October 15, 1999

Peggy Carolan (left), executive director of the Boston Evening Medical Center, with mentor Irma Gomez.

A group of 16 outpatient practice secretaries gathered Oct. 7 with their practice managers to celebrate the success of a mentorship program that began in April. The celebrants are all seasoned secretaries who were selected to become mentors for new practice secretaries as part of a training program designed by representatives from the Practice Support Unit, Human Resources, the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization (MGPO) and Information Systems (IS).

"We recognize that there is a growing need to better prepare new employees who come to practice support positions at the MGH," says Jeff Davis, senior vice president for Human Resources. "These complex jobs are some of the most difficult positions in the institution, and we found that some employees became frustrated because they were unable to do a good job without adequate training. But with this training program, we believe new employees will learn important elements of their jobs quickly and will find their jobs more satisfying."

New outpatient practice support employees participate in the weeklong training program in conjunction with new employee orientation. The first component of the program is IS training to streamline the access process for such IS applications as PCIS and PMIS. Other training modules include customer service, phone techniques, revenue essentials, managed care processes and registration verification. After completing the training modules, the new employees then are matched with a mentor from their own practice.

Each mentor was nominated by his or her practice manager because of criteria such as strong communication skills, knowledge of the computer systems, ability to work with a team, good organization skills and observance of department policies. The mentors then help guide the new secretaries through the complex policies and procedures needed for their jobs.

"Most of the mentors probably have been doing this kind of training informally for quite some time," says Stacey Houghton of the Practice Support Unit. "With the new program, mentors learn to identify various learning styles and how to adjust their approach to best fit the needs of the new hire. In the process, they develop a better understanding of their own skills, which helps with their professional development."

According to Ted Witherell of MGH Human Resources, co-team leader with Houghton, the goal of the mentor component of the training program is to boost retention of current practice secretaries and increase the length of service for new secretaries. "We hope the mentor program will help decrease the learning curve for new hires at the same time as helping to recognize current secretaries for their expertise," he says.

The new program is supported by Davis, Kathleen Erwin of the Practice Support Unit, Jim Noga of IS, Jim Heffernan of the MGPO, and Joan Sapir of MGH/MGPO Practice Support and Customer Service.

The next phase of the training program will incorporate quarterly meetings among the mentors for networking, information exchange and problem-solving purposes.