55 Establishing a standalone mentorship scheme for newly graduated FYi1s during the COVID-19 pandemic: feedback and experiences

Aim A cross-site trust in Birmingham was tasked with setting up and providing a 6-week internship scheme for 24 newly graduated doctors from medical school as extra support in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, termed FYi1s. Method A bespoke 1:1 buddy scheme between an FYi1 and current FY1 was opted for. Wherever possible, FYi1s were placed on the specialty and site they were starting on in August, and their buddy would be an FY1 currently working on that specialty. Feedback was obtained at the end of the internship. 16 of the 24 FYi1s responded to the feedback with a mixture of multiple choice and free text responses addressing communication, support, responsibility and the 1:1 buddy scheme. Results Feedback from the internship was overwhelmingly positive and used to modify features of the full induction process in August, such as dedicated coffee meetings solely for new starters to share their experiences without senior presence. The buddy system received excellent feedback and gave each FYi1 a personal support mechanism during their first weeks at the trust. Overcrowding on surgical wards was raised as an issue with a proportionally larger number of FYi1s starting on surgical rather than medical specialties volunteering to for the internship. Individual FYi1s would sometimes have to shadow different senior doctors each day if their buddy was taking annual leave or was working out-of-hours (eg. night shifts). Some FYi1s also did not manage to spend time on their August ward or specialty as that area remained a COVID zone throughout the whole of the internship. Conclusions A comprehensive and successful mentorship scheme gives new employees invaluable experience and support to enable them to perform without limitation when they do begin work on their own in August.