An Evidence-Based Evaluation of Prevailing Learning Theories on Mentoring in Palliative Medicine

Palliative Medicine’s evolving multidimensional nature and accent upon maximising comfort and quality of life that “requires changing one’s conceptual model from disease and diagnosis to patient goals, prognosis and function” creates a unique challenge for medical educators and curriculum planners [1]. Mentoring has been proposed as a means of circumnavigating Palliative Medicine’s educational hurdles [2-5]. Though theoretically viable, the employment of mentoring in Palliative Medicine has been hindered by the presence of a variety of descriptions of mentoring approaches and practices. The situation is compounded by an absence of a clear definition of mentoring and a lack of a clear understanding of mentoring approaches have slowed the development of effective mentoring programs [6-8].