Fostering effective mentorship in psychiatry residency training: Lessons learned from historical black college and university (HBCU)

Abstract

Introduction: Despite the tremendous benefit of mentorship there is a paucity of formal structured mentoring programs that can be beneficial to the academic environment and for the successful career development among psychiatry residents, particularly for minority physicians. Objective: The purpose of this study is to describe residents experience with mentorship in a large HBCU psychiatry residency program. Methods: We reviewed the records of exit interviews for all residents for Howard University psychiatry residency program for a 10-year period between 2008 and 2018. Results: A total of 55 residents participated in the exit interview. Residents expressed similar opinions about the role of mentorship during the residency training. Although, they described a wide range of experience with mentorship, there was consensus about the important qualities of a mentoring relationship. Conclusions: Mentoring is believed to be a vital component of a successful residency experience. Residents identified interpersonal relationship and skill building as the most important qualities of a mentor.