Exploring Mentorship as a Strategy to Build Capacity and Optimize the Embedded Scientist Workforce

Background: Mentorship plays a significant role in career development in academic and applied settings, but little is documented about its role in the experiential learning of academic trainees embedded in health system organizations. The experiences of the first cohort of Canada's Health System Impact (HSI) Fellowship program can provide insights into how mentorship in this innovative type of training can work. Objectives: To understand the mentorship strategies that were used and to explore fellows' and supervisors' perspectives and experiences on the effectiveness and value of those strategies. Methods: Data from the surveys of fellows and their supervisors and a panel rooted in the lived experience of the first HSI Fellowship cohort were used. Results: Health system and academic supervisors developed a range of innovative, individualized and effective approaches for guiding their fellows, such as providing the fellow with a committee of mentors within the organization, holding regular meetings with the fellow and both the health system and the academic supervisor and leveraging their own network to expand the network and resources available to the fellow. Conclusion: The results suggest that engaging senior leadership in health system settings has provided positive experiences for both fellows and their mentors.