You’ve got a friendtor in me: Innovations in peer mentoring for mid-career palliative care clinicians

You’ve got a friendtor in me: Innovations in peer mentoring for mid-career palliative care clinicians
American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; April Zehm, Andrew J. Lawton, Leah B. Rosenberg, Sudha Natarajan, Bethany-Rose Daubman; 3/25
Mentoring is crucial to professional success, but little is known about the professional development needs of mid-career hospice and palliative medicine (HPM) clinicians. An interprofessional “friendtor” group of five HPM clinicians from three academic medical centers met monthly and for a year-end focus group. Several themes emerged that highlight the importance of peer support when navigating major life decisions, boundary-setting, and non-clinical practice challenges, celebrating friendtors’ personal and professional milestones, and having a productive space for shared academic pursuits. Given the challenges and vulnerabilities the field of HPM is experiencing with workforce sustainability and burnout, the importance of developing supports outside of traditional mentorship paradigms is a valuable area of focus. Our work suggests that a friendtorship model may be an effective tool for sustaining mid-career HPM clinicians.