Navigating the transition from mentee to mentor

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As an early career veterinarian, the vivid memories of stress and fear while beginning clinical practice are still on my mind. After a few years of practice and guidance from my own mentors, my comfort managing challenging cases has increased significantly. I have been able to start passing some of that experience I gained along to our externship students and new graduates. As I have begun moving into a position of teaching and mentoring, there are a few principles that I have upheld to create a safe space to facilitate clinical case-based teaching, professional development, and confidence building.

Setting clear expectations for the mentor-mentee relationship

Like many other aspects of medicine, mentorship strategies and goals are not one-size-fits-all and must be made on a case-by-case basis. Starting an open conversation with your mentee to determine areas of strength and where they wish to grow to help you guide them in the right direction. Similarly, it is crucial to be honest about what your limitations are. If you are still struggling with certain parts of medicine, let your mentee know and work with them to find the proper resources to answer their questions or gain experience.

Determining what level of mentorship your mentee wants is important to establishing a successful relationship. Do they want to just shadow you until they feel more confident, do they want to round with you on every case but handle the cases independently, or do they want you to be more hands off and be there for support when needed? As the relationship matures, it is important to commit to a regular bi-weekly or monthly check in with them to ensure they feel supported and evolve the level of mentorship with their needs.

Maintain a growth mindset

In my opinion, we are very fortunate to be in a demanding field that reminds us every day that we do not know everything and are always learning. From our patients to clients, there is always a new obstacle to overcome. I use these opportunities to be vulnerable and open with the mentee to demonstrate to them that not only is it okay to not know everything, but it is normal! Once you become the clinician answering the questions rather than asking them, it is very easy to get a false sense of confidence. It is imperative to continue reading journals, textbooks, and attending continuing education opportunities to continue your own professional growth. As you continue to grow your own library of resources and information, you will be able to share them with your mentee.

Be supportive, and remind them to trust themselves

Recently being in their shoes, it is very easy for me to empathize with my mentees as they navigate their first stressful cases. Whether it is your first dog in a diabetic crisis, cat in heart failure, or bleeding pedicle, all these difficult situations add grey hairs to your head.

So much of providing mentorship to early career veterinarians is not just telling them what to do but supporting their thinking process and guiding them to the right resources to work through their cases. Having a calm, supportive mentor can really help them get through these situations. By reminding them to rely on their training and to trust but verify themselves they can think through the problem, and you can help them build their self-confidence. It is crucial to maintain close communication with them during these situations to ensure they don't feel abandoned and to be able to immediately step in or provide oversight if they become overwhelmed. In cases when the outcome is less than ideal, take time to debrief the case with your mentee. Discuss with them what went wrong, and how to potentially change case management strategies in the future to obtain better outcomes.

In conclusion

Good mentorship is vital to practice health and development of novice and veteran practitioners alike. We all share the responsibility of guiding the new classes of veterinarians into practice.

Kidd is a 2021 graduate of The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. He is currently a general practitioner of small animal medicine and surgery in Knoxville TN. He takes special interest in: mentorship and training, professional communication, internal medicine, and soft tissue surgery.