Abstract
Mentoring is essential to professional development and socialization in many fields, but this relationship is critical to health professions practitioners. These professionals come to their respective disciplines with the requisite learning from their educational programs, but they will also benefit from the guidance of a mentor. Mentoring relationships allow mentees to move their practice along the continuum from novice to expert. This translates to safer, more coordinated care at the bedside and a more holistically developed practitioner. This chapter examines types of mentoring relationships and how professionals can decide which best meets their needs and goals. Review of the characteristics of effective mentors and mentees is an important element of this chapter, as it is crucial for those seeking these roles to know their responsibilities. Discussion of how mentoring diverse groups of health professions students will help to reduce disparities in healthcare is an important focus of this chapter.
TopIntroduction
For some students who want to work in the health professions, the path to college or their future career is easy- they arrive to their post high school education knowing exactly what it is they want to do and they forge their path forward to achieve their certificate or degree. For others though, the path is not quite that simple and they consider many different options before they find the one that is the right fit for them. Both of these types of students need the mentoring and guidance of their academic advisor. For the first group, it may be enough to go over study strategies, prerequisites, and course alignment. These students know what they want and just need someone to explain to them how to sequence things to get to graduation in the quickest and most efficient way. For the students who are not quite sure of their path, the advisor will need to connect them to the specific resources to help them to make the decision that is best suited for their strengths and abilities. Shadowing, volunteering, and research internships are all things that someone considering a health profession can do in order to see if the profession that they are considering is the right one for them. Networking or connecting to opportunities within their educational setting are important. The advisor will be this student’s first professional mentor.
There are certain skills, traits, and competencies that will aid a pre-health or health professions student in being successful in completing their program of study. While it is not the job of the advisor to instill or impart these things to the students they advise, they should be asking questions to ensure the student possesses these key traits to ensure their success. Mentorship in pre-health professional education and undergraduate/graduate level education offers an opportunity for mentors to foster enhanced academic performance among mentees, promote collaboration, and encourage learner engagement in activities of interest related to their selected healthcare field.
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) notes 15 core competencies that make a successful applicant to medical school and it has been noted that these competencies are also important to success in those considering other health professions. If students are considering enrolling in a health professions program, and are lacking in any of these areas, the advisor can help the student develop these things if the student desires. As with other types of mentoring, the advisor should not be dictating to the student what to do or how to do it. The student should take the lead, with guidance from the advisor. These competencies, as well as the domains that they fall under, are detailed in Table 1.
Table 1. Core competencies of health professions students
| Interpersonal | Intrapersonal | Thinking and Reasoning | Science |
| Service orientation | Ethical responsibility to self and others | Critical thinking | Living systems |
| Social skills | Reliability and dependability | Quantitative reasoning | Human behavior |
| Cultural competence | Resilience and adaptability | Scientific inquiry | |
| Teamwork | Capacity for improvement | Written communication | |
| Oral communication | | | |
(Adapted from AAMC, 2021a)
Key Terms in this Chapter
Equity: Ensures that individuals are provided the resources they need to have access to the same opportunities, as the general population. While equity represents impartiality, i.e., the distribution is made in such a way to even opportunities for all the people. Conversely equality indicates uniformity, where everything is evenly distributed among people (The University of Washington Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Glossary of Terms, 2019).
Mentee: One who is being mentored (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2021a).
Mentor: Someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2021b).
Mentorship: The process by which two people engage in a relationship designed to support the growth and development of the less experienced party (Walters, 2017).
Affinity Groups: Consists of individuals who share a common characteristic, trait, or interest, discuss issues of shared identity (Segal, 2013).
Healthcare Disparities: May occur due to varying factors such inadequate access to healthcare and social determinants of health including race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status (Healthy People 2020, 2021).
Diversity: The myriad ways in which people differ, including the psychological, physical, and social differences that occur among all individuals, such as race, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, religion, economic class, education, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, mental and physical ability, and learning styles (The University of Washington Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Glossary of Terms, 2019).
Inclusion: Authentically bringing traditionally excluded individuals and/or groups into processes, activities, and decision/policy making in a way that shares power (The University of Washington Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Glossary of Terms, 2019).
Health Equity: The attainment of the highest level of health for all people including equal access to healthcare and improvement of health for all populations (The University of Washington Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Glossary of Terms, 2019; Healthy People, 2020).