Mentorship in Neuroanesthesia and Neurocritical Care

Challenges faced by healthcare professionals in their personal and professional life are aplenty. Facing them effectively requires following the footsteps of and learning from the experiences of role models, seniors, and colleagues, alike. A successful healthcare professional is one who is most likely mentored for such challenges through the various phases of his/her educational path and even further. Various definitions exist for the term “mentor.” Simply put, a mentor is a supporting person providing two broad categories of service to another individual (the mentee): (1) career enhancement and (2) psychosocial support. Career enhancement provides the mentee to perform challenging assignments, adequate exposure in the respective fields, and ensures that professional ethical values are imbibed. Psychosocial support, possibly the more important aspect of mentorship, prepares the mentee to perform the tasks of career enhancement by ensuring that the mentor provides a role model, counselor, and friend. This aspect of mentorship enhances the mentee’s workethic and productivity.1