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A.J. Kressin
Mentoring Essay
August 7, 2014
According to Tareef,
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a mentor is an individual who is experienced within a profession and
supports and guides a lesser experienced individual to develop and grow within the profession.
Medical dosimetry is a career in which years of experience go a long ways. The more time one
spends within the field, generally the more knowledge and skills they acquire, and the individual
also gains an understanding of how to effectively approach various situations. Therefore,
effectively mentoring newcomers to the profession is an integral part of building and maintaining
a competent and well-established medical dosimetry community.
There are 2 perspectives to consider when looking at a mentor-mentee relationship: that of the
student or lesser experienced individual being mentored and the side of the experienced
professional who is the mentoring role model. Since I am part of a medical dosimetry program in
which mentors are present, I can vouch for the importance of mentoring from the perspective of
the student. Mentors have a lot to offer to someone who is new to the profession. The student can
learn in a relatively short time what may have taken his or her mentor years to understand and
master. The learning curve for an entry level individual is steep, but it is vastly more efficient for
an individual to learn from and draw upon the experiences of someone who has spent years in
the profession than to simply learn through his or her own comparatively, very limited set of
experiences. Having said that, the student must also bring some basic characteristics to the
relationship. Effective mentoring relies not only on the skills and mindset of the mentor, but also
on the skills, willingness to learn, and overall approach of the mentee. Mentoring becomes a
much more taxing or unbearable job for the mentor when the student has little basic
understanding and no applicable skills. Mentees can also maximize their experience by finding a
mentor and an institution that fits them well. It is often beneficial for students to have multiple
mentors (J. F. Wochos, M.S., oral communication, August 2014).
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This allows for learning from
more than one person, and incorporating many different styles into a unique and personalized
professional development.
The mentor on the other hand, has a tremendous power of influence on the future of the student.
The experience the student has while working with the mentor, whether its positive or negative,
will be the driving force in the kind of professional the student develops into. If a student has a
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poor mentor, he or she will have a poor groundwork laid for development as a professional. If
the student has a bad enough first exposure to the profession, he or she might drop the pursuit of
that career and search for something else entirely. Perhaps one of the reason some mentors fail to
be effective is because the program or institution they work for has given them little to no
training on key ways in which to work effectively as students mentor.
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Several important traits
are needed in order to be an effective mentor. A mentor must be knowledgeable about the job or
task in order to demonstrate it, and he or she must have an organized approach for instructing the
student (J. F. Wochos, M.S., oral communication, August 2014). An effective mentor is one who
not only shows the mentee what to do by example, but also observes and encourages the mentee
as he or she tries to replicate and master what the mentor demonstrated (C. Brogan-Raasch,
CMD, oral communication, August 2014). If a student can transition from being dependent to
working independently on mastering a learned skill, technique, or process, then the mentoring
was carried out successfully. Also, since mentors are typically experienced professionals and
have worked in the field for many years, they have connections with people that someone just
entering the field would likely not have. Connecting a mentee with other professionals within the
field can be one of the most beneficial assets a mentor can pass on during the mentor-mentee
relationship.
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Mentors should have the mindset of trying to make the student a better professional
than him or herself (J. F. Wochos, M.S., oral communication, August 2014). Experienced
professionals ought to have a goal of making the profession better by the time they leave
compared to when they started.
The process of an experienced professional guiding and encouraging a limited experienced
individual can often become a two-way street when done properly. A successful mentor-
mentee relationship can be described as symbiotic or mutually beneficial.
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It is the job of the
mentor to guide the mentee in the right direction and also encourage the individual to think and
learn on his or her own. When a student enters the mentoring relationship with the right approach
and some basic understanding of the profession and the mentor is knowledgeable and willing to
pass on information through demonstration, observation, and encouragement, the mentor
oftentimes will end up learning just as much as the student. All members in the relationship
growing and developing together can ultimately lead to institutional benefits and even
advancements within the field of practice.

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References
1. Tareef AB. The relationship between mentoring and career development of higher education
faculty members. Coll Stud J. 2013;47(4):703-710.
2. Lenards, N. Mentoring. [SoftChalk]. La Crosse, WI: UW-L Medical Dosimetry program;
2014.
3. Pea-Purcell N, Asomaning N. A speed mentoring experience for university students in public
health education. Tex Public Health J. 2013;65(4):29-35.

