MENTOR EVAL REMINDER

Assessment delay can impact course progression

There have been a couple recent “close calls” when delays in mentor assessments almost kept students from being able to register for their upcoming term. Mentors are responsible for completing the evaluations, but ultimately it is up to students to remind their mentors to submit the necessary documents.

Students cannot move from module to module without interruption if their mentor has not submitted the assessment form and invoice, which lists the dates and times meetings took place throughout the term, documenting that the mentor requirement has been fulfilled.

“For example, students enrolled in Term 1801 can enroll in Term 1802 before the previous term’s mentor assessment is received, since there isn’t much time between terms. However, the student would not be permitted to take term 1803 if the 1801 documentation was still not submitted,” explains Joy Braun, MBA, MA, Associate Director for Administration and the OUM Registrar.

While academic advisors help students navigate pre-clinical coursework, the physician mentor offers support, clinical experience, and advice as a guide and coach. Mentors also play an important role in keeping an eye on student well-being.

Important advice and perspective

“Our physician mentors provide continuity, a connection with courses as they progress through pre-clinicals,” says Chris Dudley, OUM’s Deputy Vice Chancellor for Administration and Student Affairs. “They also have the opportunity to observe changes in personal life that could impact a student’s medical school education.”

Per the current Student Handbook, page 56:

” . . . invoices must be submitted within three months of the completion of the mentoring term, and they must be dated, signed, include the student’s name, mentoring term, times, and dates of mentor meetings.

While mentors are expected to complete and submit both the mentor assessment and honorarium invoice in a timely matter at the completion of each term that a student is enrolled, it is ultimately the student’s responsibility to ensure that the mentor is submitting these documents, as they are evidence of the student’s required participation in the physician mentor program. Any student whose mentor does not provide these documents for a given term (no later than three months from the end of a term) may be delayed in enrolling in a future term until the proper mentor documents are received.”

Questions regarding the mentor assessment process? Students may contact their respective student affairs representative, Joe Korac in Melbourne, or Philip Sherman in the North American office.