Doctoring: Becoming a physician-mentor

The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University invites you to help introduce first-year medical students to the practice of medicine by serving as a physician-mentor. The Medical School is looking for committed, community-based physicians in the fields of family and general medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and other internal medicine subspecialties with wide patient exposure to host a medical student in their clinical practice one half-day a week. Your contribution as a physician-mentor will provide an invaluable context for their academic studies.
Doctoring (Bio 360-361, 362-363) is a two-year required course that started with first-year medical students in the fall of 2005.  It is intended to teach the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors of the competent, ethical, and humane physician.
Starting in the first semester of medical school and continuing for two years, students spend eight half-day sessions per week at a community site with a physician-mentor. The physician helps students develop their own abilities as medical professionals by providing the real-world setting in which to apply theoretical concepts. The students receive instruction in the classroom in such areas as patient-doctor communication and physical diagnosis skills.
In addition to basic skills and knowledge, beginning medical students need relevant experience to prepare them for clinical clerkships and, later, for their roles as physicians. Doctoring aims to hone their clinical abilities, especially effective physical diagnosis, while developing proficient communication skills, including reflective listening, establishing a therapeutic relationship, and eliciting a clinical history. These skills are key to becoming an exemplary physician.

What is a physician-mentor?

A physician-mentor provides an opportunity for first- and second-year medical students to work with clinical faculty in their community-based practice. As a medical student’s first professional contact in a clinical setting, the faculty member serves as the student’s role model. Working alongside their physician-mentors enables students to observe, apply, and improve the skills they will need as physicians. The physician’s role is to guide the student’s progress from active observer to active participant, one who gathers information in year one and reinforces clinical skills in year two.
Working closely with on-campus faculty to coordinate educational content, the physician-mentor:

• provides the setting and opportunity for a medical student to see and work with real patients, longitudinally, during the first two years of medical school;
• reinforces the connection between the classroom and the real world of doctoring;
• helps first- and second-year medical students focus on the acquisition of clinical skills and the development of a positive professional attitude;
• helps students develop learning goals that are clearly aligned with the activities to be performed and the outcomes to be achieved;
• meets with students to discuss whether goals are met, provide feedback on their progress and growth, and establish new goals that will increase clinical competency;
• assesses and evaluates students’ attendance, motivation, interpersonal skills, effort, and commitment to the Doctoring course at the end of their first and second years.

Interested in participating? To support you in this role, the Office of Continuing Medical Education, the Office of Medical Faculty Affairs and the Office of Curriculum Affairs will provide faculty-training programs and will credit you with at least 100 hours per year.

For more information on becoming a physician-mentor and on the Doctoring course, please contact:

Roni Phipps
Coordinator, Doctoring Course
Tel: 401 863-9717
Roni_Phipps@brown.edu

Arthur Frazzano, MD
Director, Doctoring Course
Arthur_Frazzano@brown.edu