title: Efficacy of an Interinstitutional Mentoring Program Within Pediatric Rheumatology.
abstract: The small size of many pediatric rheumatology programs translates into limited mentoring options for early career physicians. To address this problem, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) developed a subspecialty-wide interinstitutional mentoring program, the ACR/CARRA Mentoring Interest Group (AMIGO). We sought to assess the impact of this program on mentoring within pediatric rheumatology.
  
  
  
  In a longitudinal 3-year study, participant ratings from the AMIGO pilot program were compared with those after the program was opened to general enrollment. Access to mentoring as a function of career stage was assessed by surveys of the US and Canadian pediatric rheumatologists in 2011 and 2014, before and after implementation of AMIGO.
  
  
  
  Participants in the pilot phase (19 dyads) and the general implementation phase (112 dyads) reported comparable success in establishing mentor contact, suitability of mentor-mentee pairing, and benefit with respect to career development, scholarship, and work-life balance. Community surveys showed that AMIGO participation as mentee was high among fellows (86%) and modest among junior faculty (31%). Implementation correlated with significant gains in breadth of mentorship and in overall satisfaction with mentoring for fellows but not junior faculty.
  
  
  
  AMIGO is a career mentoring program that serves most fellows and many junior faculty in pediatric rheumatology across the US and Canada. Program evaluation data confirm that a subspecialty-wide interinstitutional mentoring program is feasible and can translate into concrete improvement in mentoring, measurable at the level of the whole professional community.
authors.affiliation: Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Lakshmi Nandini
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Moorthy
authors.affiliation: Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor University College of Medicine, Houston.
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Muscal
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
authors.forename: Meredith
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riebschleger
authors.affiliation: Anne & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Marisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klein-Gitelman
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Lise E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Nigrovic
authors.affiliation: Elsevier Research Intelligence, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Jeffrey R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Horon
authors.affiliation: Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rouster-Stevens
authors.affiliation: University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City.
authors.forename: Polly J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: Hofstra-North Shore-Long Island Jewish School of Medicine, North Shore, New York.
authors.forename: B Anne
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Eberhard
authors.affiliation: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: Hermine I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Brunner
authors.affiliation: Emory University School of Medicine and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Sampath
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prahalad
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Rayfel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Nigrovic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D000071252:Mentoring / Q000379:methods*; D008611:Mentors / Q000523:psychology; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education* / Q000379:methods; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012219:Rheumatology / Q000193:education* / Q000379:methods; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States