Digital Mentorship in Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Era.

To the Editor:

Dr Whitson’s article synthesizes the attributes of successful traditional thoracic surgery (TS) residents. We commend Dr Whitson for recognizing academic productivity may be attributed to strong mentorship. A survey of TS trainees confirmed 84% of respondents had a mentor, of which most viewed mentorship as impacting their specialty choice and as critical to success. Mentorship and sponsorship continue to play a critical role in surgical career development and have been associated with increased faculty retention and career longevity.

Coronavirus disease 2019 has limited in-person engagement with mentors; therefore many have taken to innovative ways through the digital world. Structured programs, such as the American Association for Thoracic Surgery Member for a Day and The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Looking to the Future Scholarships, have turned to virtual platforms to publicize and organize their programming. Social media, especially Twitter, has become a place for information sharing, collaboration, networking, and mentorship. The Thoracic Student Medical (@ThoracicStudent) and Thoracic Surgery Resident Associations (@TSRA_Official) host networking and career development webinars for over 3900 followers. Although traditional forms of mentorship are vital to a trainee’s career, the #CTSurgery Twitter community offers accessibility to a diversity of mentors that does not discriminate by geographic location or medical school. For example, the Women in Thoracic Surgery (@WomeninThoracic) used Twitter to host speed mentoring events with female cardiothoracic surgeons, which is critical to engaging women, an underrepresented minority in TS. A survey of 282 individuals revealed that TS trainees were more likely to use social media to network, learn about the field, and promote professional interests. In fact 93% of women reported social media enabled them to build a larger network of same-sex mentorship.

Although traditional forms of in-person mentorship cannot be replaced by digital mentorship, virtual platforms can complement traditional mentorship opportunities and create equitable access to research collaboration, scholarship, and informal networking. It allows mentees to find mentors that cater to unmet needs that stem from remote learning and other pandemic restrictions. We encourage aspiring cardiothoracic surgeons, as the mentors of tomorrow, to take part in the #CTSurgery community and construct new paradigms for digital mentorship.