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Peter Metuge
Mentoring Assignment
August 5, 2015
The Importance of effective mentoring in Medical Dosimetry
Effective mentoring is when an experienced professional guides and imparts knowledge
to an individual, the mentee or protg, with less knowledge than the mentor. The desirable
qualities of effective mentors are aligned with the skills of communication, relationship building,
and collegiality. These qualities are essential in building trust between the mentor and mentee,
creating a positive learning environment and ensuring a successful career growth and
development. Mentors encountered early in ones career occupy a potent position in ones
development as a practitioner.1 An effective mentor serves as an advisor for a novice moving
from dependence to independence to proficiency.2 Some of the qualities of a good mentor are
patience, approachable, accessible, and willing to listen, a good communicator and willingness to
teach, compassionate, objective and fair.
It is also important to know the difference between an effective mentor and an ineffective
mentor. An effective mentor is always willing to step in and guide the mentee, commit to this
individual for a long period of time. The mentor constantly engages and challenges the mentee to
strive for excellence. Whereas an ineffective mentor in one who is consistently disconnected
from the mentee, shows no compassion towards the mentee, make no effort to build the mentees
trust, and is constantly unavailable. These qualities not only derail the mentees career
development but also does a great disservice to the profession.
Effective mentoring can be beneficial to both the mentor and the mentee. The benefit of
effective mentoring helps the mentee develop self-awareness, confidence, and shapes the
mentees career path (Robinson-Jones J, oral communication, July 2015). Furthermore, the
mentee makes less mistakes, consistently progresses towards their career goal and increases the
mentees ability to perform their roles. To the mentor, effective mentoring provides recognition of
his or her skills and expertise ( Emus A, oral communication, July 2015), raises the profile of the
mentor, provides an opportunity to contribute to the mentors field as well as gives the mentor a
sense of satisfaction in their role of imparting knowledge to the next generation.
Effective mentoring can be hindered by certain barriers. Some of the barriers of effective
mentoring include the inadequate of time and the high patient load per dosimetrist. As a
dosimetrist, it is sometimes very difficult to act as mentors because of the caseload dosimetrists

have on a daily basis. Even though one can act as a mentor, the mentors still have clinical
obligations that they have to fulfill. This makes the senior dosimetrist pressed for time, are less
available, rushing and may become inpatient with their mentees. Consequently, the mentee is not
imparted with adequate knowledge nor properly directed and are often left confused. In addition,
some mentors dont have support from their managers especially in the private sector where a
higher patient turn often desired to maximize profit. When this is the case, the mentor cannot
spend the appropriate time needed for mentoring
Being a mentor is an enormous responsibility and should not be taken lightly. To be a
mentor, one has to voluntarily commit to it, have patience and constantly provide the necessary
tools and feedback for the mentee to succeed. It is very important that the before accepting the
responsibility to mentor, research must be thoroughly done as to what is expected of a mentor.
Particular attentions too should be paid to the learning styles of the mentee. Some mentees are
visual learners, others are good with words, figures, just to name a few. Knowing your mentee
and their learning strengths will help guide them better and decrease mentor-mentee conflicts.
In conclusion, mentors are very essential in professional growth of the mentee as well as
the growth of our profession. With mentoring comes certain challenges that can either make or
break the mentees drive to succeed in that profession. Mentors and mentees should always be in
constant communication to ensure proper guidance, relationship building, constant flow of
information and encouragement for the mentee to strive for excellence. Being over critical of the
mentees work and style should be avoided. Instead the mentor should offer constructive criticism
if need be. If the aforementioned are met, the mentee will be successful at what he or she is
doing and it will benefit the profession in both the short and long term.

References
1. Detsky SA, Baerloche MO. Academic mentoring- how to give it and how to get it. JAMA
2009;302(23):2591-2592. http//dx.doi:10.1001/jama.2009.1858

2. Lenards N. Mentoring. [ SoftChalk]. LaCrosse, WI: UW-L Medical Dosimetry Program;

2015.

Appendix A
Peter Metuge
Mentoring Interview with Arthur Emus, Medical Physicist (Transcript)
July 28, 2015
Q: Can you define what effective mentoring means to you?
A: Effective mentoring is a practice where an individual who voluntarily decides to impart
knowledge to a protg, provide a supportive role and is willing to commit to that individual for
a long period of time.
Q: How is mentoring different from coaching?
A: Mentoring and coaching, though they sound synonymous are very different. In mentoring, the
mentee is in charge of the learning whereas in coaching, the coach directs the learning to suit a
particular goal.

Q: What qualities do you think a mentor should possess?

A: First and foremost, no one should be forced into mentoring. It should be on a volunteering
basis. In my opinion, a mentor should have patience, the willingness to teach others and
willingness to commit to mentor that individual for a long period of time.
Q: What is a common mistake mentors make?
A: In my experience mentoring, sometimes mentors coach the mentee instead of mentoring
them. This two terms are often misused. Though they may look alike, they are actually different
Q: What inspires you to take interest in mentoring?
A: What really inspires me is the satisfaction to give back. I am were I am today because
someone was not afraid to impact me with their knowledge. For the long-term survival of our
field, it is imperative we impact knowledge to the future generation
Q: What advice will you give a new mentee who has confidence issues?
A: Sometimes working with someone who is more knowledgeable than you can be very
intimidating. So I always advise them to that they are under a learning environment and should
never feel intimidated by anyone.
Q: What suggestions can you give to someone looking to becoming an effective mentor?
A: Someone looking to be an effective mentor should be very patience. You may be asked
questions that you may feel are dumb, however, that dumb question may be the light bulb that
puts everything in place for that mentee. No question is stupid.
Q: In your own words what do you think are some of the benefit of mentoring?
A: I think it helps to build leadership skills on the part of the mentor, it gives the mentor an
opportunity of to contribute to the development of their field. To the mentee, it leads to
professional development.

Appendix B
Peter Metuge
Mentoring Interview with Jacqueline Robinson Jones, Chief Radiation Therapist (Transcript)
July 23, 2015
Q: Can you define what effective mentoring means to you?
A: Effective mentoring is a concept where an experienced individual is willing to give
knowledge to a less knowledgeable individual for a long period of time. They provide constant
feedback to the mentee in order to build them up.
Q: How is mentoring different from coaching?
A: Mentoring is different from coaching in the roles. The role of mentoring is to support and
guide the growth of the mentee whereas coaching is to correct and improve performance of the
mentee.
Q: What qualities do you think a mentor should possess?
A: A mentor should be an effective communicator and must be approachable. If an individual is
not approachable, it will affect the knowledge sharing experience.
Q: What is a common mistake mentors make?
A: Eagerness to provide a solution to any questions your mentee may have. It is not the mentors
jobs to provide the answers to the mentee but to guide them in finding the best answer that suits
them.
Q: What inspires you to take interest in mentoring?
A: What really inspires me is knowing that I am making a difference is someone elses life and
the personal stake I have in imparting knowledge in the next generation in my field.
Q: What advice will you give a new mentee who has confidence issues?
A: Never get intimidated and to always remember they are learning and should never be afraid to
learn.
Q: What suggestions can you give to someone looking to becoming an effective mentor?
A: I would suggest to them to have a very caring and empathy attitude towards their mentee.
This will help build trust in the working relationship between the mentor and the mentee.
Q: In your own words what do you think are some of the benefits of mentoring?
A: For the mentee, it grows self-awareness and confidence, helps shape career direction. For the
mentor, it provides recognition of your skills and expertise and it broadens your network.