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The Importance of Mentoring for Primary Care Clinicians

Given the complex world of modern medicine, the need for healthcare professionals to have a strong mentoring relationship at any stage of their career has never been more important. What should one look for in a mentor? How should a mentoring relationship be structured? Is one-on-one mentoring the best fit, or would group or virtual mentoring be more beneficial?

Although some hospitals and many academic centers assign a mentor as part of early career development, in other settings securing a mentor falls on the shoulders of the mentee. Let’s explore these and other considerations that arise when trying to find the right mentor in the health professions.

More Than Just Clinical Advice

The benefits of working with a mentor are diverse and tangible including higher rates of job satisfaction, greater success at promotion1, improved health and wellbeing2, and the opportunity to forge a satisfying mentor-mentee relationship that can span a career.

Often the most difficult task is finding the right mentor, and this can lead to delay or even giving up on what many experienced clinicians perceive to be one of the highlights of their career.

Mentoring for primary care clinicians offers guidance in clinical decision-making, patient management, and career progression. Some of the most valuable input involves helping mentees navigate their professional journey by offering insights that formal education might not cover.

Mentors enhance implicit knowledge about the hidden curriculum of professionalism, ethics, values, and the art of medicine not learned from textbooks. Importantly, support from a mentor provides emotional encouragement and professional reinforcement, which is vital in today’s demanding healthcare environment.

Mentoring Relationships

Mentoring relationships are not one-size-fits-all and the structure should be tailored to the needs and goals of the mentee. One-on-one mentoring provides personalized guidance and support. The close relationship between mentor and mentee allows for focused advice and skill development, and in-depth discussions about career goals and challenges. Group or peer mentoring involves multiple clinicians, often at similar career stages, who come together to share experiences and knowledge. Learning from colleagues in a group setting encourages collaborative problem-solving and fosters a sense of community3. Either of these options may occur in person or virtually. The key is to structure the relationship to provide flexibility and accessibility for both the mentee and mentor to meet the demands of busy schedules and evolving career goals.

In all mentoring relationships, finding the right mentor is a crucial first step. David Weismiller, MD, professor at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Department of Family and Community Medicine, has been involved in mentoring for 30 years.  He is a big proponent of peer mentoring. “Bringing people together at similar stages of their lives – whether clinicians or academicians – who are going through the same thing at the same professional moment can be a very powerful way to discover how we do the best work and how we learn the best,” said Dr. Weismiller.  

In a recent episode of the AMA’s Moving Medicine podcast, host, Alex McDonald, MD, family medicine, talks about how clinicians may have multiple mentors whom they reach out to for different needs throughout their career.  “I think the other thing, which we don't necessarily always think about, is we can have different mentors for different aspects. You can have a research mentor. You can have a professional development mentor. I mean, I practice family medicine and sports medicine, and so I have different mentors maybe for sports medicine versus for primary care. And I think it's okay to have a menu of mentors, if you will, and you go to those different mentors for different things,” says Dr. McDonald.

Identifying a potential mentor may start with defining your professional goals as well as qualities of an effective mentor. Effective mentors assume a coaching and an educational role. They are empathetic, willing to give their time, and willing to teach. 1

Maintaining the Momentum

Both the mentor and the mentee assume responsibility in establishing and maintaining an effective mentoring relationship.  Both parties should have shared enthusiasm and tailored support of one another and the ability to effectively communicate4. Successful mentoring relationships are characterized by reciprocity, mutual respect, clear expectations, personal connection, and shared values5.  Mentors in these relationships help manage time constraints including those that impact the actual mentorship meetings and those that relate to a goal that the mentee is working toward.  Both mentor and mentee set expectations of one another and of the mentor relationship.  This mutual understanding helps maintain a productive and positive mentoring relationship.

“I feel that mentorship is bidirectional - it benefits the person being mentored and it benefits the mentor. I really enjoy mentoring younger individuals in my field. It’s given me as much as I have given them,” said Donna Ryan, MD, Professor Emerita at Pennington Biomedical in Baton Rouge, LA, and long-time CEC faculty member.

Sharing the success or the pitfalls of your mentor relationship with fellow healthcare professionals supports the environment of continuous learning. If the momentum stalls or the connection breaks, the mentee should talk to the mentor. Reflecting on the original goals, adjusting to updated expectations, or changing course altogether is part of the overall learning process. By sharing your experience, you recognize your mentor's influence and the importance of effective mentorships within the medical community.

 And who knows, if you are fortunate enough as a mentee to reap the rewards by finding an outstanding mentor during your career, it may lead to the ultimate "pay it forward" when you become a rock star mentor for someone else! 

Andrew Urban, MD, and Annie Mullins, MBA, CMP, CPCC


References:

1: Straus SE, Johnson MO, Marquez C, Feldman MD. Characteristics of successful and failed mentoring relationships: a qualitative study across two academic health centers. Acad Med. 2013;88(1):82-89. doi:10.1097/ACM.0b013e31827647a0

2: Wilson G, Larkin V, Redfern N, Stewart J, Steven A. Exploring the relationship between mentoring and doctors' health and wellbeing: a narrative review. J R Soc Med. 2017;110(5):188-197. doi:10.1177/0141076817700848

3: Barr KP, Deluca K, Dicianno BE, Helkowski WM, Liu B. Group peer mentoring to improve faculty connections and enhance mentoring networks. Clin Teach. 2024;21(4):e13747. doi:10.1111/tct.13747

4: Burgess A, van Diggele C, Mellis C. Mentorship in the health professions: a review. Clin Teach. 2018;15(3):197-202. doi:10.1111/tct.12756

5: Prioritizing mentorship. Nat Microbiol 9, 309 (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01614-z

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