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How to find mentors and get the most out of them

How to find mentors and get the most out of them. Lawrence G. Raisz Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Medicine Raisz@nso.uchc.edu. Who was the First Mentor ? The goddess Athena took the guise of Mentor, an old man, in order to be the

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How to find mentors and get the most out of them

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  1. How to find mentors and get the most out of them Lawrence G. Raisz Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Medicine Raisz@nso.uchc.edu

  2. Who was the First Mentor? The goddess Athena took the guise of Mentor, an old man, in order to be the guardian and teacher of Telemachus, son of Odysseus and Penelope, while Dad was away fooling around with Circe and Mom was weaving and unweaving.

  3. Who are the Mentors Now? Mentors can be junior or senior faculty and even supervisors, though the last can be dangerous. Decide what you are looking for and take your time. Consider multiple mentors that play somewhat different roles.

  4. Getting Started;Mentors vs Advisors and Supervisors • Mentoring should be by mutual consent. • Advising and supervising may be assigned. • Consider the advantages and disadvantages of seniority and stature vs congeniality and easy communication. • Reflect on your own feeling about differences/similarities in background, gender, ethnicity. • Mix and match. You should have multiple mentors. • Tell each other what you expect. Set some ground rules.

  5. Responsibilities of the Mentor • Be available • Impart knowledge • Advance careers • Maintain integrity • Build Confidence

  6. Responsibilities of the Trainee • Keep the mentor in the loop

  7. What Made for Satisfaction with Mentoring at Harvard Ramanan RA, Phillips RS, Davis RB, Silen W, Reede JY. Mentoring in medicine: keys to satisfaction Am J Med 112:336-341, 2002.

  8. Useful References-1 Benson CA, Morahan PS, Sachdeva AK, Richman RC. Effective faculty preceptoring and mentoring during reorganization of an academic medical center Medical Teacher 24:550-557, 2002. A comparison of short-term preceptorship and long-term mentoring instituted when Hahnemann and MCP merged. Both gave satisfaction but mentoring produced better faculty retention. Heyl AR. Climbing the Ladder: Making the Most of Mentoring. J Am Med Women’s Assoc 60:11-14, 2005. Good lists of what mentors and trainees should do and why it is important, with an emphasis on the critical need for better mentoring of women in academic medicine.

  9. Jackson VA, Palepu A, Szalacha L, Caswell C, Carr P, Inui T. “Having the Right Chemistry”: A Qualitative Study of Mentoring in Academic Medicine Acad Med 78:328-334, 2003. Good discussion of ins and outs of mentoring based on interviews, with lots of quotes. Ramanan RA, Phillips RS, Davis RB, Silen W, Reede JY. Mentoring in medicine: keys to satisfaction Am J Med 112:336-341, 2002. This is the Harvard study described above. Over 2000 assistant professors and instructors responded; 39% women, 20% non white, 85% committed to a career in academic medicine. Useful References-2

  10. Useful References-3 Ramani S, Gruppen L, Kachur EK. Twelve tips for developing effective mentors Med Teacher 28:404-408, 2006. This paper emphasizes the requirements for mentoring and the need for support and training. Sambunjak D, Strause SE, Marusic A. Mentoring in Academic Medicine; A Systematic Review JAMA 296:1103-1115, 2006 Thissystematic review points out that we really do not have good studies of mentoring. In particular there are no comparisons of outcomes in different institutions with different approaches. But everyone thinks it’s important!

  11. Useful References-4 Schrubbe KF. Mentorship: A Critical Component for Professional Growth and Academic Success J Dent Edu 68:324-328, 2003. A general editorial that emphasizes mentoring in schools of dental medicine Straus SE, Straus C, Tzanetos K. Career Choice in Academic Medicine J Gen Intern Med 21:1222-1229, 2006. This is a systematic review of studies that looked at incentives and disincentives to enter a career in Academic Medicine. They put role models and mentoring at #5 on the list of incentives. The type of training was #1.

  12. Conclusions • Most of this is just common sense. • It is easy to lose sight of common sense in the heat of academic battles. • You can always call for help. If program directors, deans and department heads won’t do it, colleagues and other faculty members may pitch in. • But having the right mentor can help avoid problems and increase the chances of success.

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