ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Mentoring

Mentoring

1. What are the important aspects mentors need to consider during an initial interview with a learner?

Mentoring refers to coaching, developing and educating mentee by building interpersonal relationship in order to enhance skills and abilities and also make them understand their career goal. Mentoring involved exchange and learning, in which a skilled person, the mentor is investing acquired wisdom and expertise to promote the development of another person, the mentee, who acquire skills and career goals to be achieved.

As a mentor, the assistance provided by them is normally paid and is paid as part of a professional relationship. It meets the needs of the mentee in terms of objectives related to their personal and professional development. The function of practice based learning is to provide experience, serving an important role in developing the skills of the student in interacting with patients and their families assisting in technical, psychomotor, interpersonal and communication skills. Practice based learning provides an opportunity to link theory and practice, and promotes professional identity development (Ali & Panther, 2008, Pp. 35-39).

It is important for mentor that they must understand the need of mentee and build interpersonal relationship with them by encouraging and motivating them towards their goal and objective. Once a new student Aliya got an admission in the medicine field and needed a mentor to guide her on her career goals. First time she came to me and I was busy in some urgent work. Second time when she came, I was on vacation. Third time she didn't come and changed her field because of lack of guidance provided to her by a mentor. She was actually disappointed by the services of mentor and thus, changed her field because of unavailability of a mentor. Since then I realized that mentor must understand the need of their mentee and make themselves available for the support and encouragement.

Research has shown that several factors relate to the propensity or willingness to serve as a mentor to others. One consistent finding is that someone with previous mentoring experience, either as a protege or as a mentor, is more willing to be a mentor to others than someone with no previous mentoring experience. There is also evidence that dispositional factors relate to the willingness to mentor others. Individuals who possess a more pro-social personality (are generally helpful and empathetic toward others) are more likely to have experience as mentors ...