Main Session
Sep
27
PQA 02 - Pediatric Cancer, Sarcoma and Cutaneous Tumors, Medical Education & Professional Development, and Health Services Research
Presenter(s)
Jacob Mapp, MD - Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phonix, AZ
J. E. Mapp1, B. Laughlin1, H. Billings2, W. G. Rule1, T. T. W. Sio1, R. Tao1, H. Wilson1, and L. A. McGee1; 1Department of Radiation Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, 2Office of Applied Scholarship & Education Science, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
Purpose/Objective(s):
The annual American College of Graduate Medical Education survey often fails to capture nuanced perceptions of trainees and faculty within programs. To better understand resident and faculty experiences, we developed a separate departmental anonymous survey, one distributed to residents and alumni, and another distributed to faculty. This report describes how anonymous surveys offer a low-burden mechanism to assess stakeholder needs and identify actionable opportunities for improvement.Materials/Methods:
Our department’s internal Education Learning Environment Optimization committee (ELEO) developed 2 anonymous surveys, one designed to assess resident sentiment and the other to assess attending sentiment. The resident and alumni survey consisted of 24 items. The faculty survey was composed of 21 items. Once finalized in Qualtrics, the links to each survey were sent to their respective participants via institutional email. The survey assessed perceptions of educational climate, mentorship quality, career development support, teaching engagement, and well-being. Following a 2-week survey window, ELEO review identified areas of alignment and discordance between resident and faculty responses to highlight structural challenges and inform actionable interventions.Results:
Resident and alumni responses demonstrated high satisfaction with clinical training, board preparation, and readiness for independent practice. They identified opportunities to improve didactics, career counseling, and access to longitudinal faculty mentorship. Faculty respondents similarly reported strong engagement in resident education and high satisfaction derived from teaching, mentorship and supporting resident growth. Faculty identified the need for structured mentorship training, protected time, and expanded opportunities for long-term mentorship. Addressing the alignment between resident-identified needs and faculty priorities, the department implemented a faculty mentorship workshop to enhance longitudinal mentorship and career guidance within the training program.Conclusion:
Departmental anonymous surveys were successful in capturing resident and faculty perceptions within a radiation oncology training program and translating these insights into actionable change through emergence of the faculty mentorship workshop.