Role of mentoring in developing communication skills I welcome you all to this episode on the role of mentoring across the health professions, which is one of the much discussed topics. Mentoring is not a new concept. It is known to mankind from ages.Several great leaders in the historyhad been mentored by their Gurus who were venerated asrole models. The great emperor Chandragupta Maurya was mentored by Chanakya, also called as Kautilya who wrote the legendary work Arthasastra. All of us know that Swami Vivekananda was mentored by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a great spiritual seer. Our ancient Indian medical education was heavily relied on the mentor-mentee relationship aptly described as Guru-Shishyaparampara, which ran for centuries, but faded away with times. When the formal system of medical education took a strong foothold, mentoring got diluted and almost disappeared. Today, I am going to discuss with you certain nodal attributes of mentoring thereby striving to answer a few questions which might be lingering in your minds about this key issue. • Why mentoring is considered important in the present age of health profession education? • What are the qualities of an effective mentor? • What are the specific mentoring needs of undergraduates, postgraduates and faculty members? • Towards the end, I shall try to give you a few practical tips and take away home message for enabling you to move forward. Why mentoring is needed? As you are aware, realisinga successful career is a long and tedious journey. One has to pass through several milestones, such as under-graduation, internship, post-graduationandspecialization as a practitioner, consultant, researcher or administrator. However, your journey can be made much smoother and enjoyable if you get a good mentor, akin to alike mindedco-traveller. The ‘starting trouble’ in the journey of a medico is quite but natural. The student is immersed totally in a different environment, new school, new friends, new faculty and a new curriculum with a huge burden of biomedical information looming large. Tests and exams roll out at regular intervals, thus couldbecome a nightmare, even for the most discerning students. When a medico passes through the grills of post-graduation, there are even more challenges. How to pursue speciality training, how to present a seminar or a journal club, how to pursue a research project and write a dissertation? Again, one has to depend a lot on a seniorcolleague who can handhold the PG in the right direction. When the resident moves on to the position of a faculty member, new challenges appear. How to become an effective teacher, a competent clinician or a research supervisor to excel amidst stiff competition? Don’t’ think that mentoring is needed only for juniors and students. It is needed equally for the seniors. Because, a lot of changes would have taken place since persons like me pursued medicine long back. A revolution in the technology which started during last few decades has reached greater heights in the form of online teaching, for which we have to be prepared. The only way to catch up with the latest trend and the changing scenario is to fall back on someone who can help us to move forward. Unfortunately, most of the higher education institutes in Indiaare neither prepared nor equipped to address the issue of mentorship. When I discussed with my colleague at the Centre for Health Professions education, a constituent centre of SBV we found very little information about mentoring. This prompted us to devote a chapter on mentoring as revealed in our latest book on “Effective Medical Communication: A, B, C, D, E of it” (Parija&Adkoli), published by Springer. From this chapter, let me narrate a story of a medical student one Miss Comini, who had to face a lot of challenges to come out successfully with the help of mentoring. Miss Cominiwas ashy and modest girl, hailing from a remote village. She got admitted to a metropolitan medical college. For the first time in her life she had migrated to a new place and was subjected to hostel life with all strangers coming from different backgrounds. She was almost fainting while entering the anatomy dissection hall, with full of cadavers and specimens. Her classmates gave her a strange look at her food habits, clothing, and language, which were totally different. Comini became home sick and almost felt like running away from the campus. Soon there was an announcement from the Dean that every MBBS student would be allotted a mentor from among the faculty. The mentor was expected to spend time with the mentee to cope up with the studies and address other issues. This was a turning point for Comini. One Dr DM, an endocrinologist was allocated as the mentor to Comini. DM was initially hesitant to help Comini because he was busy with his research project related to the iron deficiency among the tribal community. However, looking at the Comini's background, he thought one day, this girl might help him in collecting data, from the community for his research. Thus a mentoring process started and took off quickly. Dr DM not only helped Comini in overcoming her ‘inferiority complex’ but encouraged her to submit a student research project, which was approved by the funding agency in the first attempt itself. After that, there was no looking back for Comini. She finished her graduation with a gold medal, got a postgraduate seat in the same institute and ultimately appointed as a faculty member in the same college. All this was possible because of mentoring which came in time. Attributes of a good mentor Mentoring is a two-way dynamic process in which the mentor and the mentee enter into a reciprocal relationship. This relationship is marked by mutual trust, respect and shared the vision of objectives. It lasts for a long time and both parties get the benefit. The mentor is more than a teacher or a coach. He is a guide, confidante and counsellor who contributes to mentee’s professional as well as personal growth. Should the mentor be a subject expert? Not really. He or She should be a facilitator. He should have the skill to lead the mentee to acquire such expertise. The mentor should be a friend, guide and a philosopher. Friend, because, he has to respond to the needs of the mentee. Guide, because he has