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

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.

Depression and Suicide Among American Surgeons—A Grave Threat to the Surgeon Workforce

“…These sessions are led by a licensed mental health professional to work with trainees on how to cope with personal and professional stressors, including deaths in the operating room, fractured relationships, or anxiety around professional advancement and patient care. Additionally, well-being should be incorporated into professional development discussions as surgeons move from training to practice . Rather than always asking what more a surgeon can be doing to produce clinically or promote academically, we should also be asking if surgeons are in a professional environment that is sustainable and offering ongoing opportunities to address critical health concerns.…”

“…Additionally, well-being should be incorporated into professional development discussions as surgeons move from training to practice. 7 Rather than always asking what more a surgeon can be doing to produce clinically or promote academically, we should also be asking if surgeons are in a professional environment that is sustainable and offering ongoing opportunities to address critical health concerns.…”

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“…The goal was to remind these young faculty members to take care of themselves physically and mentally, to learn how to cultivate high-quality connections at work and at home, and to be able to discuss their work-life harmony. 2 This new mentoring system was well received by mentees and mentors, and it continues to this day.…”