Mentors constantly needed for ophthalmologists
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Mentors are critically important to every physician as they learn the art and science of medical practice.
A mentor befriends, teaches, nurtures and provides opportunity/patronage for their mentees, enhancing personal and professional growth. Beyond professional skills and knowledge, the ideal mentor strengthens character, resilience and the mentee’s overall well-being.
The simple definition from Wikipedia of a mentor is “someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person.” The word “mentor” comes from the writings of the famous Greek poet Homer in the eighth or seventh century B.C., so mentoring is nothing new. Medical training resembles in many ways an apprenticeship in which a master skilled in a trade or profession working side by side with an apprentice over a number of years transfers a set of skills and knowledge that allow the apprentice to independently practice a specialized trade.
In centuries past, when certified by a master, an apprentice could officially join a guild and practice the art and science of their chosen trade independently. In ophthalmology, the mentor is a master surgeon/clinician, the apprenticeship is internship, residency and fellowship, while the guild is represented by the American Board of Ophthalmology and our professional societies such as the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
None of us prosper in our chosen profession or personal life without the influence of mentors.
Now, a few personal thoughts. My first mentors were my parents. My mother taught me to be “Minnesota nice,” and my father mentored me to be honest and direct, work hard and pursue excellence in every activity. Then, teachers and coaches, starting in grade school and continuing through college, added to and enriched that cultural base. However, for me, it was not until medical school, internship, residency and fellowship training that mentorship became the bedrock of my professional and personal growth.
In my opinion, physicians and surgeons more than most require lifelong mentorship and patronage to excel and prosper. Very few mentors are lifelong, as one’s personal and professional life continually matures and changes, requiring new mentors with different knowledge and skills.
At age 77, 55 years after I began my medical training, my life continues to be enriched by both old and new mentors. Learning is a lifelong requirement for every ophthalmologist, and as we travel through life, old mentors are like gold, but new mentors are continuously required.
Mentees with age and experience often transition to being mentors, and the so-called paradox of giving that teaches “the more you give, the more you get” is especially true for those who take the time to mentor others.
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