Community Hospital-Based Mentor Program: The Results Speak for Themselves

At the turn of the 21st century, the chair of anesthesiology at Endeavor Health (previously NorthShore University Health System) created a college graduate mentorship-mentee program. At the time, the program was an opportunity for college students and graduates to not only participate in a community hospital-based perioperative clinical anesthesiology research program, but also to observe anesthesiologists daily. While potentially commonplace in academic medicine, this community-based program was unique to our area. Since its inception, our clinical anesthesiology research program has created a sustained network of future health care leaders by pairing motivated students with experienced anesthesiologists engaged in rigorous, patient-centered investigation. Through hands-on exposure to perioperative and pain medicine, patient safety science, and clinical research methodology, students learn how to ask meaningful scientific questions and to translate evidence into safer, higher-quality perioperative care. The program was successful in generating clinically based publications, and several students went on to pursue careers in health care.The COVID-19 pandemic proved a challenging time for our department's research efforts. While there continued to be some research activity, the significant clinical demands on our department impacted our research infrastructure. Our department appointed a new chair in 2021, and as our clinical environment settled, we focused on rebuilding our research infrastructure. The foundation of the new structure was our health care system/department appointing Steven Greenberg, MD, as the endowed Jeffery Vender Vice-Chair for Research and Education (named after our previous chair). In addition to establishing physician leadership in our research program with Dr. Greenberg, we also initiated a program where we began recruiting highly motivated students or recent graduates into employed positions as research assistants. This created even greater accountability than our previous program as it demonstrated a level of departmental and institutional investment in furthering clinical research. Since the rebuild in 2022, our team has grown to include a research manager, three research coordinators, two research assistants, 14 clinical investigators (from only two in 2022), an animal research scientist, and a statistician. Since 2022, our students have been part of 12 publications, 14 national presentations, and 20 grant proposals. Over that same period, the team has driven external funding to increase sevenfold. Our projects have spanned the continuum of clinical research, with a focus on perioperative patient safety. Study designs range from database reviews to randomized controlled trials in clinical settings that include ambulatory sites (pain clinic), perioperative spaces, and the intensive care unit. Over the past two and a half decades, Endeavor Health has published clinical research that has changed perioperative safety practices, such as reducing residual neuromuscular blockade, monitoring patients in the beach chair position with cerebral oximetry, and most recently testing nonopioid perioperative protocols to reduce opioid use and harm. Similarly, our pain research team, under the leadership of David Dickerson, MD, continues to grow and focuses on innovative ways to reduce opioid-related harm by focusing on creating nonopioid interventions to curb chronic opioid use and dependence. In their roles, our students can appreciate the breadth and depth of an anesthesiologist's career in a community setting that includes practicing in a diverse clinical environment while having opportunities to participate in research and education. Quintessential to the program is the firsthand teaching by anesthesiologists about a “just culture” where everyone on our research team is trained to speak up and change research practices that may be potentially unsafe for patients. A handful of our research staff have used this principle to detect potential medical errors during research studies before they actually happened (see below). In addition, our research staff recently tracked where our students went to school after their participation in our research program. The results speak for themselves: Every participant, over more than two decades, has gone on to pursue advanced training in medicine or nursing, carrying forward a deep appreciation for teamwork, ethical inquiry, and innovation in perioperative care. This program does more than produce publications – it cultivates creative thinkers, compassionate clinicians, and future leaders who understand the central role of anesthesiology in modern health care. We are more focused now than ever to encourage others to create and support this proven model of mentorship to shape the next generation of perioperative clinicians, with clinical research as a career focus. An investment in this type of program is an investment in the future of safe surgery, pain medicine and critical care excellence, and the enduring advancement of clinical anesthesiology research. The most gratifying aspect of our program's success is that 80% of our recent students in the last three years have decided to seek a career in anesthesiology based on their research experiences with our department. Moreover, six students have been accepted into medical school in the last three years, and one student was admitted to nursing school. It is exciting to see the next generation of clinicians we have mentored strive to make perioperative care safer. A recent alumnus of our research program, Andrew Locke, was admitted to medical school in 2026. The following is his perspective on our program. “Medical school has always been my plan, and much of what I've pursued reflects that. As a senior in college, I wanted to understand clinical research and whether it belonged in my future. In the fall of 2022, Dr. Greenberg gave me that opportunity as a part-time research student. I read extensively, sought out answers to my questions, and quickly saw both the value of this work and its relevance to my future career. After graduation, I became a full-time research assistant, expanding my research foundation while gaining significant exposure to anesthesia and critical care. In this role, I identified and helped prevent a medication error in real time during a study involving the administration of ketamine. The mentorship and investment from Dr. Greenberg, along with his commitment to patient safety, gave me the awareness and confidence to speak up when something wasn't right. I was later promoted to research coordinator and, later, became the department's first research manager. As I leave for medical school, I do so with both gratitude and excitement. The growth I've experienced over the past 3.5 years has made me a stronger candidate and, more importantly, better prepared to care for patients. It is with humility that I can report that I have given six presentations at national meetings, been an author on nine publications, and have been involved with 21 grant proposals. Many individuals have supported this program's growth and entrusted me to lead, reflecting a culture deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of health care providers. Through them, I've learned about clinical medicine, research, and hospital operations, and developed a passion for patient safety. Most importantly, I've gained a mentor not just for my career, but for life.”Steven Greenberg, MD, FCCP, FCCM, Vice President, Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, Jeffery S. Vender, MD, Chair of Anesthesiology Research and Education, Endeavor Health, and Clinical Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois.Andrew Locke, Medical Student, Rush Medical College, Chicago, Illinois.Mohammed M. Minhaj, MD, MBA, FASA, FACHE, ASA Committee on Professional Development, System Executive, Anesthesia, and Harris Family Foundation Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, Endeavor Health, Evanston, Illinois.