to guide the mentee towards reaching the greater heights; Philosopher, becausehe should lead the mentee to discover the truth. Mentoring does not require a specific venue. It can take place informally in the corridor, canteen or home. Informal mentoring can result in a long-lasting and rewarding experience. This is because of the autonomy and flexibility involved in the process. Successful mentoring requires understanding, adjustment and at times, sacrifice on the part of both. For example, mentor and mentee may come from a different culture and may have a different lifestyle altogether. If they can accept these differences, nothing can stop them from coming closer. An attitude of ‘giving and taking' and a spirit of collaboration rather than competition is what is needed in a good mentoring. Problems and pitfalls How effective is the mentoring practised in medical colleges in India? It is a difficult question to answer. Many times mentoring is done on paper, not in true spirit. Mentor-Mentees are notified without consulting the preference of either.Nothing moves till the previous day of the exam when mentee comes to obtain mentors signature which is a mandatory requirement for writing the exam. On mentors part, they are too busy with their multiple tasks assigned to them. They think it is an additional ‘burden’. We need to look at these issues and find suitable remedies. Mentoring needs at various stages Mentoring in fact,isneeded for students even before entering medical schools. It is necessary to organise a sensitization program for all the aspirants of medical colleges as a prelude to their admission. Such a program can help the aspirants about what to expect from medical schools and what preparations are required for entering into a medical career. During Undergraduate training The new curriculum recommended by the MCI provides for a strong foundation course. This is ideal time to address the initial adjustment problems of freshers. In addition to issues such as food, accommodation, etc., it is necessary to address language and cultural issues to make them comfortable. Mentoring should also support acquisition of IT, language , and study skills. A well-designed test for identifying the learner's style of learning, ability and aptitude will go a long way in identifying mentee’s needs. Many hidden talents,come to the surface with proper assessment. Some medical schools also administer a questionnaire called Visual, Aural, Reading and Kinaesthetic(VARK)Questionnaire to identify the preferred learning style of the learner. This will help the mentor to guide the mentee to deploy a preferred style for better learning. Undergraduate mentoring can be considered as a foundation stage for building a long term ‘mentor-mentee relationship’. During Postgraduate training The problems faced by postgraduate students are how to develop clinical skills and acquire research skills such as writing a research protocol, review of literature, research design, tool development, data collection, analysis and reporting in the form of a dissertation. Skills pertaining to the Journal Clubs, seminars, presenting posters or papers during national and international conferences should also form a part of mentoring. While shifting to Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME), oneof the key features is a day -to- day interaction with the mentor, by means of an e-portfolio. Mentor can guide the resident in acquiring research and publication skills and monitor the progress of PG Dissertation. Besides, both can develop a partnership in learning IT skills, web-surfing, information retrieval, application of biostatistics and cutting edge technologies like data mining, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and machine language. During Faculty Development The faculty members who have access to mentoring by eminent professionals have a better chance of success in their professional development. The mentoring relationship at this stage will be somewhat different. The mentor and the mentee become more of collaborators or partners in progress. Mentoring, therefore, leads to mutual benefit. Entering into collaborative projects and networking with various departments, institutes and professions will be a part of the mentoring process at this level. With the obsolescence of knowledge and stiff competition for survival, senior mentors need young mentees to assist them in adopting new technologies. Hence mentor-mentee is a win-win situation, and it is not ‘one-way traffic’. Practical tips to start mentoring First of all, the medical colleges should sensitize and train the faculty across the board to become effective mentors. Such a program should cover feedback skills, and motivational techniques and the appropriate use of digital technologies. Secondly, I recommend the mentoring arrangements to be done on mutual agreement basis rather than compulsion. Thirdly, the institute should provide proper ambience and logistics support for mentoring. Finally, what we need is a culture of feedback and monitoring at each stage, to fix up the problem, remove the hurdles and move on. The future of mentoring will be enabled by the availability of smart devices and technologies which make virtual mentoring a reality. However, the core issues of mentoring viz., offering a helping hand combined with head and heart will continue forever, irrespective of the changing time and expanding space. In Conclusion • Mentoring is a practical and effective solution to bring about transformative learning. • Mentors are not born . They are made. Mentoring can be learnt. • While formal approaches are much needed to lay a foundation, the informalapproaches can contribute to a long enduring relationship. • Mentoring should be organized as per the stage specific needs of mentees. • The mission requires cooperation and active role on part of all stakeholders. “Mentoring is the most enriching experience for both mentor and mentee, for a professional career, lifetime”- Parija and Adkoli Parija SC., Adkoli BV.Role ofMentoring in Developing Communication Skills. In: ParijaSC. Adkoli BV. (Eds). Effective Medical Communication: A, B, C, D, E of it. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd., 2020 ISBN 978-981-15-3409-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3409-6