You’ve Got A Friendtor in Me: Innovations in Peer Mentoring for Mid-Career Palliative Care Clinicians

Abstract

Introduction: Mentoring is crucial to professional success, but little is known about the professional development needs of mid-career hospice and palliative medicine (HPM) clinicians. Methods: An interprofessional “friendtor” group of five HPM clinicians from three academic medical centers met monthly and for a year-end focus group. A thematic analysis was used to develop a coding structure and identify overarching themes from these discussions. Results: 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. Discussion: 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.