Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

What should you consider when establishing a peer-mentoring relationship?

Cassandra Fritz, MD
Education
April 23, 2019
Share
Tweet
Share

Mentorship is a common topic in medicine. We, as a profession, spend significant time discussing, attending workshops about, and researching the role of mentorship. Mentorship is key to personal development, career choice, and improved academic productivity.

Yet, it wasn’t until recently that my understanding of mentorship was challenged. I have always viewed mentorship as someone more senior than myself helping me to achieve my goals.  I have always been the mentee in such relationships. I was expecting the opportunity to mentor incredible residents during my chief resident year, but I have been truly surprised by the importance of mentor-mentee relationships with my co-chief residents. For the first time, I am recognizing the invaluable role that my peers play as my mentors. So, this made me wonder … is peer mentorship important in academic medicine?

Peer mentorship

Peer mentorship is two people at similar stages in their career mentoring one another in a reciprocal fashion to advance both careers.  It is a nonhierarchal relationship with equal commitment and accountability. These definitions perfectly sum up the relationship I have with my co-chiefs. We work together to make advancements in our program, but we have also mentored each other through personal and professional projects, emails, disagreements, fellowship applications, and research. A peer mentor is likely more relatable and can challenge you in ways that a traditional hierarchal mentor may not be able to. A peer will have a better understanding of your day-to-day successes or shortcomings and can provide a bird’s eye view on the best way to push you toward your goals.

The field of business has established the importance of a nonhierarchical mentor. A recent article in Forbes magazine defines peer mentorship as a “safe place to share difficulties or even failures … as a way to strengthen relationships among collogues and help build resiliency.” These principles hold equal importance in medicine, especially in academic medicine. So, what should one consider in establishing a peer-mentoring relationship?

1. Trust and understanding

Trust is critical for obvious reasons, but most importantly, this relationship needs to feel safe. Both people need to provide a protected environment to have open and honest dialogue about goals and career plans. You aren’t depending on your peer to give you opportunities or promotions, unlike traditional mentors. Therefore, you may feel safer in sharing your challenges and be more open to pointed feedback. In my short experience, I have found it easier to hear feedback from my peers, since they aren’t responsible for my advancement. Moreover, this relationship can provide a venue to discuss your concerns prior to taking issues to your traditional mentor.

2. Shared goals

A peer mentor does not necessarily need to be from your field. In fact, having a peer mentor outside your own field might provide better perspective. However, peer mentors must understand each other’s goals and visions and be able to understand the specific pressures within different specialties. If your peer mentor doesn’t understand your vision, he or she can’t help you correct course when necessary.

At the beginning of my chief year, our chair of medicine asked us to read Monday Morning Leadership by David Cottrell. One of the main points of this book was the importance of “keeping the main thing the main thing.” This concept seems simple, but with competing demands and time limitations, this can be hard in practice. Your peer mentor can be vital in helping remind you what your “main thing” is and how to build your body of work around your overall vision. In short, your peer mentor should understand your goals and provide accountability in your pursuits.

3. The importance of resiliency

At the end of the day, a peer mentor should be a supportive resource. Someone that knows how to help you change your viewpoint or plans as necessary. When something negative happens, your peer should be someone that can help you view challenges as opportunities. This relationship should be built on encouragement. You need someone to build you up, help you stay focused, and remind you that academic medicine is a marathon, not a sprint.

My understanding of mentorship has been expanded by my peer-mentoring experience this year. I appreciate that traditional mentorship models are important to career success, but I have come to welcome mentorship from my peers. I wonder if having an effective peer mentor is not only helpful, but is necessary to be successful in academic medicine?  Based on my experience this year, I think that it is.  Should we, as a profession, be discussing, facilitating, and researching the importance of peer mentorship and its role in retention and promotion of aspiring trainees and junior faculty?

Cassandra Fritz is an internal medicine chief resident who blogs at Insights on Residency Training, a part of NEJM Journal Watch.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Cancerversary: The most wonderful term you wish you’d never heard

April 23, 2019 Kevin 0
…
Next

The physician who is a poor conversationalist

April 23, 2019 Kevin 3
…

ADVERTISEMENT

Tagged as: Hospital-Based Medicine, Medical school, Residency

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Cancerversary: The most wonderful term you wish you’d never heard
Next Post >
The physician who is a poor conversationalist

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Cassandra Fritz, MD

  • Physicians need to acknowledge implicit bias

    Cassandra Fritz, MD
  • Are duty hour restrictions are preparing trainees for the real-world medicine?

    Cassandra Fritz, MD
  • If you are ready to become a parent, don’t let residency stop you

    Cassandra Fritz, MD

Related Posts

  • Promote a culture of medical school peer education

    Albert Jang, MD
  • Establishing trust with LGBTQIA+ patients

    Kristin Puhl, MD
  • The difference between learning medicine and doing medicine

    Steven Zhang, MD
  • From online education to frontline medicine

    Diana Ioana Rapolti, Deepika Khanna, Vivian Jin, and Shikha Jain, MD
  • Medicine won’t keep you warm at night

    Anonymous
  • Delivering unpalatable truths in medicine

    Samantha Cheng

More in Education

  • Graduating from medical school without family: a story of strength and survival

    Anonymous
  • 2 hours to decide my future: How the SOAP residency match traps future doctors

    Nicolette V. S. Sewall, MD, MPH
  • What led me from nurse practitioner to medical school

    Sarah White, APRN
  • Bridging the rural surgical care gap with rotating health care teams

    Ankit Jain
  • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

    Hiba Fatima Hamid
  • The hidden cost of becoming a doctor: a South Asian perspective

    Momeina Aslam
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • 2 hours to decide my future: How the SOAP residency match traps future doctors

      Nicolette V. S. Sewall, MD, MPH | Education
    • Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

      Steven J. Katz, DDS | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • In a fractured world, Brian Wilson’s message still heals

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Physician
    • When your dream job becomes a nightmare [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How doctors took back control from hospital executives

      Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

      M. Bennet Broner, PhD | Conditions
    • My journey from misdiagnosis to living fully with APBD

      Jeff Cooper | Conditions
    • Why we fear being forgotten more than death itself

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • When your dream job becomes a nightmare [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Finding healing in narrative medicine: When words replace silence

      Michele Luckenbaugh | Conditions
    • Why coaching is not a substitute for psychotherapy

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • When the white coats become gatekeepers: How a quiet cartel strangles America’s health

      Anonymous | Physician
    • Why doctors stay silent about preventable harm

      Jenny Shields, PhD | Conditions
    • Why interoperability is key to achieving the quintuple aim in health care

      Steven Lane, MD | Tech

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • 2 hours to decide my future: How the SOAP residency match traps future doctors

      Nicolette V. S. Sewall, MD, MPH | Education
    • Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

      Steven J. Katz, DDS | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • In a fractured world, Brian Wilson’s message still heals

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Physician
    • When your dream job becomes a nightmare [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How doctors took back control from hospital executives

      Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

      M. Bennet Broner, PhD | Conditions
    • My journey from misdiagnosis to living fully with APBD

      Jeff Cooper | Conditions
    • Why we fear being forgotten more than death itself

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • When your dream job becomes a nightmare [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Finding healing in narrative medicine: When words replace silence

      Michele Luckenbaugh | Conditions
    • Why coaching is not a substitute for psychotherapy

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • When the white coats become gatekeepers: How a quiet cartel strangles America’s health

      Anonymous | Physician
    • Why doctors stay silent about preventable harm

      Jenny Shields, PhD | Conditions
    • Why interoperability is key to achieving the quintuple aim in health care

      Steven Lane, MD | Tech

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...