1. Dr Catherine Louise Murphy, Dr Katie Au and Dr Gopinath Ranjith
A PILOT NEAR/PEER MENTORING SCHEME FOR FOUNDATION DOCTORS IN PSYCHIATRY
Dr Catherine Louise Murphy, Dr Katie Au and Dr Gopinath Ranjith
Contact details: Dr Catherine Louise Murphy
Introduction
The Broadening the Foundation Programme Report 2014 will result in 45% of foundation doctors experiencing a psychiatry placement from August It is known that foundation doctors have concerns about psychiatry placements and factors cited for this include isolation from peers, the unfamiliarity of the environment and the perceived loss of clinical skills.
We have implemented a near/peer mentoring scheme specifically for foundation doctors in psychiatry to help them maximise their experience, address concerns they may have about their placement and to ensure a high quality training environment.
Aims
To evaluate the mentees and mentors experiences of participating in a mentoring scheme for foundation doctors in psychiatry.
Methods
Results
We recruited trainees in psychiatry who had mentoring experience to act as mentors.
We recruited foundation doctor mentees at their induction and provided written and verbal information about the scheme.
We matched mentees and mentors, who were contracted to meet five times during the pilot.
We designed pre- and post- pilot questionnaires. Mentees completed this questionnaire at induction.
We offered supervision to the mentors.
14 out of 17 foundation doctors joined the scheme and were matched with mentors in April The pilot ran for 4 months and we evaluated the scheme by sending questionnaires to both the mentors and mentees.
Reasons given by foundation doctors for joining this mentoring scheme:
“Felt like a good idea to have peer support“
“Got told about it on induction day and couldn't really say no”
“Offered at induction”
“I was interested to discuss with a senior colleague re career plans, work/life balance etc.”
“I want to apply for psychiatry CT”
“Help with applications”
“Felt like a good idea to have peer support”
Expectation from foundation doctor on joining the scheme:
“Get insider knowledge for what being a
psychiatry trainee was like”
“Informal support from a peer during the programme”
“Contact, support and advice”
“Help with applications”
“Realistic advice about the job”
“ Informal support from a peer during the programme”
Results from Mentee Questionnaire
What reasons did mentors give for joining the scheme?
“Having been a mentee in the past, I felt strongly that it was helpful and wanted to offer this to others as a mentor. I am involved in medical education of foundation doctors and wanted to extend this further”
“I have mentored previously and found it enjoyable. Also good for CV”
“As a mentee myself and with an interest in teaching, I thought that it would be a positive experience to offer mentorship in a more formal way than I have before”
“Good experience with local mentoring scheme”
“I'm passionate about getting others if not interested in psychiatry, at least helping them to feel comfortable with the specialty and its unique patient group”
“interested to help and increase recruitment into psychiatry”
“Feel passionate about psychiatry, help FY1 doctor feel they have had a supported and good experience of their rotation and chooses psychiatry as a specialty. Enjoyable.”
Are you, or have you already been involved in mentoring elsewhere?
No - 80%
Yes- 10%
Have been a mentor elsewhere
Yes 10%
Have been a mentee elsewhere
How many times did you meet your mentor in the last 4 months?
Zero – 20%
Once – 60%
Five -20%
If the relationship ended early (before July) can you pick the reason(s) why?
The mentor did not make contact with me – 0%
I was unable to contact the mentor -0%
I did not want to continue the mentoring relationship -100%
Reasons given:
“I had nothing I felt I needed mentoring for”
“No suitable meeting time found”
“As above - have no interest in a career in psych and felt competent to manage in my role without need of mentoring.”
If you ended the mentoring relationship early can you tick which boxes are
applicable with regards to this choice
N/A - 100%
I did not find the relationship helpful - 0%
It was not useful to my current job in psychiatry -0%
I did understand the purpose of the mentoring relationship -0%
It was overly focussed on psychiatry/ a career in psychiatry – 0%
Which of the following subjects did you discuss during your mentoring sessions?
Career development - 100%
Accessing learning opportunities – 40%
Work-life balance – 60%
Postgraduate exams – 60%
Career uncertainty
40%
Of those subjects you discussed, how helpful did you find the mentoring in
understanding and resolving these issues?
Career development - Neutral 40%
- Helpful 40%
- Very unhelpful 20%
Accessing learning opportunities
- Neutral 25%
- Very unhelpful 25%
- N/A 50%
Work life balance
- Helpful 50%
Postgraduate exams
- Helpful 25%
- N/A 25%
How useful have you found this scheme
Not useful at all – 0%
Not very useful - 20%
Neutral - 40%
Somewhat
Useful -20%
Very useful - 20%
What did the mentor do well?
“Proactive in arranging a time to meet, good, friendly and approachable”
Friendly, approachable
Made early contact
Very keen to meet up, accessible. Made time to conduct a mock interview with me.
How could the mentor improve?
“Meet more times?”
Would you recommend this scheme to a peer
YES 75% NO 25%
Challenges for mentors:
Not to overly focus on psychiatry
Making it relevant and specific to foundation doctors
Time management
Maintaining early and consistent contact with mentees.
Challenges for mentees:
Understanding what a mentoring relationship is
Identifying what they want to achieve in the psychiatry post with support from mentor
Challenges for scheme organisers
Providing adequate training and supervision for mentors
Ensuring the remit of the scheme is clear and it Is not perceived as ‘woolly or fuzzy’
Discussion
Challenges encountered have included ensuring that the mentoring relationship is seen as beneficial even if the foundation doctor mentee is not planning a career in psychiatry and ensuring continuing commitment to the scheme.
Changes to the Scheme August 2015
Sessions at induction for foundation doctors to explain the scheme in detail to aid understanding of the role of mentoring
‘Opt in’ scheme for foundation doctors
Improving training for mentors/use of more experienced mentors for the scheme
Supervision groups for mentors in the scheme