Mentorship Compact

Overview

The Improving Health Outcomes & Patient Health-Care Experience (IHOPE) is a collaborative of clinical and health services researchers whose aim is to improve the overall quality of healthcare for patients with serious illness including pulmonary diseases, cancer, critical illness, end-of-life care, and toxic military exposure related conditions. We hope to accomplish this aim by using rigorous comparative effectiveness and mixed methods research methodologies to focus on improving patient-centered outcomes, enhancing patient-clinician communication, and identifying novel mechanisms of healthcare delivery for patients.

Mission

We perform research to understand how modifiable mechanisms, such as important domains of patient-centered communication and care delivery processes, influence patient-centered outcomes, such as quality of life and mental health.

We focus on patients who have and have or at risk of serious illness such as cancer, pulmonary diseases, critical illness or conditions related to toxic military exposures.

The goal of our work is to identify interventions that can be developed and quickly implemented to improve patient-centered outcomes. We want to be recognized for our commitments to patient-centeredness, collegiality, collaboration, and critical thinking. Importantly, we will continually emphasize the privilege of working with patients and the joys of answering important questions.

Culture

We have a culture of scientific rigor and inclusivity. We want to increase inclusion of underrepresented people in medicine and health services research and help everyone successfully obtain their chosen career goals. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of scientific integrity.

To obtain these goals, we foster collaboration and collegiality. We encourage critical thinking, vigorous scientific debates, and do not tolerate discriminatory actions or words. We support staff and researchers in both their success and tribulations. We aim to accomplish these goals using a light-hearted approach whenever possible that recognizes that rewarding jobs are the only sustainable jobs.

Our home is in the VA Portland Health Care System’s Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care (CIVIC). We collaborate with many CIVIC investigators and teams on health services research projects and initiatives. We wholeheartedly endorse CIVIC’s mission to “conduct research that empowers Veterans to improve their health through engagement in self-care, engagement with VA and non-VA healthcare systems, and engagement in the research process”.

Expectations of Mentors

Mentors are expected to provide mentees with career support, guidance, and sponsorship. We commit to the listed mentorship activities below. If we cannot attend scheduled meetings, we will attempt to notify you several days in advance.

We will provide you with the resources necessary to accomplish your career goals and help you with your planned deliverables/products. If we cannot provide necessary resources, we will do our best to connect you with a team or program who can. We will work with you to develop an individualized plan based on your career goals. When you encounter problems or challenges in obtaining your goals, please discuss them with your mentor(s). We cannot solve every issue but we’re committed to trying.

We will treat you with respect. If research staff, mentors, or patients/participants do not treat you with respect (e.g., making racist statements, sexually harassing you, etc.), please notify a mentor or your mentor’s supervisor immediately. We understand that the process of speaking-up is difficult, but we are committed to supporting you and offering a safe, respectful process to ensure this behavior is not tolerated.

Expectations of Mentees

We expect early career researchers to work hard, think critically, ask questions, and be excited to do research. We don’t expect you to have any direct research skills but expect that you’re willing to work hard to learn some, will accept and act upon feedback, complete project-specific tasks on time, and ask questions when you’re unsure of your tasks.

We require you to treat our research staff with respect.

We expect you to demonstrate your commitment to mentorship by participating in research-related activities. We understand that clinical and administrative duties, travel, and personal activities can interfere with attendance at educational conferences and mentorship activities. If you cannot attend one of your scheduled activities, please notify your mentor several days in advance. We also understand that each expectation may need to be tailored to individual mentees’ goals and abilities. If you feel you cannot meet an expectation for any reason, please discuss with your mentor.

Together with your mentor(s) you will develop an individualized mentorship plan that meets your training and career needs. Below is a list of activities and expectations that may comprise your mentored training experience. There may be other opportunities within the VAPORHCS and OHSU community that fit with your training goals as well.

