Mentorship perspectives

My attention was arrested by the editorial in the September 2021 edition of the South African Journal of Surgery. Edge posed the thought-provoking question, “Time to introduce mentorship into surgical training programmes?” At first glance, one could easily dismiss this interrogation as rhetorical. I believe we need very little persuasion to know that mentorship in surgical training has been a concept espoused for many decades, as evidenced from the reference list of a 2012 systematic review.1 This review suggested that mentorship in surgical training programmes is a dying art. A fact lamented by the authors who assert that proper mentorship is the foundation for training quality surgeons and a key component to the success of young surgeons’ careers.1,2 The same themes and challenges are still prevalent today and the nuances of mentorship still a subject of spirited debate. I would like to suggest that Dr Edge’s question is even more relevant today and would like to elaborate my opinion on the concepts she raised and their pertinence in today’s surgical arena.