As a new MD, you have plenty of skills and knowledge to pass on.

If you are a newly minted ophthalmologist joining or starting a practice, you’re now in the big leagues! Your patients will trust you as their eye surgeon, but they won’t be the only ones looking to you for your expertise. Given your status as a leader of the clinical team, your staff will look to you for advice and guidance. Moreover, you may have medical students, residents and fellows looking to learn from your skills and knowledge as well, which puts you in a position to cultivate the roles of “mentor” and “teacher.”

In this article, I will explain how mentorship and teaching can become some of the most rewarding aspects of your career.

TEACHING AND MENTORING STAFF

Whether you’re starting your own practice or joining a practice, you will be working with support staff such as technicians and front desk staff who want to take the best possible care of your patients. Set up regular sessions to teach staff about the clinical findings they should be looking out for, such as relative afferent pupillary defects or cranial neuropathies. Depending on your practice location or teaching style, these can range from large-group mandatory monthly sessions, to spontaneous weekly one-on-one meetings.

Along with providing education, get to know your staff and mentor them toward their career and life goals. Perhaps a technician hopes to apply to medical school; you’re in a perfect position to advise them on studying for the MCAT and putting together an application. Maybe one of your staff hopes to work toward promotion to lead technician; take the time to give leadership, team building and management advice. In the end, being invested in your staff will ensure they are equally invested in you.

TEACHING STUDENTS

With so many clinical findings and diagnoses in our specialty, it can be hard for medical students to feel comfortable exploring our field. If you can help them get past the initial trepidation, there’s a good chance they’ll be hooked, just like you were.

You have years of ophthalmic knowledge, so it can sometimes be hard to put yourself in the shoes of a medical student and start with the basics. Take a moment to back up, begin with basic anatomy, explain the physiology, and then explain the pathology and how it affects vision. It can also help to teach the basics of slit-lamp examination so the student can see the pathology themselves. Medical students are often novices at the eye exam, but they love learning how they can use advanced technologies to evaluate the eye.

MENTORING RESIDENTS AND FELLOWS

Depending on your practice setup, be it a private practice or an academic hospital-based clinic, you may have an opportunity to teach clinical and surgical skills to residents and fellows. Imparting your knowledge to trainees allows the next generation of ophthalmologists to learn the tips and tricks you practiced and mastered during your training. If you are mentoring residents in the clinic, allow them to evaluate patients independently and create their own assessments and plans. Your feedback on their clinical approach will allow you to highlight high-yield teaching points you’ve gathered during your training and practice.

In the operating room, proctored surgical teaching requires close observation and trust but can be stressful. However, the surgical teaching starts beforehand by discussing the nuances of an upcoming case, specific surgical tools and approaches, and specific goals that the resident or fellow should focus on. After the case, immediate feedback for the trainee is critical to reinforce positive skills, break bad habits or develop new surgical insights. This can be even more fruitful if there is a surgical video to review.

In addition, as an early career ophthalmologist, you are uniquely situated to impart knowledge gained through real- life career scenarios, such as contract negotiation, choosing a practice and selecting between academics and private practice. You’ll have been through this more recently than your older colleagues and can impart this knowledge on your mentees while it is still fresh.

CONCLUSION

You’re in a privileged position to mentor and teach the staff and trainees around you. All your hard work has paid off, and now it is time to give back.

As people look up to you, just remember that your mentorship will be impactful and influential, just like your mentors’ advice was for you. OM

Grayson W. Armstrong, MD, MPH, is a comprehensive ophthalmologist, medical retina specialist and director of Ophthalmic Emergency Services at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston. He serves as associate director of ophthalmology medical student education at Harvard Medical School and is on the faculty of Real World of Ophthalmology.