Clinical Academic Faculty Perceptions of Academic Mentorship in the Health Professions

Mentorship in the first three years of academic employment is pivotal for retention, productivity, and overall satisfaction and success of academic faculty members. We used an observational, descriptive research design with a web-based survey to evaluate perceived knowledge and perceptions of mentorship among health care professional academic faculty (PT, PA, OT, and AT) nationwide. Academic faculty that indicated they experienced mentorship consistently reported positive outcomes. Respondents described mentorship experiences as both positive and negative dependent upon the mentor. Respondents indicated that mentors assisted with publications, presentations/posters, new teaching methods/strategies, clinical expertise, conducting research, service activities, community engagement activities, program development, job change/promotion, and grant writing/submissions. Assessment of pre and post-mentorship perceived knowledge of academic faculty requirements indicated significant differences. Most respondents indicated little knowledge of academic faculty expectations pre mentorship and significant increases in knowledge post mentorship. Concerns are likely due to the incongruity between expectations articulated (or not articulated) during doctoral studies or clinical experiences and the actual requirements of a full-time academic faculty member. Mentored academic faculty had more positive experiences and demonstrated a better understanding of scholarship and teaching. However, a lack of understanding regarding institutional hierarchy/policies and service/community engagement are areas of mentorship need and may contribute to faculty mismatched expectations, negative retention, and clinical academic faculty perceived success.