The two-way benefits of mentorship

I recently had some time to think about which aspects of my job as a community pharmacist bring me the most joy, and I noticed a trend—I've discovered that I really like empowering individuals to reach their goals. While most of us went into the profession to help patients, I realized that I also got a significant amount of joy from teaching, mentoring and coaching pharmacy students. Being able to help foster an environment of learning and help empower students to practice at their full potential can be such a rewarding and refreshing process. In Ontario, we have so many opportunities to train, coach and assess students and international pharmacy graduates. For example, we can be a preceptor to University of Toronto and Waterloo Pharmacy students, we can assess and coach foreign-trained candidates as part of the PACE program (Practice Assessment of Competence at Entry) through the Ontario College of Pharmacists, and we can mentor international graduates through the P4T program (Prepare for Practical Training) through NAPRA. Read: 5 tips for helping patients make informed decisions about menopause hormone therapy One of the biggest draws of mentoring is that you’re able to shape the future of pharmacy, one student at a time. While all of these programs mentioned above require some form of training, it is minimal and quite manageable—and the payback can be significant. Students can be such an asset to your pharmacy as they can provide excellent services for the public under your supervision. This also means your workload will be reduced and you will likely have more time to offer your professional services. In my experience, my patients have always been quite responsive to interacting with students. Particularly, they appreciate the thoroughness and amount of time they spend with them during medication reviews. While students can surely benefit from your knowledge and experience, they also have a lot to bring to the table. I have learned so much from my students over the years: new perspectives, new patient care models and new medications. I’m also not shy about seeking their fresh wisdom; I often ask my students for their perspectives on new therapeutic options. There are, however, some challenges involved with mentoring and coaching students. It's a significant time commitment, so expect to devote a decent amount of time to taking notes on performance and for evaluations. You also have to be prepared to change your teaching approach to match the learning styles of your students. There isn’t one universal way to mentor students. Every student learns differently, so be prepared to explore any challenges with your students and to continuously and routinely assess for any barriers to their learning. You are ultimately trying to empower these individuals by providing them with regular feedback and resources so they can practice to their full potential. Tips for mentoring students Over the years I've gathered some tips that help with mentoring students and thought I would share some of them. In my experience, almost every single student not only appreciates but wants regular and consistent feedback on their performance. Secondly, I always try to set my students up for success. This means making sure they’re familiar with the dispensary, the workflow and the expectations of their rotation. Read: Why pharmacists should join the deprescribing conversation One of the most important things I do is to regularly engage with my students—they're always eager to improve existing skills and to learn new ones. Engaging with my students regularly allows me to review their learning objectives, assess whether any barriers are present, and most importantly, allow the students to reach their full potential. I always ask my students to share their goals for both their rotation and their future career. From there, I try to tailor their experience and focus on areas that can help them achieve those goals. I try very hard to make sure their rotation is not filled with purely technical tasks. I encourage my students to focus on areas they are less comfortable with (like home medication reviews, injections, initiating smoking cessation therapy, etc) and remind them that I am here to help them along the way. Finally, the required formal evaluations can take quite a bit of time to complete, so make sure you take notes throughout the rotation as this will save you a lot of time in the end. Training, mentoring, and assessing students is such a rewarding experience for me and has led to the development of many long-lasting professional relationships. It's an excellent way for me to give back to the profession and ensure we continue to grow and expand. Just remember, while our students certainly learn from us, we can also learn so much from them. Joshua Martell is a Certified Diabetes Educator and the designated manager of a pharmacy in Toronto, Ontario. Born and raised in rural Nova Scotia, they graduated from Dalhousie University with a pharmacy degree in 2010 and have been practicing in Ontario ever since. They are a preceptor for University of Toronto pharmacy students, an assessor for the PACE (Practice Assessment of Competence at Entrance) program at the Ontario College of Pharmacists and a consultant to the Ontario College of Pharmacists for their PACE assessor training workshops. As a member of the LGBTQ2AI+ community, they like to promote an inclusive workplace and pharmacy practice.

The two-way benefits of mentorship

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