Abstract
Introduction As many as half of U.S. physicians experience impactful levels of burnout. In early-career physicians, the consequences of burnout are significant with linkage to poor professionalism and patient care. A nurturing peer community and physician mentoring may mitigate against burnout and its associated sequelae; however, such programs for early-career physicians are rare and their impact largely unknown. We aim to synthesize the current literature on the impact of longitudinal mentoring and coaching programs for physicians.
Methods The authors searched four bibliographic databases to conduct a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines. Included studies were published between 01 January 2000 to 30 October 2022 and peer-reviewed articles reporting original research. The review examined associations between either a career mentoring, coaching, or peer support theme and outcomes in the career path of physicians.
Results Review of 5528 records yielded 23 articles that met inclusion criteria, with about half describing U.S. programs and half completed since 2017. Of these, 14 studies were of “high” or “medium” quality, 7 studies involved primary care physicians and 3 studies focused only on early-career physicians. In mixed methods studies, participants consistently reported positive experiences from their mentorship involvement and the 8 randomized control or cohort studies also reported positive effects with the mentoring programs.
Conclusion Rigorous data supporting the value of mentorship, including the best approach to be used (coaching, mentorship, or peer support) is lacking. However, a growing database of quality studies affirms physician mentoring as important to physician retention, wellbeing and quality healthcare delivery.