Welcome to our Mentee Dashboard.
Below you will find a more information about mentoring and how you can make the most of your experiences as a Mentee. If you are looking for a list of schemes you may be able to join, click here.
If you have any questions which are not answered here, please get in touch at england.mentoring.eoe@nhs.net for more information.
Top tips for mentees...
- Be honest and open - mentors are a non-judgmental listening ear
- Be proactive - decide what you want from the mentoring relationship; utilize a shared agenda (what do you want to discuss, length, nature, and frequency of meetings, etc.)
- Be forward thinking - think beyond your current issues, what are your longer-term aspirations?
- Be open-minded - challenge your ideas and mindsets
- Be reliable - try to stick to the plan, be kind, courteous, and communicate.
Why get involved in Mentoring?
- There are many ways you can benefit from being a mentee. These include:
- Access to a non-judgmental listening ear
- An opportunity to discuss problems or challenges and formulate solutions
- Increasing your knowledge and skills
- Developing a structured approach to solving problems
- Improving your work performance
- Gaining a new perspective and new insight
- Increasing your self-confidence
- Improving your interpersonal skills
- Developing a positive attitude to change and challenge
- Building a reflective approach to your own practice
- Personal development
- Evaluating your career options
- A supportive environment
If you want to understand more about the process of mentoring and how you can make the most of it as a Mentee, you may like to check out this free e-learning module available on e-Learning for Healthcare:
You can find more links to external resources here
Commonly asked questions...
Educational Supervisors may use mentoring skills but there are important differences between a Mentor and an Educational Supervisor. An Educational Supervisor has a role in assessing their trainees and recommending whether they should progress. This means that by definition they cannot be completely non-judgmental, and therefore trainees may not feel completely comfortable discussing all of their concerns with their Educational Supervisor.
Educational Supervisors will often have their own agenda when meeting a trainee. This may relate to the curriculum, their perception of the trainee's progress and areas of weakness, or the needs of the clinical service.
In a mentoring relationship, the agenda is set by the mentee and the discussion focuses on a topic that the mentee would like to address.
No. Everyone can benefit from mentoring. In "Duties of a Doctor", the GMC states that:
"You should be willing to take part in a mentoring scheme offered by your employer."
Mentoring can help with all trainees' personal development and allow everyone to reach their full potential. It can help a good trainee to excel. As Atul Gawande explains in his article "The Coach in the Operating Room" (full text here)
"Even Rafael Nadal has a coach. Nearly every élite tennis player in the world does. Professional athletes use coaches to make sure they are as good as they can be."
There is no reason that doctors should be any different!
In the East of England the Professional Support and Wellbeing Service (PSW) is an extra layer of support for trainees. There are many different reasons that trainees might be put in contact with the PSW including experiencing a significant period of ill health, personal life events such as bereavement, and difficulty in passing exams. For a further, yet not an exhaustive list, click here.
It’s important to be aware of the role of the PSW and what support they can provide if you should need it. A list of frequently asked questions can be found here.
If you believe that you require support from the PSW please arrange to see your educational supervisor who can discuss your concerns and refer you if required.
Exams can be a source of stress and difficulty for trainees. If, like many others, you have failed a part of your postgraduate exams more than twice you are able to self-refer to the PSW for a series of informative exam coaching sessions. The self-referral form is located here.