Building a RAFFT: How to Create a Successful Mentorship Program for Women in EM
SAEM PULSE | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2020
By Kimberly Bambach MD, Kelli Robinson MD, Jackie Furbacher MD, Natalie Elder MD, PharmD, and Simiao Li-Sauerwine MD, MSCR
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Women in academic emergency medicine (EM) face unique challenges with respect to professional development and advancement. This year, our department successfully implemented a longitudinal mentorship program for female emergency medicine faculty, fellows, and residents. Inspired by sea otters that band together in “rafts,” we founded our own supportive RAFFT — a Resident And Faculty Female Tribe. To create an engaging curriculum, we utilized Kern’s six-step approach. Here we outline the steps to implement a similar program within your own department, including pearls and pitfalls we encountered along the way.
Step 1: Problem Identification and General Needs Assessment
The first step focuses on opening up a conversation in your department. Through these discussions, we recognized that female physicians in our department were searching for mentorship, sponsorship, and a forum to discuss issues related to gender disparities. After identifying this need, we asked for support from department leadership to implement our program.
Pearl: Get buy-in from all stakeholders including residents, chiefs, faculty, and departmental leadership.
Step 2: Targeted Needs Assessment
To understand the needs of our members, we sent a survey to the
female faculty, fellow, and resident members of our department. We asked our colleagues about their perceived need for a women in EM program, expectations of such a program, and how they felt such a program would contribute to their professional development, professional identity,
