MENTORSHIP

Specialist training is an exciting time. Long-term dreams and vivid visions are finally looking to be clearer. Years of training will finally end after this last block for most of the trainees. These 2 years in training are the final stop, before the start of a new life.

But then, there is a lot to learn and lot that seems to be coming too fast, too hard at times. Calls can be busy, patients complex, and daunting problems and complex pathology will arise. Having guidance and advice from peers who have walked that road ahead can be extremely beneficial in difficult situations.

Our Nephrology Mentoring Program is designed to facilitate and provide each fellow a supportive, nurturing, and confidential relationship with a faculty member within the division.

During fellowship, all fellows will be assigned a personal mentor to help them:

• Acclimatize to renal pathology: Help the young fellow understand the working and principles governing care of nephrology patients.
• Identify career plans: Discuss with fellows their long-term plans and focus on career paths.
• Assist fellows in developing a plan for focused goals for each of the four halves of fellowship training.
• Help build an individualized training program that connects his/her unique interests.

CJASN Trainee Peer Review Program

Supervision

Each Fellow will be assigned a faculty supervisor (supervisor may also be the Program Director). The level and method of supervision will be consistent with the ACGME Program Requirements. The Fellows will be supervised by teaching staff in such a way that the Fellows assume progressively increasing responsibility according to their level of education, ability, experience and competence.

Levels of Supervision
To ensure oversight of fellow supervision and graded authority and responsibility, the program must use the following classification of supervision:

Direct Supervision
The supervising physician is physically present with the fellow and patient.

Indirect Supervision
With direct supervision immediately available – the supervising physician is physically within the hospital or other site of patient care and is immediately available to provide Direct Supervision.
With direct supervision available – the supervising physician is not physically present within the hospital or other site of patient care, but it immediately available by means of telephonic and/or electronic modalities and is available to provide Direct Supervision.

Each faculty member with direct teaching assignments will provide a written summary of the assessment of the fellow’s performance during the period that the fellow was under his direct supervision.

The Clinical Competency Committee will do a semi-annual evaluation of fellows with discussion of strengths or weaknesses that may be identified. A plan of corrective action will be provided to fellow if there is unsatisfactory performance.

All procedures will be done under direct supervision, until competency is documented and reviewed by CCC.

Well-Being

The well being of our fellows is of paramount importance to our program. We encourage healthy lifestyles, healthy choices, and healthy living. The LSU community and specifically the LSU Health Shreveport office of GME support fellow physician wellness with many support services for fellows. Stress management programs for house staff are available as needed for work-related stress issues that include, but are not limited to, the following: women physicians, residents cited for malpractice, minority physicians, and foreign medical graduates. Fellows are paired with mentors for the duration of the fellowship program.

The Nephrology Mentoring Program is designed to facilitate and provide each fellow a supportive, nurturing and confidential relationship with a faculty member within the division.

During fellowship, all fellows will be assigned a personal mentor to help them:

• Acclimatize to renal pathology: Help the young fellow understand the working and principles governing care of nephrology patients.
• Identify career plans: Discuss with fellows their long-term plans, focus on career paths.
• Assist fellows in developing plan for focused goals for each of the four halves of fellowship training.
• Help build an individualized training program that connects his/her unique interests.
• Mentors are encouraged to meet with fellow routinely (once a month) to review and discuss goals, progress.

There is a long tradition of concern at LSU for the impaired professional. Physicians can become dysfunctional in a variety of ways, just like the patients they treat. Their individual problems often manifest in ways that can harm the patients whom they serve, the institutions that employ them, their families, and the colleagues with whom they work. Physicians often have difficulty admitting their problems with drugs or alcohol, and too often, do not get the help they need until a crisis is reached. Early interventions in confronting physicians who are heading for trouble are needed and if necessary, intensive treatment programs for the compromised professional can be made available. Routine social meetings with fellows are arranged to have open dialogue between faculty and residents.

Monthly dinner meetings with an informal discussion on some of the latest breakthroughs in nephrology provide a platform for faculty to discuss medicine and solidify personal bonds.  Attended by several faculty and the Program Director, the meeting is not mandatory for fellows.

Biannual department celebrations are held around major holidays providing an opportunity for the young trainees to feel comfortable and welcome into our family.