Abstract WP178: Mentorship That Matters: Improving Neurology Resident Outcomes Through Structured Dual Support

Background: Stroke rotations during residency are a high pressure and complex component of PGY2 neurology resident’s training. Residents must rapidly master acute clinical care, interdisciplinary communication, and stroke specific systems of care. PGY2 residents often report symptoms of burnout, isolation, and decreased job satisfaction. Burnout is associated with medical errors, depression, and early departure from clinical practice. Embedding structured support into high stress rotations like stroke service may decrease burnout, enhance learning, and promote long term retention. Methods: To address this, we designed a dual mentor program for PGY2 residents. Each resident was assigned two dedicated mentors at the start of their stroke rotation. Mentors included a faculty attending physician, specializing in stroke neurology, and a registered nurse coordinator from the stroke program, with expertise in stroke systems of care. The program included scheduled in person meetings throughout the rotation to deliver targeted feedback, deliver feedback from other stroke faculty, and to explore the resident’s perspectives and individualized learning needs. Mentors served as consistent points of contact for the support of the PGY2’s clinical and professional development. A survey was conducted at the end of each academic year to elicit feedback from residents, faculty, and stroke program nurse mentors. Results: Feedback from the first cohort of residents was used to modify the supervised training period. This modification resulted in survey reports of improved feelings of burnout. Qualitative feedback from residents in subsequent cohorts highlighted the value of having accessible and consistent mentors with complimentary clinical and systems knowledge and receiving individualized timely feedback regarding progress. There was a decrease in the number of days residents required remediation at the end of their supervised training period and there was an increase in residency retention rates compared to prior cohorts without this structured support. Conclusion: A dual mentor program improves PGY2 neurology resident experience during stroke rotation by enhancing resident performance, confidence, and integration into the stroke care team, while reducing burnout risk. This model may serve as a scalable approach for other high acuity subspecialty rotations within residency training programs and may help to address workforce challenges in neurology.