Incorporating Well-Being into Mentorship Meetings: A Case Demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Surgery a Harvard Medical School Affiliate

Beth Frates; David Cron; Carrie Cunningham Lubitz; Genevieve Boland; Sunita Srivastava; Richard A Hodin; Antonia E Stephen; Kelsey Carney; Roy Phitayakorn

doi:10.1177/15598276221105830

Incorporating Well-Being into Mentorship Meetings: A Case Demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Surgery a Harvard Medical School Affiliate

Am J Lifestyle Med. 2022 Jul 15;17(2):213-215. doi: 10.1177/15598276221105830. eCollection 2023 Mar-Apr.

Authors

Beth Frates¹, David Cron¹, Carrie Cunningham Lubitz¹, Genevieve Boland¹, Sunita Srivastava¹, Richard A Hodin¹, Antonia E Stephen¹, Kelsey Carney¹, Roy Phitayakorn¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA (BF); Academic Development Resident, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA (DC); Mentorship Program - Resident Mentorship, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA (CL); Research - MGH Department of Surgery, Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies, Therapeutic Intralesional Program, Mentorship Program - Research Faculty Mentoring, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, MA, USA (GB); Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Mentorship Program - 'Refresh' Mid-Career Mentorship Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA (SS); Division of Gastrointestinal and Oncologic Surgery, MGH Department of Surgery Faculty Affairs, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA (RH); Endocrine Surgery, MGH, Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA (AS); MGH Department of Surgery, Boston, MA, USA (KC); and Mentorship Program - Mentoring Culture, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA (RP).

Abstract

Surgeons have been under great pressure during the COVID pandemic. Their careers are filled with fast paced decisions, life and death situations, and long hours at work. The COVID pandemic created more tasks and even new responsibilities at times, but when the operating rooms were closed down, there was less work. The COVID experience invited the opportunity to rethink mentoring in the surgery department at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The leadership experimented with a new style of mentoring which involved a team approach. In addition, they tried something else that was new: adding a lifestyle medicine expert and wellness coach to the mentoring team. The program was tested on 13 early stage surgeons who found the experience to be beneficial, and they commented that they wished they had it even earlier in their careers. Including a non-surgeon who was a lifestyle medicine physician and wellness coach added an element of whole person health that was acceptable to the surgeons and even embraced as the majority of them elected to follow up with one on one coaching after the mentoring meeting. This team mentoring program with senior surgeons and a lifestyle medicine expert is one that can be explored by other departments and other hospitals given its success at the department of surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Keywords: Education; Lifestyle Medicine; Mentoring; Wellness Coaching.