The JUnior Faculty Mentoring Program (JUMP): A Novel Program to Teach Early-Career Faculty to Become Mentors.

BACKGROUND: Early-career faculty are frequently asked to mentor, yet few receive training on how to successfully mentor. The JUnior faculty Mentoring Program (JUMP) was developed to train new faculty mentors. AIM: We describe the JUMP curriculum, participant characteristics, satisfaction and confidence with mentoring, and program improvement recommendations. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Over nine years (2015-2023), JUMP was offered to early-career Department of Medicine faculty. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Three workshop sessions covered topics including communication, when to mentor (or not), aligning goals, and giving feedback. Participants were sent surveys before and after the program. Bivariate analyses compared 2015-2019 (earlier) and 2020-2023 (later) cohorts; content analysis examined what participants hoped to gain (pre-JUMP) and program improvement suggestions (post-JUMP). PROGRAM EVALUATION: Post-JUMP survey respondents (n = 151/197, 76.6%) reported increased confidence in knowing whether to take on a mentee (99.3%), ability to be an effective mentor (98%), setting goals and expectations (98.7%), and giving effective feedback to a mentee (86.8%). A substantial majority altered their approach with a mentee as result of JUMP (82.1%). Additionally, 62.9% felt more connected to and supported by the Department of Medicine after participating in JUMP. DISCUSSION: JUMP participants reported high levels of satisfaction and survey responses informed programmatic changes to better support faculty across disciplines to become mentors.