Educational Conferences

1. Attendance: Monthly IHOPE meetings
2. Attendance: OHSU PACCM Wednesday Research Conference (for trainees interested in pulmonary and critical care medicine)
3. Attendance: Bi-weekly CIVIC Early Career Professional Meetings
4. Attendance: Other Fellowship specific conferences (e.g. MIRECC, Palliative Care didactics, Psychology Supervision)
5. Presentation: one IHOPE presentation annually
6. Presentation: two CIVIC Early Career Professional Meetings
7. Presentation: two OHSU PACCM Research Meeting presentations annually

Mentorship Activities

1. Weekly or bi-weekly meetings with your mentor during designated research time
2. Quarterly meetings with your IHOPE mentors
3. Twice yearly meetings with mentorship team
   1. Team: primary mentor, secondary mentor, tertiary mentor

Deliverables/Products – Two products/deliverables annually
Examples include:

1. Abstract
2. Paper
3. Grant application
4. Substantial assistance with analysis, writing on another person’s project
5. Peer-mentoring

We expect you to make steady progress towards your deliverable/products. You will develop a tailored plan regarding your proposed research deliverables with your mentor. It’s important that you understand a core principle of mentored research activities - the more effort and time you spend on a project, the higher your level of reward. For example, you will not be the first author of a paper in a high-impact journal on which you spent five hours to draft one data table. We are committed to providing you with a degree of acknowledgement that is commensurate with the amount of work you spent on the project.

The main focus of the recurring mentorship meetings is to discuss your progress of your research activities, identify challenges, and problem solve. You should discuss with your mentor expected due dates for abstract or paper submissions. If you do not make steady progress, your mentor may need to change your level of involvement in the project.

Before submitting a product, you should provide your mentor with enough time to perform a high-quality review. That amount of time is highly variable and should be tailored based on your mentor’s requirements and suggestions. As examples, you should expect your mentor will want at least a week, two weeks, and four weeks for an abstract, papers and presentations, and grant proposal respectively, and possibly longer for a larger grant submission such as a VA CDA or K-award.

Personalized Development Plan - What are your goals?

This section will help you design your initial mentorship plan. You can directly share it with your mentor or use it as springboard for discussion. We’ve learned that it’s important for early career researchers to take charge of their career development plans based on their values and preferences. Your mentor(s) will incorporate your values and preferences and provide you with information about research options. Our main objective is to give you all the information you need so you can make the best decisions for yourself.

Complete/consider these items on your own. If you don’t know or don’t understand the question, your mentors will help.

1. Describe where you want to be in two and five years.
   1. Some examples include: physician in a community setting with a better-than-average understanding of research methodologies; assistant professor on a physician-scientist track; post-doctoral researcher on an independent scientist track
2. Please list two goals for your current research activity and two ways we can help you achieve those goals.
   1. Some examples include: 1^st author research paper; deeper understanding of typical comparative effectiveness statistical methods; a job as a physician-scientist
3. List your current experience/skills with typical health services and comparative effectiveness research methodologies.
   1. Some examples include: none; PhD in biostatistics
4. How much time do you have to devote to research activities?
   1. BE REALISTIC
5. List your planned/proposed primary, secondary, and (if necessary) tertiary mentors.
6. Are you worried or concerned about any particular aspect of your research experience?

Research Commitment

After committing to working with our group, please submit the following work plan to your primary and secondary mentors.

1. Specific Aim and Hypothesis for your main research project
   1. Your primary mentor will help you
2. Planned schedule (including meeting invites) for recurring mentorship meetings with your primary mentor
   1. Should be at least bi-weekly during research blocks and monthly during non-research blocks
3. Planned schedule (including meeting invites) for recurring mentorship meetings with your secondary mentor
   1. Should be at least monthly during research blocks and every three months during non-research blocks
4. Planned dates (including meeting invites) for first two mentorship team meetings
5. Expected presentation dates for abstracts, papers, and presentations (next 6-12 months)
6. Contact Stephanie Unger (stephanie.unger@va.gov) to initiate research compliance activities (e.g. “Without Compensation” (WOC), specific study scope of work, etc.)
   1. Ms. Unger will provide you with a checklist of activities you will need to complete at the VA and OHSU; she is available for assistance but will not manage these processes for you.