Medical Mentoring

Book excerpt: There is a huge need for supportive mentoring among students, doctors in training and general practitioners. Mentoring is an effective way of supporting doctors and preventing problems. The author argues that all doctors should seek a mentor. Medical training involves transitions; school to university, student to junior doctor and trainee to GP. It is at these transition points that mentoring is most valuable. This book - Medical Mentoring - is a practical guide to using mentoring to help doctors with their professional development, support them when difficulties arise and prevent problems developing. If you're considering mentoring, want to adapt your approach or develop your mentoring skills, this is the book for you. This practical guide, illustrated by case stories will give prospective mentors the confidence to improve student/doctor relationships, defines the role of a medical mentor and the benefits of providing support to doctors and students, discusses reasons why medical students and doctors struggle during their careers, gives practical advice on identifying the student/doctor in difficulty, discusses what students/doctors value in a mentor, and offers a practical guide to mentoring using a clinical model. The book shows how clinical skills can be adapted effectively in mentoring, while acknowledging that mentees are not patients. This guide aims to give prospective mentors the confidence to improve student/doctor support and so will improve recruitment and retention of students and GPs, and enable doctors to deliver more effective patient care.