Incorporating a Resident-Driven Mentorship Program into Emergency Medicine Clerkship Rotations
Abstract
Objectives: We launched an EM resident-driven mentorship program to help medical students excel in their clerkships, develop relationships, and navigate residency applications. We hypothesize that students will rate the mentoring positively and will report that it improved their performance.
Background: Mentorship is important for professional growth and success in medicine. There are few formal mentorship programs for medical students on audition rotations.
Methods: Students were assigned a self-selected EM resident mentor for their four-week clerkship at a single institution. Allopathic and osteopathic students were matched with residents from MD or DO schools, respectively. Mentors were instructed to review: patient presentations, differential diagnoses, clinical decision-making tools, rotation advice, and the application and match process. Mentors were instructed to meet with their mentees and to check-in weekly. Following the rotation, students were sent an online anonymous survey consisting of 6 multiple choice and 3 free response questions. Simple descriptive statistics and qualitative methods were employed for data analysis. Initial coding was performed independently by two study authors and then reviewed by a third author with experience in qualitative methodology. Suggestions were merged via consensus into a final code set that was used for thematic analysis.
Results: Six audition rotations occurred over the study period. Of the 47 students, 74% (n=35) responded to our survey. 97% (n=34) of participants recommended continuing this program, 91% (n=32) rated this program helpful, and 64% (n=16) stated that this improved their success on the rotation. Preliminary qualitative analysis of students’ responses revealed the themes in Figure 1.
Conclusion: Preliminary data suggests that students found having a mentor during their audition rotations was meaningful. We believe students can benefit from a resident-driven mentorship program during their auditions.