Effect of Mentoring on Match Rank of Integrated Vascular Surgery Residents

Background: Mentoring relationships have been encouraged for medical students interested in surgical specialties. We investigated the role of mentoring relationships of integrated vascular surgery residents, while in medical school. We hypothesized that mentoring relationships between medical students and vascular surgeons would have a positive effect on match outcome in the integrated vascular surgery residency match.

Methods: We used an online survey that respondents completed on a smartphone, tablet, or computer. This was created with Qualtrics Software. The survey was circulated to all North American Integrated Vascular Surgery residents, with the support of the Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery Recruitment Committee and the Society for Vascular Surgery Resident/Student Outreach Committee. Questions were posed either as Likert Scale or as multiple choice. Data were analyzed in Stata.

Results: Response rate (67 total responses of 241 polled residents) was 28%. Earlier postgraduate year residents were more likely to have had vascular surgeon mentors (P = 0.033). There was no association between having a mentor and match rank; however, those with vascular surgeon mentors matched higher on their rank list (P = 0.022). 50% of respondents indicated that mentoring was influential in the choice of integrated residency. Respondents with nonvascular surgeon mentors were more likely to answer negatively regarding their mentor's knowledge about other integrated (P < 0.0001) and traditional programs (P < 0.0001) while residents with a vascular surgeon mentor were more likely to respond positively to this question (P < 0.0001). Regarding the effectiveness of mentorship, 81% indicated their mentor was accessible, 92% responded that their mentor demonstrated professional integrity, and 76% responded that their mentor prioritized their success.

Conclusions: Integrated vascular surgery residents were generally positive about their medical school mentors. Our data indicate that surgical mentorship in medical school is effective, both in influencing medical students to choose the vascular surgery specialty and in improving match rank-vascular surgeons were more knowledgeable and mentees with vascular surgeon mentors tended to be more successful in the match.