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Mentoring relationships are pivotal to the outcome of the mentoring process. This thematic review seeks to study the key aspects of mentoring relationships between senior physicians and junior doctors and/or medical students to inform efforts to improve mentoring programs.Literature search was performed on publications across PubMed, ERIC, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, OVID and ScienceDirect databases between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2015 by three independent reviewers. The BEME guide and STORIES statement were used to develop a narrative from the articles selected.Thematic analysis of 49 articles reveals five semantic themes of initiation process, developmental process, evaluation process, sustaining mentoring relationship, and obstacles to effective mentoring. The evolving and relational-dependent nature of mentoring pivots upon the compatibility of mentors and mentees and the quality of their interactions, which in turn depend on mentoring environments and awareness of mentor-, mentee-, organizational-related factors and changes in context and goals.Embrace of a consistent mentoring approach to ensure effective oversight of the mentoring process must be balanced with sufficient flexibility to ensure a mentee-centered approach. Efforts must be made to optimize the key aspects of mentoring relationships in order to ensure successful mentoring processes and outcomes.

A consistent mentoring approach is key to unlocking the full benefits of mentoring, ensuring effective oversight of mentoring relationships and preventing abuse of mentoring. Yet consistency in mentoring between senior clinicians and medical students (novice mentoring) which dominate mentoring processes in medical schools is difficult to achieve particularly when mentors practice in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical schools. To facilitate a consistent approach to mentoring this review scrutinizes common aspects of mentoring in undergraduate and postgraduate medical schools to forward a framework for novice mentoring in medical schools. Four authors preformed independent literature searches of novice mentoring guidelines and programmes in undergraduate and postgraduate medical schools using ERIC, PubMed, CINAHL, OVID and Science Direct databases. 25,605 abstracts were retrieved, 162 full-text articles were reviewed and 34 articles were included. The 4 themes were identified-preparation, initiating and supporting the mentoring process and the obstacles to effective mentoring. These themes highlight 2 key elements of an effective mentoring framework-flexibility and structure. Flexibility refers to meeting the individual and changing needs of mentees. Structure concerns ensuring consistency to the mentoring process and compliance with prevailing codes of conduct and standards of practice.