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Appendix A
A.J. Kressin
Mentoring Interview with John Wochos (Transcript)
August 5, 2014
Q: Define mentoring in your own words.
A: Mentoring is a combination of teaching and demonstration, not as a teacher, but as a doer. In
other words, if I were to mentor a physicist, I wouldnt just teach them about how to measure
radiation. I would have them watch me do it and then I would watch them do it to ensure that
they were doing it correctly.
Q: Do you think mentoring is important in the field of medical dosimetry? Why or why not?
A: Certainly. Firstly, you need to know why youre doing stuff. So you need the didactic part of
it. And generally, with something that is that difficult (medical dosimetry) you need to emulate
what someone has done. Its best if you have more than one mentor.
Q: What are important things to consider when you are mentoring someone else?
A: You need to be explained why you are doing what youre doing. I think thats an important
thing rather than just doing it. You also need to be able to not just show, but observe the student
or intern and give coaching related to that. So you need the steps involved in teaching and
demonstrating and then observing what the student is doing.
Q: What makes for effective mentoring versus ineffective mentoring?
A: I guess if you miss any of those steps (in previous answer). The other thing is being
organized. I find that I can learn things better when they are presented in an organized manner.
Q: What kinds of skills are needed to be an effective mentor?
A: Obviously you need to know the task. You need to know what youre doing. The theory about
learn one, watch one, do one, doesnt work. You literally have to know it to be a good mentor.
And then I think you need to have an organized approach to things. Whether or not you do it that
way, you need to at least be able to explain it that way (an A, B, C, D, E, F, G sort of thing).
Whereas if you hop around, I think its harder for someone to learn.
Q: Does personality play a role in being an effective mentor?
A: I think it can because you need patience to do it. An impatient person would be less likely to
be a good mentor than a patient person. And I think someone has to want to do it. I think if
youre forced into doing it, theyre less likely to do it than someone who wants to do it.
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Q: What role does mentoring have in the field of medical dosimetry?
A: I tell people if you consider yourself a professional, part of your goal should be to make the
profession better when you leave than when you came in, and I cant think of a better way to do
that than to teach somebody and have that person be as good or even better than you are.
Q: Do think there should be an emphasis placed on mentoring, or more specifically, effective
mentoring in certified medical dosimetry educational programs? For example, do you think that
each internship site should be somehow monitored (such as a quality check) to make sure that
adequate mentoring of students is taking place?
A: Yes. I think one can be a good dosimetrist but not be a good mentor, but you shouldnt be part
of a dosimetry intern program then. I think almost anything we do somebody should be checking
us on. If youre not willing to do that, why arent you?
Q: Do you think there should be emphasis in the medical dosimetry program on teaching
students how to become effective mentors?
A: I dont know. I dont think it should be an emphasis. I think it should be included in it as part
of it. But again, you can be a good dosimetrist without being a good mentor. Perhaps as an
introduction to becoming a dosimetrist, you could learn something about mentoring, but I dont
think it should be an emphasis in the program. I think it can be part of the program, all be it a
small part. But before you take on an internship site you have to learn about mentoring.

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Appendix B
A.J. Kressin
Mentoring Interview with Colleen Brogan-Raasch (Transcript)
August 5, 2014
Q: Define mentoring in your own words.
A: Mentoring is teaching/demonstrating something to somebody, and then encouraging them to
do the same process, technique, or skill themselves without criticism until they can feel
comfortable to do it on their own and then learn to master it on their own. So you give them
enough skills to do it independently and encourage them.
Q: Do you think mentoring is important in the field of medical dosimetry? Why or why not?
A: Definitely. For 1, how else are you going to learn it? For 2, its such a technical field and
theres a lot of advancement every year. Theres so much more to learn that you want to pass
along that information to somebody because they are hopefully going to pass it on to the next
generation or next group of people coming on. I also think you can get in the trap of second-
guessing yourself, and a mentor helps you to realize that you are doing it right or youre on the
right track. Plus, I think some of your mentoring helps you reaffirm what you already know.
Q: What are important things to consider when you are mentoring someone else?
A: Be kind. Be respectful of the fact that they (the students) dont know what you know, and
thats why you are mentoring them. Dont be so hard on them to get across a point. For example,
dont make somebody do something for 4 hours and then show them a button that could do with
1 push what originally took 4 hours to do. Thats kind of a control freak kind of mindset. Put
yourself in the students shoes.
Q: What makes for effective mentoring versus ineffective mentoring?
A: I think ineffective mentoring is where somebody says, Here watch what I do. Now do it.
and then walks away instead of sitting there with them or just continuing to expect the person to
learn by watching. The person also needs to learn by doing. They can watch once, but then I
think the more that they do hands on is the best way to learn. So conversely, thats what an
effective mentoring is; somebody who will let someone struggle on their own but is there to help
them if need be and also pushes them just a little bit because someone is always going to be
afraid to try something new. Dont push them too much to the point where they will freak out
and not want to do it.
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Q: What kinds of skills are needed to be an effective mentor?
A: Patience. Willingness to admit that you are not perfect as a mentor. You are always learning
yourself, so if you can admit that you are not perfect, you can realize that the person you are
mentoring is not going to be perfect and you shouldnt expect that from them. You also need
knowledge. You have to know what youre talking about.
Q: Does personality play a role in being an effective mentor?
A: I think it does only for the fact that some personalities dont like to teach. People who are
really reserved, or quiet, or not person people do not mentor as well because they are not as
comfortable around other people. So they may not be as willing or able to expound on stuff.
They might explain how to do it once, but they dont want to tell it again and again and again.
Q: What role does mentoring have in the field of medical dosimetry?
A: In my opinion, its basically how you teach dosimetry. Its not a classroom thing where you
have a teacher teaching biology or math in the classroom setting and then you go off into the
world and you can do it. You actually have to learn clinically. And thats where mentors come in
because I dont think you can learn clinically as well on your own. You cant go from a
classroom to a clinic and start doing plans (radiation treatment plans). I think you have to have
an on-the-job type situation, which is where I think mentors come in.
Q: Do think there should be an emphasis placed on mentoring, or more specifically, effective
mentoring in certified medical dosimetry educational programs? For example, do you think that
each internship site should be somehow monitored (such as a quality check) to make sure that
adequate mentoring of students is taking place?
A: I think it would be a good idea to have clinical instructors learn how to mentor or at least have
an in-service on good mentoring. I think there should be training for mentors, at least in-service
on basic mentoring techniques or, more importantly, bad mentoring techniques so they can avoid
the pitfalls of what other mentors have had in the past. That would help make sure there is a good
working relationship between the student and the mentor.
Q: Do you think there should be emphasis in the medical dosimetry program on teaching
students how to become effective mentors?
A: Ideally, if a program was longer, I think that would be a good thing even if it was just a
webinar or something. But I think because of the intense coursework that you guys already have,
I think it would be tough to squeeze that in. If youre already at a facility where there are other
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teaching aspects (x-ray student observation, radiation therapy students) its good to let the
dosimetry intern work with them so they can get some practice. I dont know that you should be
requiring that in the coursework only because of the time constraints. Its a great idea but I dont
think its realistic. Plus, not all dosimetrists are good mentors.