MANHASSET, NY (February 24, 2014) — The Arnold P. Gold Foundation has awarded a $25,000 grant to the North Shore-LIJ Health System to establish a new structured, longitudinal mentoring program focused on promoting humanistic patient care. North Shore-LIJ and the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine will launch the MAP-IT (Mentoring and Professionalism in Training) Program, designed to rigorously train and empower a cohort of experienced physician and nurse mentors, who will guide medical students, residents, and early-career nurses through teaching and modeling humanistic behavior.
Under the leadership of Alice Fornari, EdD, RD, as well as key educational and clinical faculty within the health system and the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, the mentorship program will directly impact a large number of early-career professionals. “The Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s commitment to fostering caring, empathetic physicians and nurses will serve to cultivate future providers who will put into practice the values of patient-focused, humanistic care,” states Dr. Fornari.
Through MAP-IT, physician and nurse mentors will complete a Mentoring Humanism curriculum, designed with input from Dr. William Branch Jr., a renowned leader in humanistic medicine. The 12-month curriculum will focus on increasing participants’ knowledge and skills, specific to mentoring of early-career professionals, through an interactive small-group learning model. This interdisciplinary process will foster a community of practice mentors who will have the opportunity to lead by example and positively influence the development of a cohort of 120-150 mentees—comprised of medical students, residents, and early-career nurses. >Mentors will work with their mentees to develop nurturing relationships and transfer the skills essential for humanistic practice in order to cultivate a high-skilled workforce grounded in the values of patient-centered, compassionate care.