Role model: Kay Mohanna

As an educational supervisor in the West Midlands Deanery and a GP partner and trainer at the Darwin Medical Practice in Lichfield, Kay Mohanna is involved in mentoring future GPs. She says she fell into medical education by chance. Early on in her career she was leading a research project and was asked to teach epidemiology. Working with Ruth Chambers at Staffordshire University, Mohanna then decided she would improve her skills by studying for a postgraduate teaching diploma. “Ruth was generous and supportive. In many ways I’m trying to follow the example she set—of being ambitious for others,” she says.

Mohanna’s interest in medical education flourished and she continued her academic career, writing numerous books and papers on teaching and training. It is, however, her international education work that she describes as the golden thread running through her career.

Mohanna is particularly proud of a fellowship programme she has set up at the University of Worcester to enable Sri Lankan trainees to come to the UK for a year. She says this is especially important for a country where general practice is not highly valued.

As a mentor, Mohanna sees her role as providing a positive and safe environment in which trainees can learn. “Developing the potential of trainees is about removing blocks and facilitating avenues for them to develop and gain self-esteem,” she says. “It’s about encouraging and supporting them to achieve little successes that will boost their confidence to help them to go on and achieve more.”

Mohanna is currently interested in the idea of “belongingness” to encourage motivation and learning. “This is about how you create environments that offer support and challenge, and that are welcoming,” she explains. “This is particularly important for GP trainees because most of them rotate through specialties in secondary care before they settle into general practice. It also applies to international trainees who come to the UK and trainees who switch into GP training from other specialties.”

She adds, “It’s about treating people as individuals and enabling them to recognise how their own strengths can make a contribution to practice. It’s important to create an environment where they can be supported and flourish, and also, perhaps, make mistakes that they can learn from.”