Education

AOSpine Mentorship – Education

 

AOSpine International Education Chairperson, Mike Grevitt, tells us more about the upcoming launch of the new AOSpine Mentorship- Education program.

 

 

What is AOSpine Mentorship- Education?

This is a totally new concept for AOSpine or indeed any global medical education organization. From feedback and surveys we realized that many young spine surgeons would value the opportunity to be mentored but there was no framework to enable this aspiration.  Therefore our goal is to team up younger surgeons with key opinion leaders who can nurture and guide them to improve their knowledge.

 

What specific knowledge can these key opinion leaders share with their mentee?

That is the beauty of this scheme. We offer the mentees a basic framework of competencies to select from and they determine what they want to get out of the program. For example we have experts in faculty development in the mentor pool so if a mentee would like to improve their knowledge of teaching then we have the perfect mentor for them. Similarly we have some of the foremost experts in various spinal pathologies who can share their clinical wisdom with the mentee.

 

What is the duration of the mentorship?

Participation in the scheme is to last around two years. Each pair will meet face to face and discuss individual goals and agree on how best they will work together. We really want people to make this a personal program so we will allow plenty of scope in planning on how to achieve their goals. After the initial meeting the mentors and mentees will stay in touch virtually by whichever means they have agreed upon for one year, and then the mentee will travel to the mentor to spend up to three months at his hospital where more practical teaching can take place. After this we will be asking our pairs to evaluate how well the scheme is going and offer them another year's supported virtual mentoring.

 

It sounds like this is quite a challenging program to create?

Yes indeed! The most important aspect of the scheme is to pair each mentor and mentee successfully.  To facilitate this we have done extensive research as well as working closely with the AO Education Institute. The essence of a 'good' mentorship program is to allow the mentees to select their own mentors. We want our pairs to develop an effective relationship with each other. This cannot be forced on individuals but must be based on mutual respect and engagement. We will offer an established framework for the learning objectives and we can further support our mentees in terms of technology and funding.

 

When are you hoping this initiative will be ready for launch?

To ensure the quality of this scheme we created a Task Force consisting of expert spinal surgeons from across the globe and the final details are currently being confirmed. We will be launching the 'Call for Applications' at the start of October 2015 with an initial face to face meeting with the pairs in Spring 2016. After the announcement there will be just 4 weeks to apply for the  scheme so people need to be quick to apply as we're sure to receive many applications.

 

Do mentees have to fulfill any specific criteria?

Yes there are strict criteria they must fulfill before they can even apply, and then we have a robust scoring system to ensure we not only get the most motivated applicants but also the ones who would benefit most from the program. The amazing thing about our AOSpine community is that we can count many of the world's key opinion leaders as members. Linking these spine ‘masters’ with the faculty of the future will offer inestimable value to the young surgeons. The impact on his or her practice will be enormous and will be in keeping to the AOSpine mission to improve patient care worldwide.