to perform a difficult, planned surgery and immediate help for a difficult surgery or complication. However, female respondents were more likely to report not having immediate help for a difficult surgery or complication (p=0.039). Over a third of respondents did not have a mentor at their institution. Nearly one-third of respondents have considered leaving a job and nearly10% of respondents have left a previous job due to lack of faculty support or mentorship. Of those that have left a job, 85.7% cited lack of faculty support or mentorship as having influenced their decision “quite a bit” or “a great deal”.

Over 40% of respondents reported feeling “somewhat, very, or extremely” burned out. While burnout was not associated with gender or being an URM, it was associated with perceived lack of control over schedule—with those having “none” or “a little” control reporting significantly more burnout (p < 0.001).

Most respondents were “somewhat”, “very” or “extremely” interested in mentorship opportunities from a within their institution, a professional society, or a national medical society, with less interest for mentorship from a state or regional medical society.

Conclusions: Our study demonstrates a high prevalence of perceived lack of support in the professional development of early career surgeons, including continued surgical education, practice development and mentorship. These findings highlight the need for more support in career development and opportunities for mentorship for early career surgeons.