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WA’s first formal mentoring program for surgical trainees is being launched this month.

SWIM (Surgeons and Women’s Initiative to Mentor) has been created by a team from the School of Surgery, consisting of Professor of Surgery Christobel Saunders, Research Officer Aimee Nichevich, School Manager Ms Carleen Ellis, and Professor of Medical Education Jeff Hamdorf.

The idea to develop a formal mentoring program came about from previous research conducted by Professor Saunders, Ms Nichevich and Ms Ellis. While investigating the career choices of female surgeons in Australasia, the researchers identified several barriers to the pursuit of a surgical career. Two of the major obstacles were a lack of available career mentors and under-exposure to same-sex role models.

Such a finding is important as surgical Faculties throughout Australasia try to address the disproportionate ratio of males to females and encourage the next generation of academic surgeons. WA universities are no exception.

Currently, more than half of medical undergraduates at UWA are female yet only about one-tenth of both non-academic and academic surgical appointments are held by women. Recognising this, the UWA Equity and Diversity Office awarded the SWIM program with a 2009 Diversity Initiative Grant.

The SWIM program aims to address these obstacles by providing one-on-one mentoring for females early in their surgical careers.

Each mentee will be paired with an appropriate mentor taking into account factors such as their career interests and professional goals. Some of the highlights of the program include networking events, a Women in Leadership guest presentation and a research award for the highest calibre publication or abstract authored by a trainee during
2008/09. The award will support the recipient’s travel, registration and accommodation at an Australasian conference of their choice.

The SWIM program has been actively recruiting male and female mentors from a broad background of surgical specialities over the past two months. The SWIM committee is now looking to recruit mentees - female surgical trainees or recent medical graduates with a keen interest in a surgical career.

Following evaluation of SWIM at the end of the year, the objective will be to use this program as a model for surgical Faculty in other states who wish to implement a formal mentoring program – for both female and male surgical trainees.

Anyone who would like to discuss participating in SWIM can contact Professor Saunders at [email protected] or by telephone on 9346 2146.

By Aimee Nichevich, Research Officer, School of Surgery