title: Mentoring perception and academic performance: an Academic Health Science Centre survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the association between professors' self-perception of mentoring skills and their academic performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and fifteen professors from Imperial College London, the first Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) in the UK, were surveyed. The instrument adopted was the Mentorship Skills Self-Assessment Survey. Statement scores were aggregated to provide a score for each shared core, mentor-specific and mentee-specific skill. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to evaluate their relationship with quantitative measures of academic performance (publications, citations and h-index).
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 104 professors that responded (response rate 48%). There were no statistically significant negative correlations between any mentoring statement and any performance measure. In contrast, several mentoring survey items were positively correlated with academic performance. The total survey score for frequency of application of mentoring skills had a statistically significant positive association with number of publications (B=0.012, SE=0.004, p=0.006), as did the frequency of acquiring mentors with number of citations (B=1.572, SE=0.702, p=0.030). Building trust and managing risks had a statistically significant positive association with h-index (B=0.941, SE=0.460, p=0.047 and B=0.613, SE=0.287, p=0.038, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study supports the view that mentoring is associated with high academic performance. Importantly, it suggests that frequent use of mentoring skills and quality of mentoring have positive effects on academic performance. Formal mentoring programmes should be considered a fundamental part of all AHSCs' configuration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, St. Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Thanos
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Athanasiou
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, St. Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Vanash
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, St. Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garas
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, St. Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Hutan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ashrafian
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, St. Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Kunal
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shetty
authors.affiliation: Health Service & Population Research Department, Center for Implementation Science, King's College London, UK.
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sevdalis
authors.affiliation: School of Business and Management, Queen Mary, University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Panzarasa
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, St. Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ara
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Darzi
authors.affiliation: Warwick Business School, Coventry, West Midlands, UK.
authors.forename: Sotirios
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paroutis
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D002983:Clinical Competence; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D006801:Humans; D000071252:Mentoring; D008611:Mentors; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011361:Professional Competence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: EDUCATION & TRAINING (see Medical Education & Training); MEDICAL EDUCATION & TRAINING; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH; STATISTICS & RESEARCH METHODS