Why should you have a mentor?

Dr Caroline Osborne-White discusses the value of a mentor

Having a professional mentor is a great opportunity for personal and professional growth. A mentor enables support and guidance but is also someone who can provide an opportunity to challenge thinking. It gives the doctor the opportunity to reflect on their experiences, both good and bad, and what they want for the future.

Many medical organisations in Ireland support mentoring for doctors and highlight the benefits for both the mentor and the mentee. Mentoring can also reduce the risk of adverse events and bring problems to the fore at an early stage, reducing the risk of major and escalating difficulties.

Benefits of a clinical mentor

Having a mentor who is also a clinician facilitates discussions in more specialised clinical areas, while also developing essential soft skills like communication and problem-solving, which can be equally valuable.

For those working solely in small or single-handed clinics, the support available for problem-solving can be more limited, and the risk of not keeping up to date with the necessary knowledge and skills can be higher.

While research into the value of mentoring is limited in Ireland, it has been undertaken in other countries, such as the UK by the Department of Health and the Doctors Forum.

Mentors can increase their mentee’s confidence, job satisfaction, and sense of collegiality. Mentoring can also allow a doctor to gain a renewed focus on aims and objectives, improve working relationships, enhance problem-solving, and help reduce the risk of complaints.

Mentoring can provide support and assistance in developing strategies for dealing with specific issues. These issues can vary widely from looking into ideas for small changes, to dealing with serious professional and interpersonal relationships.

Many of the strategies practitioners adopt through discussion with their mentor can be life-changing. These strategies can be used in resolving a major crisis in their professional life, making major changes in ways of thinking and acting, or considering significant changes in direction.

The UK Doctors Forum found that practitioners who had a mentor really valued the time dedicated to them for reflection, with someone they trusted actively listening and challenging their thinking, but not problem-solving on their behalf. This gave them the freedom to work through their problems in absolute confidence, within the ethical framework accepted by all doctors.

Barriers to mentoring

There are several reasons why practitioners may not wish to engage in a mentoring scheme. These may include a lack of perceived need, time constraints, or a misunderstanding of what is involved. It is also worth remembering that you can seek a different mentor should you wish to.

What could mentoring involve?

Mentoring can take many forms. There are different mentoring models – most are characterised by the flow of help in a single direction; however, co-mentoring is also an option where the emphasis is on mutual support and an open dialogue between two autonomous practitioners.

One of the key ingredients in many mentoring arrangements is the skill of ‘active listening’, a technique that assists those who are speaking. This tool helps them to explore their thoughts and experience at their own pace without interruption and without the listener giving advice.

There are some independently run mentoring programmes across Ireland offering different types of mentoring schemes. You can contact your college or actively network with peers and engage in professional events to find out more.

Revalidation

Revalidation is a vital part of the profession and engaging with reflective practice will assist in appraisals and ongoing continuing professional development (CPD). It can help you to gather evidence of your achievements and lessons learned on an ongoing basis.

Being a mentor

There is also much value to be gained from mentoring someone else. Taking on the role of a mentor is personally satisfying as you are contributing to the development of a fellow doctor, whilst refining your existing skill set.

It can be used as an opportunity to review and validate what you know and what you have accomplished. Teaching another doctor helps you to remember all that you have learned – and have the satisfaction of being able to pass it on.

Mentors can increase their mentee’s confidence, job satisfaction, and sense of collegiality

You may even learn from your mentee. Often your mentee will be younger than you and they may have knowledge you do not have, or they may look at a task in a different way. They can help you to enhance your people-development skills and you may even learn more about yourself and have the opportunity to test new ideas.

Going forward

All practitioners can benefit from mentoring, whether in the capacity of a mentee or a mentor. Practitioners often act as mentors to less experienced colleagues during times of transition, but mentorship should extend further than this and be incorporated at all stages of a medical career.

Tips for making the most of mentoring:

▶ Reflect on your long-term goals;

▶ Learn and accept feedback;

▶ Practise good communication;

▶ Practise high standards of professionalism;

▶ Consider a periodic mentor check-up.

Case study

Dr A was a paediatrician who had been working as a consultant for four years. She had been involved in a sad case of domestic abuse involving several children. One child had suffered extensive injuries and nearly died. The child’s parents were charged in the criminal courts and Dr A had to give evidence in the trial. The trial was very stressful and Dr A received verbal abuse outside court from friends and family of the parents. Dr A found this very traumatic and had to take time off work to recover.

Dr A returned to practice, but felt that work was much more stressful now than before. She questioned every decision that she made and was very anxious about facing another situation involving non-accidental injury of a child. She received a complaint from another family about a very minor misunderstanding and she had the full support of her colleagues in responding to the complaint. However, she recognised that she had found dealing with the complaint more stressful than any similar situation in the past.

Dr A discussed how she was feeling with clinical director, Dr B, also a consultant paediatrician. Dr B had faced a similar experience a few years previously, where he had been involved in an adverse incident that had changed his way of thinking and made work more stressful. Dr B had had successful mentoring and recommended this mentor. The mentor, Dr C, was a professor of paediatrics, and an experienced mentor. Dr A approached Dr C, and Dr C agreed to be Dr A’s mentor.

Dr A was then able to discuss her experience with Dr C, and Dr C gave Dr A time to explore what had changed as a result of the case of non-accidental injury. They were also able to explore what Dr A thought would be beneficial to her. Over time, they discussed that Dr A’s main concern had been about giving evidence in court and how stressful that had been and Dr A was able to conclude that she was fearful of having to go to court again. Dr A felt that time to undertake CPD in this area, including about appearing as a witness and preparing for court, would help. They also established that it would be helpful for Dr A to go and observe some court cases so that she could experience different scenarios as an observer rather than a witness. The aim was for this to make her more confident should she be called to court again.

Dr C remained Dr A’s mentor for several years, with decreasing contact as Dr A’s confidence and self-esteem returned. Over time, Dr A realised that she had a lot to offer as a mentor herself and started the process of training to become a mentor to support others.