Digital Solutions to Create Equity in Mentoring
March 2024
Dr. Sally Mahmoud-Werthmann is addressing underrepresentation in emergency medicine by developing a virtual mentorship platform to connect mentees with mentors who share similar lived experiences.
Disparate access to mentorship opportunities is a recognized contributor to the chronic underrepresentation of women, Black, Hispanic, and Native American groups in emergency medicine.
Mahmoud-Werthmann, assistant professor of emergency medicine, is leveraging digital technology to help mentees find mentors with shared lived experiences. Increasing gender, racial, and ethnic physician diversity in emergency medicine will, she hopes, ensure more equitable and culturally competent patient care.
Although the benefits of mentorship are well-described, some physicians are less likely to have mentors, which harms their career and training experience. Telementorship has the potential to close this mentorship gap.
Mahmoud-Werthmann, who completed a social emergency medicine fellowship at Stanford, is developing a virtual mentorship platform that is accessible, equitable, and intersectionality-informed, meaning that the multi-dimensional factors and social dynamics of both mentor and mentee experiences are taken into account.
How it Works
Participating resident mentees download a mobile app and complete an initial application, answering questions about demographics, personal interests, and professional interests.
Mentees rank the importance of faculty mentor demographic concordance in race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
The algorithm provides a curated list of potential faculty matches. Residents can browse faculty profiles before selecting a mentor.
The platform has an in-app chat function as well as Zoom integration to host mentorship meetings. Data will be collected on resident burnout, imposter syndrome, and overall mentorship satisfaction using validated scales.
Results from the pilot project will inform how the algorithm impacts burnout and imposter syndrome amongst residents and mentee satisfaction with the pairing.
Mahmoud-Werthmann was inspired by her own experiences as a woman of color. In addition to experiencing the typical and substantial educational and clinical demands of residency, Mahmoud-Werthmann also experienced biases, microaggressions, minority tax, and other workplace stressors unique to her identity as a Black female physician. Having two children during residency introduced additional challenges and exacerbated existing ones.
“Fortunately, I had two wonderful faculty mentors, Drs. Jocelyn Freeman Garrick and Erik Anderson who were instrumental to my growth and career development,” she notes. “And as a young attending, Drs. Ayesha Khan and Ashley Rider have provided me with more than just mentorship and sponsorship - they’ve been beacons of light during times of ambiguity.”