Peer mentoring group helps keep faculty on track

Nine early-career internists meet every other Thursday at noon.

Their group is called IMMPACT (Internal Medicine Mentoring Peers in an Academic Career Track), and it has found its rhythm. Any bigger, and the group might break up into cliques. Smaller, and it may turn into an informal complaints session or social lunch group.

But together, they have purpose. Together, they have made this official. They keep each other right on track.

This is peer mentoring. The peer aspect helps, said Shannon Boerner, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine, IMMPACT’s chair and co-founder, along with Kelly Caverzagie, M.D., associate dean for educational strategy. It helps because they are comfortable with one another. It helps even more in that they are accountable to one another.

But it helps perhaps most of all that “You are part of a group of people excited about their careers and supportive of one another’s plans,” Dr. Boerner said. This is invigorating. Who wouldn’t want to feel more passionate about his or her job?

“It reminds you of why you wanted to get into academic medicine, that, ‘I work with some incredibly bright and interesting people.’ ”

And, it also can remind you that you are one of them.

“I believe that can change the culture of an institution,” Dr. Boerner said.

IMMPACT also concentrates on three concrete, measurable objectives:

• increasing scholarly activity among members (abstracts, manuscripts, presentations).

• facilitating progress toward academic promotion.
• establishing a culture of mentoring and support within their division.

The twice-monthly lunch meetings have been low-input, high-output, Dr. Boerner said: “It’s been tremendously successful.”

How do they know this? As evidence-based physicians, they have surveyed themselves and tracked results. And they’re writing all of this up for publication, of course.

The group has a rolling agenda in which members can lay out their goals and projects, give progress updates and seek and receive feedback.

IMMPACT is organized, Dr. Boerner said, but not formal. And working through projects with their peers keeps members on track.

“You’re not always as accountable to yourself,” Dr. Boerner said.

IMMPACT has been meeting for about a year and a half. Preliminary data suggests it works.

They have an acronym. They have a study. If you think a grant proposal is next, you would be right. They are on their way, in academic medicine. And peer mentoring is helping them get there.

To talk about peer mentoring, email Dr. Boerner or call 9-7502.