Mentorship: An essential key to growth and success

Dr. Jennifer Lawton, president of WTS, acknowledges that everyone needs mentoring, but urges that "mentoring of women and minorities is particularly important in order to take advantage of the vast array of benefits to be gained by ethnic, racial, and gender diversity in the workplace."

She continues: "If we don’t see others successful in a chosen field, we do not perceive the goal attainable for ourselves. I have seen this many times in cardiothoracic surgery and women. Women who are not exposed to female mentors have expressed concern that practice in the field is not possible for women (especially those who aspire to have a family)." And, further, she explains that "we are typically more comfortable in mentoring situations with others like ourselves (similar challenges, needs, concerns). Surveys demonstrate that medical students often choose fields of interest because of mentors. For these reasons, it is important for individuals to find mentors who are similar to themselves."

Additional formal mentoring programs exist, and include the Brooks Scholarship through the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association (STSA), the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Looking to the Future scholarship program, the AATS Member for a Day program, and more.

Exactly what should one hope to get out of a mentorship relationship? The truth is, it really depends on the stage of career and the specific needs of the mentee. Mentorship needs change over time, and even well-established mentoring relationships will evolve and adjust along with participants in the interaction.

Sarah Schubert is a fourth-year medical student at Penn State, who has matched into the I-6 program at the University of Virginia and is the current recipient of the Scanlan/WTS scholarship. This award provides trainees with an opportunity to gain exposure to women cardiothoracic surgeon mentors by visiting a WTS member for an elective period. Ms. Schubert reports that she applied for the scholarship because she "wanted to work with and learn from a highly successful female cardiac surgeon in hopes of initiating and developing a professional relationship with a woman in the field."

As a medical student, she has fairly basic mentorship needs. She tells us that "right now, I need mentors who can serve as good role models – in the OR, with patients, with colleagues and trainees, and in their personal lives outside the hospital. As I prepare to enter residency, I anticipate that I will need to further develop my patient care skills and operative techniques, as well as skills to manage time and obligations. Knowing and working with people who have already figured out how to juggle those different obligations will be immensely helpful." Other medical students may be looking for advice on interviewing and ranking residency programs, and, like Ms. Schubert, may be interested in tips on how to get a great start in internship.

For individuals deep in the throes of cardiothoracic training, the needs are clearly different. Dr. Ryan Shelstad, a first-year fellow at the University of Colorado, states: "In my mind, the primary objective of clinical fellowship is acquisition of technical skills and clinical decision making in CT surgery. Thus, mentorship at this stage follows this objective." He continues, "CT fellowship is a relatively short time to achieve this goal as well as position oneself to successfully transition to a faculty position or private practice, which is the second objective—and area for mentoring."

Dr. Shelstad acknowledges and explains the transition in his mentorship needs, "I think earlier in training, mentorship focused on career choice, research, and transition to a fellowship. Much was focused on getting to the next step. While that is still important, now is the time to focus on the clinical aspects of CT surgery that I will use the rest of my career." And, certainly, the specific mentoring needs will continue to change with time.

Dr. Lawton, who holds the rank of professor at Washington University, St. Louis, states that, "after reaching full professor, surgeons need mentoring and sponsoring to reach goals such as dean positions, leadership positions, national organization officer positions, etc. We also all continually need mosaic mentoring that evolves over time (someone to mentor for research career aspects, managing work-life balance issues, family issues, teaching issues, financial issues, etc.). As we progress in our careers, we have the opportunity to also be mentored in other areas by younger generations."

Wait, did she just say that progressing surgeons can be mentored by younger generations? Yes, she did. And not only can seasoned surgeons be mentored by younger surgeons, they also stand to gain considerably from their own mentees. Dr. Lawton further states, "There is always reciprocal gain in a mentoring relationship for the mentor. There is no better joy than to see a mentee succeed and be fulfilled and happy in her chosen field. For some, this provides a rich legacy of trainees and mentees to provide continued enrichment, excitement, and a source of tremendous pride in later years." In the previously mentioned article by Grondin, Dr. Gail Darling states, "Academic careers are usually measured in papers published, grants awarded, invited lectures, and academic standing. Equally important are the students we teach and motivate toward careers in surgery, residents and fellows we have taught and mentored who will provide care to patients and who will go out and teach new generations of surgeons who will in turn provide care."