Teacher teacher

Just the other day, I was in the company of two younger colleagues who were about to finish training. At the onset, we set out ground rules. First, dinner was going to be a “cheat meal.” Second, we would not talk about work but focus on their personal plans.

The first rule was easy to follow, so we paired what was fried and tasty to balance the fish and the vegetables. The second, less so, for as hard as we tried, work still was central to the conversation, and understandably so, because our common interest was the very thing that brought us together.

Looking at both of them, I could not help but feel a mix and a rush of emotions. Having witnessed their personal and budding professional growth, I was feeling more than grateful to have been part of their circle of mentors and excited about the opportunities that awaited them. At the same time, I was unprepared to face the fact that it was time to let them go. After two years of sharing both physical and mental space, they would be sorely missed. Listening to them made me reminisce about my early years in fellowship training and the accompanying separation anxiety that followed from knowing that my mentors would not be physically available 24/7, and the minute I stepped out of the hospital, I am to steer my own ship and be accountable for my actions. I don’t know what it was, maybe it was the “momma bear instinct” but that night made me more determined to be better at mentoring.

Mentorship. How important is it? Extremely so. From experience, a mentor-mentee relationship, if ideal, is mutually beneficial. For the young and untutored, which we all were at one point in our careers, a mentor is a role model, an anchor, and a compass as one navigates toward his intended role. A mentee gains knowledge from a mentor’s expertise, his experiences, and his own network of connections. For the mentor, having a mentee keeps him on his toes, validates his work as relevant, contributes to his confidence in his abilities, and most of all provides a sense of fulfillment and purpose.

Now that we know why it is essential, the next question is how measurable and effective it is. Recognition of its value has led to its incorporation in formal medical training programs as part of professional development. To my knowledge, there is no local published literature. I sought the help of Dr. Dits de Guzman, an adolescent specialist who is known to us as one of the persons responsible for providing structure to the mentoring program in our institution. He did validate that there were none as of the moment, so we do not have data on hand. Hearing that there was no sound evidence did not come as a surprise nor did it serve as a deterrent to learning more about the curriculum, because the main objective was to seek answers on how we as individuals and as a group could be better at coaching.

True to form, he made me realize that mentoring was something that we have unconsciously been doing as trainers and is nothing novel. The difference lies in the widening of the focus. Previously as part of the learning objectives, emphasis was more on obtaining the necessary cognitive, psychomotor, and interpersonal skills. Currently, it is becoming increasingly evident that in the workplace, there is also an equally urgent need to assist them in acquiring the necessary attitude to help them cope with the demands that training entails.

So there lies the answer to the question. If you have neglected to address that particular aspect in your mentor-mentee relationship, make that extra effort to fine-tune your relationship. Though you may not be totally responsible for how they turn out, you could at least say you did try.

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