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I completed a bachelor’s degree in business management during my undergraduate years at Loyola College in Maryland. Medicine was not yet my passion in life so most of my courses revolved around core and specialized business courses.
In one seminar course, Power and Influence, we read and discussed case studies from Harvard Business School. One such case study was titled, “Beyond the Myth of the Perfect Mentor.” The authors’ focus on guidelines for fostering what they describe as “developmental relationships.”
Ten years later, I refer to the lessons learned in its text. Here I will discuss three of those ideas as they pertain to physician assistant (PA) practice.
Mentor-protégé relationship
Do not look for one mentor-protégé relationship to carry you through the course of your career. Rarely, outside of literature, do perfect mentors exist. In fact, the word mentor finds it origins from Homer’s Odyssey. Mentor was a nobleman who helped raise Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, as his father was away fighting the Trojan War. The authors of this Harvard Case Study challenge its readers to move away from the idea that career satisfaction and success are derived from having a perfect mentor, “which is difficult to establish and maintain.” Instead, it calls on us to be a “’perfect protégé”. The parallels to PA training and development are clear.
Daniel J. Acevedo
A PA will interact with countless providers throughout his or her career. Like many PAs, I have had many mentors and I continue to cultivate these relationships. These relationships serve professional and psychosocial functions. My first mentor, who I refer to as my orthopedic father, taught me how to examine a patient, give a joint injection, write a proper office note, interpret radiographs, and assist in the operating room (OR). He also taught me that integrity and honesty are as important to practicing medicine as clinical knowledge.
The potential mentor and protégé are also individuals with unique personalities. The idea of the perfect mentor, besides fulfilling professional and personal criteria, requires chemistry between the two parties. This is not necessarily true in the real world and in clinical practice. The practicing PA does not need to have rapport with every collaborating physician or fellow PA. Each provider with more experience, varied training and a valuable point of view is a potential mentor in a PA’s clinical practice, regardless of their personality.
Develop relationships
Recognize opportunities to establish developmental relationships and reach out to prospective partners. I have always believed that a large portion of success is making the most of an opportunity. Physician assistants throughout their career will collaborate with physicians and fellow PAs who have trained in a multitude of hospitals in various cities. These potential mentors represent various academic backgrounds with unique skill sets.
If you are interested in research seek out the attending that has published or holds a teaching position. Want to learn on the field management of acute sports injuries? Spend time with your colleague who was an athletic trainer before PA school or the primary care sports medicine physician in your practice or hospital. Eager to learn the basics of total joint arthroplasty? Find the surgeon with the largest volume of total knees and hips and spend time in the OR with him or her. First and second assist whenever you can. Follow their patients throughout their hospital course. Ask questions and show an interest in their passions. To paraphrase Dale Carnegie, “Interested is interesting.”
I have been lucky enough to learn suturing, knot tying, and gentle handling of tissues from general surgeons. My subcuticular closures have been critiqued by plastic surgeons. Anesthesiologists have reviewed my preoperative H and Ps and given helpful feedback. I was not correct every single time and errors happen, but I learned from each mistake. All of these teaching moments are an opportunity to be a “perfect” protégé and I encourage PAs to seek out these opportunities.
Be realistic
Be realistic about developmental relationships. Throughout my career, I have had many mentor-protégé interactions. Again, these relationships traditionally serve a career and psychosocial function. We have to move away from this paradigm to take advantage of teachable moments. Mentors, like our collaborating physicians and senior PAs, are neither omnipresent nor omnipotent.
One mentor may coach you, teaching and providing feedback. He or she may also be your friend, providing you a bond beyond work. Another may challenge you, giving you opportunities to test your knowledge and grow as a practitioner. This person may also be your role model, offering a moral and ethical compass to how to practice medicine and grow as a human being. We cannot not depend on a single mentor to fulfill all of these personal and professional needs.
The practicing PA must be adaptable and constantly learn. A phrase I like to espouse is, “Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own.” While this is has many applications to our lives, it also rings true for PAs in clinical practice. Due to our academic training and our skill sets, we are not required to complete residency or post graduate training. This behooves the practicing PA to constantly learn and update his or her knowledge. We must ask questions, maintain a curious mind and take up that call to be lifelong learners. Whether in her first year or 20th year of clinical practice, PAs are constantly evolving and meeting the demands of the modern healthcare environment.
Reference:
Hill L, et al. Beyond the Myth of the Perfect Mentor: Building a Network of Developmental Relationships. Harvard Business School. 1991;9-491-096
Lee B. Wisdom for the Way. Black Belt Communications; 2009
Daniel J. Acevedo, PA-C, is a board-certified physician assistant who practices at the Orthopaedic Center of Central Virginia in Lynchburg, Va. His research interests include physician assistant education and precepting, osteoarthritis, and periprosthetic joint infections.
Disclosure: Acevedo reports no relevant financial disclosures.