A Preliminary Study Comparing the Attitudes of Trainee Doctors and Their Mentors to Compulsory Educational Supervision in Postgraduate Medicine

Two mentors in a teaching hospital medical department undertook this study to determine whether a pilot group, introduced to a new system of compulsory educational support, felt the system useful and to see whether there were differences of opinion that could be related to the grade of the group member. Five mentors and 17 trainees in the first three years of the new system were asked to complete a questionnaire on termination of their mentoring period. The response rate was 100%. Twenty-one (95.4%) respondents were keen that the system should continue and felt it was useful. Both the mentors and trainees had similar opinions also of ideal frequency, on whom should be the onus of arranging meetings and whether the mentor should be of consultant grade. These preliminary data support the view that compulsory allocation of mentors is supported, both by trainees and mentors, in a system of educational supervision in medicine.