Mentorship

Exam Season…

It’s been a while since my last confession…
That’s because I’ve been quite busy recently with exams. No, not mine, thankfully. I eagerly anticipate hearing the official examination results where all their hard work (and mine as an academic) would culminate in degrees/diplomas/residency advancement.
Tis was exam season where medical students and residents alike became temporary hermits as they prepared for evaluations which would set the course for their professional development.
Mentorship would have been an integral part of this process.

Our Role

It is our role as established physicians to ensure that future generations of doctors are competent, confident and connected (to their patients and to each other). Their ability to provide quality medical care while maintaining their sanity depends heavily on our ability to provide sound clinical guidance and continual professional and psychosocial support. Our mentorship helps to make them better doctors.

Better Than Us

And… herein lies the problem.
We want them to be better physicians – for their patients.
We don’t really want to help up and coming physicians become better than us. What are we, stupid??!
In an age where multiple factors can result in delayed retirement, artificial intelligence can potentially negate our usefulness, and there are more physicians in the lucrative specialties, we don’t want more competition. These newer physicians are more of a threat because they are younger, more tech-savvy, more globally-minded. They will usurp us despite our years of practice and our patients’ appreciation for and trust in the services we provide. There is nothing they can learn from our experience and nothing we will learn from Gen Y (and Z and later Alpha). In true South Park style, we think that they will rob us of our livelihood.

Cutthroat

There is a point here. Medicine is a cutthroat business (yes I said business; more on that in a future confession). The less competition we physicians have, the better. If I’m going to maintain my market share, I need to ensure that these newbies are so inept that people would wonder if their license came in a Cracker Jack box. (Disclaimer before I get contacted by some random lawyer… I loved Cracker Jack as a child.)
So, in order to secure my superiority I will leave the students and residents to their own devices as long as no patients are harmed. I will deny their requests for review sessions and academic advice. Or complicate their matriculation process. Maybe I’ll give subpar performance appraisals and screw with their rosters a bit.
Bonus… I’ll crucify them on grand rounds, really dig into their fragile little souls…
Why are you shocked? It’s either me or them and I’m going to pull rank.

Oh, The Asininity!

Does anything sound somewhat asinine right about now? This is definitely not what mentorship is supposed to be about, right? Why would anyone want to ruin a young doctor’s livelihood and put them at risk for burnout and suicide? Which physicians will we trust to care for us and our loved ones if we’ve made them all clueless and bitter? Wouldn’t it make more sense to ensure that they are properly trained and then create a climate where they are forced to work for us?

True Mentorship

In all seriousness, true mentorship is a rewarding experience. For me, it involves a desire to impart and to empower; to uplift and celebrate instead of exploit and denigrate.
I had wonderful mentors who not only lived the path I traveled, but worked tirelessly to make that path easier for me than it was for them. That altruism alone was inspiring; after all, “That’s what we’re supposed to do as teachers, right? Inspire!”

The Evolution of Greatness

So, here’s to greatness; the greatness of those physicians who will learn from my successes and mistakes, who will take my advice and run with it, who will someday become greater than me – and make me proud doing it!