A systematic scoping review and thematic analysis of interprofessional mentoring in medicine from 2000 to 2019

ABSTRACT

Interprofessional mentoring in palliative care sees different members of the interprofessional team providing holistic, personalised andlongitudinal mentoring support, skills training and knowledge transfer as they mentor trainees at different points along their mentoring journeys. However, gaps in practice and their risk of potential mentoring malpractice even as interprofessional mentoring use continues to grow in palliative medicine underlines the need for careful scrutiny of its characteristics and constituents in order to enhance the design, evaluation and oversight of interprofessional mentoring programmes. Hence, a systematic scoping review on prevailing accounts of interprofessional mentoring in medicine is conducted to address this gap. Using Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) methodological framework for conducting scoping reviews and identical search strategies, 6 reviewers performed independent literature reviews of accounts of interprofessional mentoring published in 10 databases. Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis approach was adopted to evaluate across different mentoring settings. A total of 11111 abstracts were identified from 10 databases, 103 full-text articles reviewed and 14 full-text articles were thematically analysed to reveal 4 themes: characterizing, implementing, evaluating and obstacles to interprofessional mentoring. Interprofessional mentoring is founded upon a respectful and collaborative mentoring relationship that thrives despite inevitable differences in individual values, ethical perspectives at different career stages within diverse working environments. This warrants effective mentor-mentee trainings, alignment of expectations, roles and responsibilities, goals and timelines, and effective oversight of the programmes. Drawing upon the data provided, an interprofessional mentoring framework is forwarded to guide the design, evaluation and oversight of the programmes.

KEYWORDS:

• (MeSH): Mentoring
• interprofessional Relations
• palliative care
• medical Education
• mosaic Mentoring
• interprofessional Mentoring

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to dedicate this article to the late Dr S Radha Krishna whose advice and ideas were integral to the success of this study. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers whose advice and feedback greatly improved this manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no declarations of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

This work was carried out as part of the Palliative Medicine Initiative run by the Department of Supportive and Palliative Care at the National Cancer Centre Singapore. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Notes on contributors

Kuang Teck Tay

Kuang Teck Tay is a fifth-year medical student at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. He is presently an elective student at the Division of Palliative Medicine, National Cancer Centre Singapore. Email: [email protected]

Xiu Hui Tan

Xiu Hui Tan is a third-year medical student at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. She is presently an elective student at the Division of Palliative Medicine, National Cancer Centre Singapore. Email: [email protected]

Lorraine Hui En Tan

Lorraine Hui En Tan is a fourth-year medical student at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. She is presently an elective student at the Division of Palliative Medicine, National Cancer Centre Singapore. Email: [email protected]

Divya Vythilingam

Divya Vythilingam is a second-year medical student at the School of Medicine, International Medical University Malaysia. Email: [email protected]

Annelissa Mien Chew Chin

Annelissa Mien Chew Chin is a senior librarian from Medical Library, National University of Singapore Libraries, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Email: [email protected]

Victor Loh

Victor Loh is a consultant in the Department of Family Medicine at National University Health System, Singapore. Email: [email protected]

Ying Pin Toh

Ying Pin Toh is a Family Medicine Resident at National University Health System, Singapore. Email: [email protected]

Lalit Kumar Radha Krishna

Lalit Kumar Radha Krishna is a Senior Consultant at the Division of Palliative Medicine, National Cancer Centre Singapore; Course Director (Practice Course 2) at Duke-NUS Medical School and Course Director (Phase 4 and 5) at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore. Lalit is presently undertaking an MD at Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute at the University of Liverpool. Email: [email protected]