Evaluation of a Mentorship Program for heart transplant patients

The Heart Transplant Mentor Programme (HTMP) was initiated to augment patie nt care by providing patients and families with information and support fro m a peer perspective. We assessed program effectiveness with a pilot study of semi-structured interviews of 63% (10/16) of the mentored patients and a n open-ended inquiry that rated the program on a 5-point scale (1, poor, to 5, excellent) and that selected descriptors of the program. Qualitative an d quantitative analyses indicated that participants found the information a nd support provided by their mentors positive (3.8 and 4.0, respectively), discussion focused on medical rather than psychosocial topics, pre-transpla nt dissatisfaction with the program was caused by late or little mentor con tact, and post-transplant dissatisfaction was attributed to difference in c linical course between mentor and patient. Although findings indicate that HTMP augments patient care, recommendations to increase patient satisfactio n include earlier introduction of a mentor and individualizing mentors acco rding to demographics and clinical course.