Unintentional Mentors

Unintentional Mentors Medicine has a long tradition of mentorship. Mentor-mentee relationships have been known to enrich the lives of both mentors and mentees, further maturing the mentors at one end and developing the mentees at the other. However this is not so common today as one would have wished. It takes a strong desire on the part of the mentor because it the hard work and not an obligatory part of one's duties. It needs a matching of the wavelengths of the mentor and mentee, which does not happen with every batch of students. It also needs a strong wish on the part of the mentee to be molded into perfection by the mentor. Not all persons can accept such a control from anyone. The mentor has to be willing to let go when his job is done. Perhaps it is a good thing that there are teachers and students rather than mentors and mentees. That at least ensures that the training of the students is more or less standard. One can just imagine the lot of a mentee if the mentor passes on a lot of his undesirable traits to the mentee, however unintentionally. Mentor-mentee relationship is a conscious relationship. Both are aware of the interactions. Both are willing to be involved. Both enjoy it. Who benefits more is a debatable question. The mentee becomes a fully qualified professional at the end of it, and owes a lot of it to the mentor. The mentor gets the satisfaction of not only having done something good but also of having created something worthwhile. The feeling is somewhat akin to having a baby . But a majority of the students learn partly from their teachers and partly by themselves. learning by oneself involves a lot of reading and some observation of others at work. This is where the unintentional mentors come in. The concept of unintentional mentors is opposite of conventional mentors. These persons are in the position of teachers. They often hold responsible positions. They usually a lack the devotion and energy required to be good mentors. They almost never try to be mentors. They possess some, sometimes quite a lot of behavioral traits which a would be mentee would do well not to pick up. These persons occupy important positions so that their actions affect a lot of people often adversely. A large majority of the affected people express dissatisfaction, frustration, and sometimes anger in response to the actions of such persons in power. There is a small group of affected people that actually derives benefit from such actions. It is true that the too suffer like the others. But they notice the wrongful actions, remember these actions in a positive way, and meticulously avoid repeating them when they themselves occupy positions of power. They are the mentees of those unintentional mentors. A conventional mentor teaches the mentee to do the right thing and avoid doing the wrong thing. An unintentional mentor does the wrong thing which an observant mentee notices and trains himself not to do it. It takes no effort on the part of the unintentional mentor in this relationship. In fact, he is unaware of the relationship. The mentee needs to be sensitive and a wise enough to find of what was done that should not have been done. He needs to be able to get above the emotions that arise from the unintentional mentor's action so that he can mold himself not to behave in a similar manner when in a position to do so. He needs to be conscientious enough to stop himself from erring when the time comes. Perhaps it would be to much to ask there be no people who are unintentional mentors, but it is quite reasonable to pray one can rise if the label of an able mentor. It is perhaps wishful thinking that one will find a mentor of one's dreams, but it is possible to develop oneself by watching unintentional mentors, and about all it is quite possible to see that one does not become an unintentional mentor oneself.

Making of a Medical Teacher

Making Of A Medical Teacher Why does one become a teacher? I know some who became teachers because they loved it. I also know some who did so because it was a job, just like any other job, a means to making a living. After all, there is no rule that one has to find a vocation of one’s liking. How does one become a teacher? No matter what the driving force behind, certain qualifications must be obtained and a certain procedure must be followed for becoming a teacher. To become a school teacher, one has to get a bachelor’s degree in a Science or Arts subject, followed by at least a B.Ed. or D.Ed. To become a college teacher, one has to get a master’s degree in a Science, Arts or Commerce subject, followed by M.Phil. and Ph.D. If the education department is so particular about the training and qualifications of teachers who teach in schools and Science, Arts or Commerce colleges, one would expect much more stringent criteria for becoming a medical teacher. However, in contrast to school and college teachers, doctors become medical teachers as a beneficial side effect of getting a clinician’s job in a medical college hospital. Perhaps that is so because with an educational methodology degree as a prerequisite, very few doctors would have opted for becoming teachers, and the medical colleges would have a hard time finding faculty. I remember how I was initiated to teaching. I had just finished two house-posts in Obstetrics and Gynecology and become a Registrar. One fine morning my Boss said, “Shashank, I have to go for an urgent cesarean section in my private nursing home. Take my lecture for the undergraduates at 12.00 non. The topic is normal labor. You should not have any problem teaching that. I had no option. There was no time to plan and prepare the content, no time to prepare teaching aids like overhead transparencies or slides, and no time even to think much about it. This was somewhat akin to pushing someone into deep water as the first lesson in swimming. Luckily for me I turned out be a natural (perhaps not a terrific one, but definitely a natural). The students apparently liked my teaching, and the news reached my Boss. I was entrusted with the responsibility of taking all the remaining lectures of my Boss. I did that and loved it too. I must thank my Boss for making me a teacher. But is this scientific? We know that a person who has passed the M.B.B.S. examination has at least 50% marks in each subject. Then he becomes a resident doctor, and in his third year of residency, without a postgraduate qualification and without any training in teaching methodology, he becomes a medical teacher. If you don’t believe this, check out the post-holding certificate of any resident. It states that the third year posts are teaching posts. After obtaining a postgraduate degree, if one is lucky and desirous, one lands a Lecturer’s job. The prerequisites for the job are a postgraduate degree and certain teaching experience as a resident, but no degree or diploma in teaching methodology. This should appear to be highly irregular to anyone, especially to the education department, the medical council and the university. The job entails training future doctors who are going to give health care to people. If any deficiencies are left in their education, the consequences could be catastrophic. Apparently no one seems to mind, or if they do, they are turning a blind eye to it. After all, things have been done this way for ever, and if the system seems to be working, why change it? Perhaps it was noticed by the medical council. As an afterthought, it was suggested that the medical teachers attend a workshop conducted by ’medical education technology cell’ of the institute, if it has one. If not, they may attend it wherever possible. This is not obligatory. The courses are rather brief, lasting for a week or less. There is a hefty course fee to be paid, a few sessions to be attended, pre- and post-tests (which are not for evaluation of the candidates’ performance anyway), and a valedictory function at which participation certificates are handed out. In less than one week’s part-time training, one becomes a trained medical teacher. Some of the participants keep running away to see a patient or do a case. Still they get the certificate. A colleague of mine once attended a two-day workshop in which I was faculty. She attended on the first day, did not attend on the second day (saying it was all very s****d), but did get the certificate. She could become faculty for future courses of this nature. The point is that the methods used for training doctors to be teachers for undergraduate and postgraduate medical students leave much to be desired. The teachers are responsible not only for training the students, but also for their evaluation. Senior members of the teaching staff participate in development of curricula. One wonders how effective they will be in carrying out these duties without adequate scientific training.