Ensuring Success\; Developing Skills for Effective Mentoring of Medical Students IAMSE 2013

1. Ensuring Success:
Developing Skills for Effective
Mentoring of Medical Students
Amy J. Prunuske, PhD
Jacob Prunuske, MD, MSPH
IAMSE 2013 2FS10

2. Objectives
1. Identify challenges to effective
mentoring and describe ways to
address these challenges
2. Develop productive mentor-mentee
relationships
3. Evaluate the effectiveness of mentor
programs for both students and faculty

3. Introductions
• Name
• Institution
• Role, interest in mentoring
• What you want to gain from this session

4. Aims of the University of
Minnesota Medical School
Mentoring Program
– build long term relationships among
students and faculty
– identify students‟ needs and connect them
to useful resources
– promote professional formation throughout
medical school

5. Medical School Duluth
Mentoring Program
Students
6 learning communities of 10 students
assigned one MD and one PhD mentor
MS1
1:1 sessions (# of meetings)
MD Mentor (2)
PhD Mentor (1)
MS2
PhD Mentor (1)
MD Mentor (1)
MS3 MD Mentor (2)
MS4 Contribute to MSPE

6. Mentoring
“...experienced, highly regarded, empathetic
person (mentor) guides another individual
(mentee) in the development and re-
examination of their own ideas, learning,
and personal and professional
development.”
Frei 2010

7. Value of Mentorship in
Medical Education
• Professionalism development
• Research participation & productivity
• Career planning
• Overall well-being
• Support for individuals
underrepresented in medicine
Aagaard 2003. Zink 2007. Macaulay 2007. Kosoko-Lasaki 2006. Murr 2002.
Dorrance 2008. Zier 2006. Coates 2008. Kalet 2007, 2001.

8. Qualities & Skills of Effective
Mentors
• Small Groups
• 15 minutes, develop a list:
– Personal characteristics
– Behaviors
– Skills
– Others
• Share

9. Mentor Qualities & Skills
• Consistent availability & engagement
• Balance guidance & freedom
• Supportive atmosphere & resources
• Constructive feedback
• Individual interest in mentee
Nakamura, Shernoff 2009

10. Mentor Qualities & Skills
• Clear expectations for mentoring role
• Avoid complaining about logistics that
are out of students‟ control
• Honesty
• Budget appropriate time
• Recognize professional boundaries

11. Mentors Should Encourage
Mentee Reflection
• Self
• Clinical surroundings
• Structure of medical education
• Social determinants of health

12. MENTORING CHALLENGES
Large Group Discussion 5 – 10 min

13. Challenges/Barriers to
Effective Mentorship
• Faculty interest, skill, time, engagement
• Institutional support, resources
• Cultural, gender, generational
differences
• Student interest, time, engagement, not
wanting to „bother‟ mentor, or seem
needy or insecure

14. Challenges/Barriers
• Mentor conflict of interest
• Mismatched expectations
• Acting to please mentor not achieve own
goals
• Personality differences
• Poor communication
• External factors
– changing health systems, politics, finances

15. Volunteer to share a challenging
mentor-mentee situation

16. Ekstasis - Peer Consultation
Model
• Present Case
• Group asks fact questions
• Group does diagnostic brainstorming
with presenter watching and listening
• Group does action steps brainstorm
• Presenter reflects on what he/she heard

17. Overcoming Barriers
• Safe, welcoming environment
• Clear communication
• Framework/checklist to guide meetings
– Personal goals, research, career
planning, international
experiences, electives, work-life balance, medical
issues, others...
• Defined action items
• Mentor support, faculty development
• Teach ability to disagree without being disagreeable

18. Female Student Perspectives
• Optimal mentoring includes...
– Shared values, Trust, Personal Connection
• Relation more important than gender
concordance
• Gender-based assumptions &
stereotypes affect mentoring
• Gender-based power dynamics
influence what students disclose Levine 2013

19. Ways Institutions Support
Effective Mentoring
• Identified criteria for selecting mentors
• Incentives for motivating faculty mentors
• Assignment of mentors, mentee pairing
Keyser 2008

20. Benefits of Institutional
Support
• Increased trust
• Improved morale
• Improved retention
• Enhanced organizational commitment
Zachary 2005

21. Traditional Mentoring Model
• Dyad (1:1)
– Most common in literature
– Experience to novice
– Single viewpoint
– May be too hierarchical, less mutually
supportive
– Some individuals (eg women, minorities)
may be less likely to identify or identify with
a mentor

22. Alternative Mentoring Models
• Co-mentoring (multiple perspectives)
• Peer mentoring
– Value associated with social support
– Best with faculty guidance, eg Healer‟s Art
• Group mentoring
• Layered mentoring
• Choice vs Assigned

23. WHAT EVIDENCE WOULD
TELL YOU YOUR PROGRAM IS
WORKING?
Small Group Discussion (5 – 10 min)

24. What evidence would tell you
your program is working?
• Student perspectives
• Faculty perspectives
• Institutional resource use
• Board scores
• Attrition and graduation rates
• Graduate career choices, match
success, practice choices

25. Objectives
1. Identify challenges to effective
mentoring and describe ways to
address these challenges
2. Develop productive mentor-mentee
relationships
3. Evaluate the effectiveness of mentor
programs for both students and faculty

26. CLOSING THOUGHTS